WHITE PAPER | Citrix XenServer and EMC CLARiiON CX4 Series

Citrix XenServer and EMC CLARiiON

CX4 Series Configuration Guide

www.citrix.com

Contents
Introduction........................................................................................................................................................4
CitrixXenServerforEnterprisereadyVirtualization .................................................................................................4
EMCCLARiiONCX4StoragePlatform ........................................................................................................................5

Overview of XenServer Storage ......................................................................................................................7

StorageRepositories(SRs).........................................................................................................................................7
VirtualDiskImages(VDIs)..........................................................................................................................................7
ManagingStorage......................................................................................................................................................8

XenServer and EMC CLARiiON CX4 ........................................................................................................10

EMCCLARiiONCX4SharedStorageOptions ...........................................................................................................10
SharedStoragewiththeStorageLinkGateway ...................................................................................................11
SharediSCSIStorage............................................................................................................................................12
SharedFibreChannelStorage .............................................................................................................................13
StorageMultipathing...........................................................................................................................................14

Installation and Configuration Basics ...........................................................................................................15

Introduction.........................................................................................................................................................15
UsedEnvironment ...............................................................................................................................................15
HardwareInstallation ..........................................................................................................................................16
SoftwareInstallation............................................................................................................................................16
EnablingXenServerMultipathing ........................................................................................................................16
PreparingtheCLARiiONCX4................................................................................................................................19
ProvisioningStorage ............................................................................................................................................20

Setting up a Storage Repository using StorageLink ....................................................................................26

Introduction.........................................................................................................................................................26
EMCCLARiiON,StorageLinkandXenServerSetup ..............................................................................................26

Setting up an iSCSI Storage Repository........................................................................................................47

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Introduction.........................................................................................................................................................47
PreconfigurationXenServer ...............................................................................................................................47
EMCCLARiiONandXenServeriSCSISetup ..........................................................................................................53

Setting Up an FC Storage Repository ...........................................................................................................68

Introduction.........................................................................................................................................................68
EMCCLARiiONandXenServerFCSetup ..............................................................................................................68

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Introduction
IT departments face the constant demand to respond more rapidly to changing business priorities,
application demands, and user dynamics all without compromising security or manageability or
increasing server count. They must deliver robust data management, business uptime, and complete
backup and recovery capabilities. In order to address these challenges, enterprises need to:

Standardize on a reduced number of hardware configurations drastically reducing the time

required to deploy upgrades and patches

Provide effective, near-term high-availability for cost-effective protection against physical

server and storage failures in an application-agnostic manner

Adjust allocation of server and storage resources for different application workloads on the
fly

Consider scalability for the largest enterprise applications

Deploy a tightly unified server and storage virtualization solution that is reliable, not overly
complex and leverages all available capabilities

This document presents setup and configuration instructions for using EMC CLARiiON CX4
series storage systems as networked attached storage solutions for Citrix XenServer.

Citrix XenServer for Enterprise-ready Virtualization

Citrix XenServer is a native 64-bit virtualization platform, with the scalability required by Microsoft
Exchange Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Citrix XenApp, Citrix XenDesktop and other businesscritical applications. The highest host and guest CPU and memory limits available, coupled with
fine-grained controls for processor, network, and disk, enable it to deliver optimal quality of service.
With Citrix XenServer virtualization, businesses can increase server and storage utilization, reducing
costs of equipment, power, cooling, and real estate. By combining servers and storage into resource
pools that can be apportioned to the applications with the highest business need, IT operations can
be aligned to changing demands and business priorities. With XenMotion, running virtual
machines can be migrated to new servers with no service interruption, allowing essential workloads
to get needed resources and enable zero-downtime maintenance.
Citrix XenServer products install directly on bare metal servers, requiring no dedicated host
operating system. Open command-line (CLI) and programming (API) interfaces make it easy for
companies to integrate Citrix XenServer virtualization with existing processes and management
tools, rather than requiring rip-and-replace reimplementation. Key benefits and features include:

Enterprise ready performance and scalability

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Simple deployment and installation

Flexible shared infrastructure

On-demand deployment of Windows and Linux virtual machines

Powerful storage management

Efficient, secure virtual networking

Live migration

XenCenter multi-server management, included with product

Deliver server workloads on demand via streaming

EMC CLARiiON CX4 Storage Platform

The EMC CLARiiON CX4 series delivers industry-leading innovation in midrange storage with the
fourth-generation CLARiiON CX storage platform. The unique combination of flexible, scalable
hardware design and advanced software capabilities enables EMCCLARiiON CX4 series systems,
powered by Intel Xeon processors, to meet the growing and diverse needs of todays midsize and
large enterprises. Through innovative technologies like Flash drives, UltraFlex technology, and
CLARiiON Virtual Provisioning customers can decrease costs and energy use and optimize
availability and virtualization.
All this is available with a choice of systems ranging from affordable entry-level solutions to highperformance, maximum-capacity configurations for the most demanding requirements. The
powerful CX4 series includes the CX4 model 120, CX4 model 240, CX4 model 480, and CX4 model
960. All models come pre-configured with Fibre Channel and iSCSI connectivity, allowing
customers to choose the best connectivity for their specific applications.

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Delivering up to twice the performance and scale as the previous CLARiiON generation,
CLARiiON CX4 is the leading midrange storage solution to meet a full range of needsfrom
departmental applications to data-center-class business-critical systems.
Basic features include:

Support for both direct-attach and SAN environments

Hot-pluggable I/O modules 4 Gb/s FC, 8 Gb/s FC, 1 Gb/s iSCSI, and 10 Gb/s iSCSI

Hot-swappable storage processors with up to 16 GB of memory per SP

RAID level 0, 1, 1/0, 3, 5, and 6, individual disk support, and global hot sparing

Online upgrade capability

Five-drive minimum to 960-drive maximum system configuration

Support for data-in-place upgrades

For more information on the EMC CLARiiON CX4 Series visit the EMC website:
http://www.emc.com/products/series/cx4-series.htm

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Overview of XenServer Storage

Storage Repositories (SRs)
The XenServer host accesses containers named Storage Repositories (SRs) in which Virtual Disk
Images (VDIs) are stored. A VDI is a disk abstraction which, when attached to a host, appears as a
physical disk drive to the virtual machine.
The interface to storage hardware provided on the XenServer host allows VDIs to be supported on
a large number of different SR substrate types. VDIs may be files on a local disk, on an NFS share,
Logical Volumes within a LUN or a raw LUN itself directly attached to the VM. The SR and VDI
abstractions on the host provide for advanced storage features such as sparse provisioning, image
snapshots, and fast cloning to be leveraged on storage targets where available.
Each XenServer host can access multiple SRs in parallel of any type. These SRs can be shared
between a pool of hosts, or a dedicated repository to a single host. Shared storage must be
accessible to all hosts in a resource pool, and is utilized for both non-live and live migration of VMs
via XenMotion. When hosting shared Storage Repositories there are 4 options; the Citrix
StorageLink feature, a NFS file share, an iSCSI LUN or a Fibre Channel LUN.

Virtual Disk Images (VDIs)

There are two fundamental VDI types (Files and LUNs):

Managed LUNs: Managed LUNs are accessible via the StorageLink feature included in Citrix
XenServer Enterprise and Platinum Editions, and are hosted on a variety of storage arrays.
LUNs are allocated on demand via StorageLink and mapped dynamically to the host via the
StorageLink service while a VM is active. All the thin provisioning and fast clone capabilities
of the device are exposed via StorageLink.

VHD files. The VHD format can be used to store VDIs in a sparse format. Being sparse,
the image file grows proportionally to the number of writes to the disk by the Virtual
Machine (VM), so large portions of the disk which are typically unused do not consume
unnecessary space. VHD on NFS, iSCSI, or Hardware HBA storage repositories can be
shared among all hosts in a pool.

The section entitled XenServer Shared Storage Options discusses each option in more detail.

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Managing Storage
There are four XenServer object classes that are used to describe, configure, and manage storage:

Storage Repositories (SRs) are storage targets containing homogeneous virtual disks
(VDIs). SR commands provide operations for creating, destroying, resizing, cloning,
connecting and discovering the individual Virtual Disk Images (VDIs) that they contain. A
storage repository is a persistent, on-disk data structure. So the act of "creating" a new SR is
similar to that of formatting a disk. SRs are long-lived, and may be shared among XenServer
hosts or moved between them. There are several classes of XenServer SRs available:
o Local Storage By default, XenServer uses the local disk on the physical host on
which it is installed. The Linux Logical Volume Manager (LVM) is used to manage
VM storage. A VDI is implemented in VHD format in an LVM logical volume of
the specified size.
o NFS NFS is a ubiquitous form of storage infrastructure that is available in many
environments. XenServer allows existing NFS servers that support NFS V3 over
TCP/IP to be used immediately as a storage repository for virtual disks (VDIs).
VDIs are stored in the Microsoft VHD format only.
o iSCSI and Fibre Channel The creation of iSCSI or Fibre Channel (Hardware HBA)
SRs involves erasing any existing data on a specified LUN. A LUN will need to be
created on the EMC storage before creating the XenServer SR. Volume management
is performed via LVM (Logical Volume Manager), and the underlying VDI storage
on an iSCSI or FC SR is VHD.
o Advanced StorageLink Technology Citrix StorageLink lets users automate the
configuration and provisioning of virtual machine storage, taking advantage of
advanced features of the attached storage array. StorageLink enables the user to
create Citrix XenServer virtual machines from logical vendor-specific storage
repositories that support advanced capabilities such as snapshots, cloning, thin
provisioning, and data deduplication. StorageLink also uses advanced storage
capabilities to rapidly create virtual machines, increase storage utilization, and
provide improved business continuity while lowering total cost of ownership. Citrix
StorageLink seamlessly integrates with storage arrays using either the standards-based
SMI-S interface or via a custom vendor-specific StorageLink Storage Adapter.

Virtual Disk Images (VDIs) are an on-disk representation of a virtual disk provided to a
VM. VDIs are the fundamental unit of virtualized storage in XenServer. Similar to SRs,
VDIs are persistent, on-disk objects that exist independently of XenServer Hosts.

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Physical Block Devices (PBDs) represent the interface between a physical server and an
attached SR. PBDs are connector objects that allow a given SR to be mapped to a
XenServer host. PBDs store the device configuration fields that are used to connect to and
interact with a given storage target.

Virtual Block Devices (VBDs) are a connector object (similar to the PBD described above)
that allows mappings between VDIs and Virtual Machines (VMs). In addition to providing a
mechanism to attach (or plug) a VDI into a VM, VBDs allow the fine-tuning of parameters
regarding QoS (quality of service), statistics, and the bootability of a given VDI.

Figure 1: Graphical Overview of Storage Repository and Related Objects

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XenServer and EMC CLARiiON CX4

EMC CLARiiON CX4 Shared Storage Options
When using an EMC CLARiiON CX4 device as your networked, backend storage array, the
available SR options (described in the previous section) are iSCSI, Fibre Channel (Hardware HBA)
or using the StorageLink Gateway SR type. This document describes how to setup all these SR
types.
Use of StorageLink for shared storage is the recommended approach for deployments of XenServer.
This type of storage repository is available with Citrix XenServer Enterprise and Platinum Editions,
and requires the installation of the StorageLink Gateway service on a Windows Server virtual
machine or physical server. In addition to XenServer, StorageLink Gateway also supports Hyper-V
hosts and provides storage interoperability between the two platforms. The StorageLink Gateway
only serves as a broker, and is not part of the data path between a XenServer host and the storage
infrastructure.
The following sections give an overview of the three SR storage types and the benefits associated
with them. All shared storage options enable VM agility using XenMotion -- VMs can be started on
any XenServer host in a resource pool and migrated between them.

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Shared Storage with the StorageLink Gateway

The StorageLink Gateway is a feature offered with Citrix XenServer Enterprise and Platinum
Editions. It acts as a broker between XenServer and the storage system. The StorageLink Gateway
service runs on a general-purpose Windows server or VM, and this system can typically be shared
with other Citrix XenServer components such as Workload Balancing and Workflow Studio. Once
brokered by the StorageLink Gateway, the data path between the virtual machine and storage system
can be performed via either iSCSI or Fibre channel. It is important to note that the StorageLink
Gateway only serves as a broker and as part of the control path; it is not part of the data path
between a XenServer host and the storage infrastructure.
Since the adapter exposes LUNs to the XenServer host as VDIs, there is a one-to-one mapping
between the Virtual Machine disks in the XenServer environment and the disk data abstraction. This
enables much simpler integration with existing physical host backup and array provisioning tools
that already operate at a LUN granularity.

Figure 2: Shared storage using StorageLink Gateway

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Shared iSCSI Storage

XenServer provides support for shared SRs on iSCSI LUNs. iSCSI is supported using the openiSCSI software iSCSI initiator or using a supported iSCSI Host Bus Adapter (HBA).
Shared iSCSI support is implemented based on XenServer LVHD, a technology that combines the
Logical Volume Manager (LVM) and Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) standards. Virtual machine VDIs
are stored on an iSCSI LUN created on the CLARiiON storage system. Shared storage with iSCSI
is a good choice for general purpose virtualization deployments, though it may not be as suitable for
demanding workloads or deployments.
Note: This document will only cover attaching to iSCSI shared storage using the XenServer iSCSI
software initiator.

Figure 3: Shared iSCSI storage using Open iSCSI initiator

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Shared Fibre Channel Storage

XenServer hosts support Fibre Channel SANs using an Emulex, QLogic or Brocade host bus
adapter (HBA). Logical unit numbers (LUNs) are mapped to the XenServer host as disk devices.
Like iSCSI storage, Fibre Channel storage support is implemented based on the same LVHD
technology with the same benefits as iSCSI storage, just utilizing a different data I/O path.

Figure 4: Shared Fibre Channel storage

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Storage Multipathing
XenServer 5.0 introduced Active/Active multipathing for iSCSI and FC protocols for I/O
datapaths. Dynamic multipathing uses a round-robin mode load balancing algorithm, so both routes
will have active traffic on them during normal operations. Multipathing can be enabled via
XenCenter or on the command line.
XenServer 5.5 supports ALUA, asymmetric logical unit access. ALUA is a relatively new
multipathing technology for asymmetric arrays. EMC CLARiiON CX4 arrays are ALUA compliant.

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Installation and Configuration Basics

Introduction
This section of the document will describe the various steps required to setup your EMC
CLARiiON CX4 array and the setup of the StorageLink Gateway, iSCSI and Fibre Channel SR types
in XenServer. Certain steps will not fall within the scope of this document and will, where required,
be referred to other documentation from Citrix and/or EMC.

Used Environment
For the creation of this document the following hardware was used:

2x HP DL380G5 Server Hardware, each equipped with:

o 2x Intel Xeon X5450 CPUs
o 16GB Ram
o HP NC364T PCI Express Quad Port Gigabit (in addition to the 2 built-in ports)
o HP StorageWorks PCI-e 4Gb Host Bus Adapter

EMC CLARiiON CX4-120

o 5x 1TB SATAII disks
o Dual storage processors, each having

2x 4Gb/s Fibre Channel optical ports

2x 1Gb/s Ethernet iSCSI copper ports

o Dual power supplies

2x HP StorageWorks 8/8 SAN Switch equipped with 4Gb Transceivers

FC Cables

The following software was used:

Citrix XenServer 5.6

Citrix StorageLink 2.2

EMC CLARiiON FLARE Operating Environment 29

EMC Navisphere 6.29

EMC SMI-S Provider 4.1.1.1 for SMI-S 1.4

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Hardware Installation
For the installation of server hardware, HBAs, connectivity components (e.g. network or FC
switches) and storage arrays, please refer to the documentation provided by the relevant
manufacturer.
Documentation for the EMC CLARiiON CX4 array can be found on EMC Powerlink
(https://powerlink.emc.com/).
Details on supported arrays and required FLARE and SMI-S provider versions can be found on the
StorageLink Hardware Compatibility List: http://hcl.vmd.citrix.com/SLG-HCLHome.aspx

Software Installation
For the installation of server software, firmware and storage array software, please refer to the
documentation provided by the relevant manufacturer.
Documentation for the various software components for the EMC CLARiiON CX4 array (e.g.
FLARE and Navisphere software can be found on EMC Powerlink (https://powerlink.emc.com/).
Documentation for setting up Citrix XenServer and components can be found on the Citrix
Knowledge Center: http://support.citrix.com/product/xens/

Enabling XenServer Multipathing

Open XenCenter and connect to the Resource Pool you want to manage. Enabling multipathing
requires XenServer hosts to be in maintenance mode. Multipathing needs to be enabled on each
host in the Resource Pool. Right-click the first server in your pool and click Enter Maintenance
Mode.

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If this is the Pool Master you will be asked to select a new master. If there are VMs running on this
host it will also XenMotion these VMs to another server in the pool. Select the host you want to be
the new master and click on Enter Maintenance.

Once the server is in Maintenance Mode* right-click on the host and select Properties. In the
Properties window select the Multipathing option on the left and mark Enable multipathing on this
server. Click OK.

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If you put the pool master in Maintenance Mode, XenCenter needs to reconnect to the new pool
master, which will take some time. Wait until XenCenter automatically reconnects to the pool.
After enabling multipathing exit Maintenance Mode by right-clicking on the server and selecting
Exit Maintenance Mode.
Repeat the above procedure for all servers in the Resource Pool.

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Preparing the CLARiiON CX4

Refer to the CLARiiON documentation for basic configuration and setup of the array. This includes
registration, networking setup, port configuration, security settings, creating RAID sets and other
storage specific settings (e.g. cache settings).
Enabling Storage Groups
After the basic configuration and setup of the array we will enable the use of Storage Groups. To
enable Storage Groups, in Navisphere, right-click your array and select Properties.

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On the General tab of the Storage Systems Properties window that appeared make sure that the
Storage Group checkbox is marked and click OK.

Provisioning Storage
In Navisphere click on the Provision icon on the left. In the Welcome window of the Storage
Provisioning Wizard click Next.
In the Select Servers window select Continue without assigning LUNs at this time and click Next.

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In the Select Storage System windows ensure your storage system is selected and click Next.

In the Select Storage Pool window select the RAID set you want this LUN to reside on. Click Next.

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In the LUN Properties window you can chose to give the LUN a name or use an automatically
generated LUN name. You can also set the size of the LUN in this window. Set these values to what
is relevant for your environment and click Next.

In the Select Folder window you have the option to add the LUN to an existing or new folder.
Folders are a way to organize your LUNs in the Navisphere management interface. Click Next.
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Verify the values in the Summary window and click Finish to create the LUN.

If the LUN creation is completed successfully click Finish to close the Results window.

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This LUN should now be visible in Navisphere under the LUN Folders section (location depending
on which Storage Processor is the current owner) as well as under the RAID Group on which the
LUN was created.

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Setting up a Storage Repository using StorageLink

Introduction
If installing the StorageLink Gateway on a XenServer virtual machine, the virtual machine disks will
need to be connected via a standard NFS, iSCSI, or Hardware HBA storage repository type. For
highly available configurations, it is recommended that StorageLink be implemented in an isolated
resource pool and using an iSCSI or Hardware HBA storage repository type (ideally the same SR
used for the XenServer HA heartbeat disk). The StorageLink Gateway services do not need to be
available while VMs are running, however many operations such as VM start require the service for
a short period of time.

EMC CLARiiON, StorageLink and XenServer Setup

Once the StorageLink Gateway Service and Manager (management console) have been installed on a
virtual machine or physical server, the steps described in this chapter can be followed to create the
storage repository.
For full details on installing and licensing StorageLink, please refer to the StorageLink
documentation. Alternatively for Proof-of-Concepts and evaluations, the XenServer Platinum
Evaluation Virtual Appliance can be used. This Virtual Appliance can be download from citrix.com.
Setting up the EMC SMI-S Provider
StorageLink will communicate with the array using the EMC SMI-S Provider. Before this can
happen the SMI-S Provider needs to be installed and the array needs to be registered with the
provider.
First download the Solutions Enabler with SMI from EMC PowerLink. For the environment to
create this whitepaper, the SMI-S Provider 4.1.1.1 for SMI-S 1.4 for Windows x86 was used.
Install the above package accepting all defaults.

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After the installation completes, start a command prompt and go to the c:\Program
Files\EMC\ECIM\ECOM\bin directory and run TestSMIProvider.exe

Accept defaults for Connection Type, Host, Port, Username and Password* and logging settings.
* EMC best practices recommend to change the default admin password and to create a separate
user when using the SMI-S Provider. If these best practices were followed, fill in the appropriate
credentials.
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Once on the prompt type the command addsys.

In the addsys wizard fill out the relevant information.

Add System: y

Array Type: 1

IP address or hostname or array id 0: <the ip address of Storage Processor A)

IP address or hostname or array id 1: <the ip address of Storage Processor B)

IP address or hostname or array id 2: <leave blank>

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Address Type (0): 2

Address Type (1): 2

User: <fill in the username for the array, typically the same user as for logging into
Navisphere>

Password: <password for above user>

After some time confirmation of successfully adding the array should be displayed.

Press Enter to continue and once back at the prompt select q to exit TestSMIProvider.exe
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Configuring StorageLink
Open the StorageLink Manager and connect to the StorageLink Gateway.

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First step is to add the XenServer host systems. In the middle pane, select Add Hypervisor Host

Enter the hostname or IP address of the XenServer master in the Hostname field and provide valid
credentials for connecting to the XenServer Resource Pool. Uncheck Enable Site Recovery for this
Host.

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Click on OK. StorageLink will now enumerate the hosts in the Resource Pool, VMs on the resource
pool as well as available iSCSI and FC initiators. These can be viewed by expanding the tree in the
left pane of the StorageLink Manager.

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Next add new storage array. Select Storage Infrastructure from the left pane and select Add Storage
Systems from the middle pane.

In the Add Storage Adapter wizard fill out the relevant information.

Storage adapter: Select EMC CLARiiON Storage Adapter (SMI-S) from the drop down box.

Name: <Provide a suitable name for this array>

CIMOM namespace: <leave to default interop value>

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CIMOM IP address: <the IP address of the server on which the SMI-S provider is
installed>

Port number: <leave this to the default 5988 value>

User name: <the username for the SMI-S provider (not the array credentials)>

Password: <the password for the SMI-S provider user>

Click OK. After the job completes, the added array can be viewed in the left pane.

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Setting up a StorageLink SR in XenCenter

Open XenCenter and connect to the XenServer Resource Pool.
Once connected, right-click on the Resource Pool and select Properties.

In the Properties window, select StorageLink Gateway on the left and fill out the StorageLink
Gateway details.

Server address: <the IP address of the StorageLink server>

Username: <the username for the StorageLink Gateway service, as entered during the
StorageLink installation>

Password: <the password for the above user>

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Click on Test Connection to verify the entered details.

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Once passed, click on OK.

Back in XenCenter click the New Storage button.

Select Advanced StorageLink technology as the type of new storage and click Next.

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Give the Storage Repository a name and select EMC CLARiiON from the drop down list. Click
Next.

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Select the Settings for the SR and click Next.

If the Protocol value is set to Auto and both iSCSI and FC are available, FC will be used.

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Optionally pre-provisioned volumes can be imported. Please refer to the StorageLink

documentation for more details.
Click Finish.

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After the Storage Repository has been created you can start creating VMs on this Storage
Repository. During the VM creation, the correct initiator (FC or iSCSI) will be configured
automatically on the array. If changes are required for the initiator settings on the array, please
follow the instructions in the EMC documentation.

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Setting up an iSCSI Storage Repository

Introduction
To optimize the availability of the iSCSI Storage Repository in the environment used to create this
document, we used 2 dedicated storage networks for the XenServer Resource Pool on separate
subnets. See the figure below for the full setup.

Pre-configuration XenServer
It's recommended best practice to create a separate network for your Storage Repository apart from
your management traffic and VM network traffic. The storage traffic should be on separate subnets.
This section describes the steps required to create a separate storage network.

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Creating dedicated storage networks

In XenCenter select your resource pool and select the Network tab in the right pane.

Under Management Interfaces click Configure

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In the Management Interfaces dialog box, click New Interface

Give the new interface a recognizable name, and select the Network you want the dedicated
interface on.

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Click on the Use these IP and DNS settings: radio button and enter a starting IP address for the
NICs in the Network.

Repeat the above steps for each NIC dedicated to storage, and click OK.

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In the environment used for this document we have 2 paths available from each server and created 2
dedicated storage networks.

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Determining or Changing the iSCSI IQNs

If you are planning to connect the CLARiiON over iSCSI we need to have the IQNs available for
setting up the array. To change or determine the software iSCSI initiators for the XenServer hosts,
for each host, right-click on the XenServer host in XenCenter and select Properties.
In the Properties window select the General option on the left (default) and write down or change
(if required) the value of the iSCSI IQN field. Click OK when done.

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EMC CLARiiON and XenServer iSCSI Setup

This section will describe the steps required to setup the CLARiiON array as an iSCSI Storage
Repository with XenServer.
Creating Initiator Records
There are no EMC PowerPath Agents available for XenServer which requires you to manually create
and register host initiator records for your XenServer hosts. Follow the following instructions to do
this.
In Navisphere right-click your array and select Connectivity Status.

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In the Connectivity Status window click Create.

In the Create Initiator Record window fill out the relevant information for the XenServer host you
are adding.

These are the required fields:

WWW/IQN: Fill out the IQN of the XenServer host you are adding. Use the relevant
IQNs for your environment as noted in the "Preparing XenServer" section above.

SP - port: Select the iSCSI port on your CLARiiON array which the XenServer host will
have access to. You need to create an initiator record for each path to the array.

Initator Type: Select CLARiiON Open

Failover Mode: Set to 4*

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Hostname: the XenServer hostname

IP Address: the XenServer IP address

Failover Mode 4 is Asymmetric Active/Active and is based on the Asymmetric Logical Unit
Access (AULA) standard. A whitepaper for this feature can be found on EMC Powerlink by
searching for "Asymmetric Active/Active" in the documents section.
Filled out the window would look something like this:

Click OK.
Click Yes to confirm.

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Click OK twice to confirm the following informational messages.

When returning to the Connectivity Status window, click Refresh All to make the added Host
Initiator Record visible.

To add additional paths to this initiator, select the initiator and select Create.
Repeat the steps described above, but since these are additional paths to an existing initiator record
we can mark Selected Hosts. Ensure that you use a different value for the SP - port for each
additional to path to the array.

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Repeat the steps above for each initiator record you want to add.
Once all initiator records are added for each XenServer host and for each path. Click Refresh All to
make all records visible. In the environment used for the creation of this document 2 XenServers
were used and 4 paths were available for each host.
Click OK to close the window.

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Creating a Storage Group

Next we need to create a Storage Group in which we make a LUN available to our XenServer hosts.
In Navisphere Expand your CLARiiON array and right-click Storage Groups and select Create
Storage Group.

In the Create Storage Group Window enter a name for this Storage Group and select OK.

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Click OK to confirm the informational message.

Expand the Storage Group tree and right-click the newly created Storage Group and select
Properties.

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Select the LUN tab. Find the LUN you want to make available to your XenServer environment and
select it. Click Add. Click Apply to confirm your selection

Click Yes to confirm.

Click OK to confirm the informational message.

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Change to the Hosts Tab

Select your XenServers from the Available Hosts section and click the
to the Hosts to be Connected section and click on OK.

button to add them

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Click Yes to confirm.

Click OK to confirm the informational message.

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Creating an iSCSI Storage Repository for XenServer

This section will describe how to create a new iSCSI Storage Repository by connecting to the LUN
created on the CLARiiON storage array.
In XenCenter click the New Storage button.

Select Software iSCSI as the type of new storage.

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In the Location window give the SR a name and provide the IP addresses of all the adapters in the
EMC CLARiiON array separated by commas.

If CHAP is enabled on your storage array, select Use CHAP and fill out the credentials.
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Click on Discover IQNs

From the Target IQN dropdown list, select the wildcard option * (<ip addresses>). After this click
Discover LUNs.

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Once the LUN you created before has been discovered click Finish.

XenServer will now verify if there are existing SRs on the LUN to re-attach to. Since this is a newly
created LUN we need to confirm to format the disk and create the SR. Click Yes to confirm.

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After completion of the formatting, you can verify the creation of the SR in XenCenter by selecting
the SR in the left hand pane.

To verify the multipathing, expand the Multipathing box in the right pane.

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Setting Up an FC Storage Repository

Introduction
To optimize the availability of the FC Storage Repository in the environment used to create this
document, each XenServer has 2 FC ports connected over 2 FC switches to the array. See the figure
below for the full setup.

EMC CLARiiON and XenServer FC Setup

This section will describe the steps required to setup the CLARiiON array as a FC Storage
Repository with XenServer.
Registering Initiator Records
There are no EMC PowerPath Agents available for XenServer which requires you to manually
register host initiator records for your XenServer hosts. Follow the following instructions to do this.
In Navisphere right-click your array and select Connectivity Status.

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If the FC HBAs in the XenServer hosts are setup correctly and the FC infrastructure is setup
correctly, the FC initiators should be automatically detected and visible in the Connectivity Status
dialog box.

Select the first FC initiator and click Register.

In the Register Initiator Record window fill out the relevant information.

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These are the required fields:

WWN/IQN :prepopulated.

SPport:prepopulated.

InitiatorType:SelectCLARiiONOpen

FailoverMode:Setto4*

HostInformation:keepSelectedHost

Failover Mode 4 is Asymmetric Active/Active and is based on the Asymmetric Logical Unit
Access (AULA) standard. A whitepaper for this feature can be found on EMC Powerlink by
searching for "Asymmetric Active/Active" in the documents section.
Filled out the window would look something like this:

Click OK.
Click Yes to confirm.

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Click OK twice to confirm the following informational messages.

Repeat the steps above for each initiator record you want to register.
Once all initiator records are registered for each XenServer host and for each path. Click Refresh All
to make all records visible.

Click OK to close the window.

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Creating a Storage Group

Next we need to create a Storage Group in which we make a LUN available to our XenServer hosts.
In Navisphere Expand your CLARiiON array and right-click Storage Groups and select Create
Storage Group.

In the Create Storage Group Window enter a name for this Storage Group and select OK.

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Click OK to confirm the informational message.

Expand the Storage Group tree and right-click the newly created Storage Group and select
Properties.

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Select the LUN tab. Find the LUN you want to make available to your XenServer environment and
select it. Click Add. Click Apply to confirm your selection

Click Yes to confirm.

Click OK to confirm the informational message.

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Change to the Hosts Tab

Select the FC initiators for your XenServers from the Available Hosts section and click the
button to add them to the Hosts to be Connected section and click on OK.
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Click Yes to confirm.

Click OK to confirm the informational message.

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Creating a FC Storage Repository for XenServer

This section will describe how to create a new FC Storage Repository by connecting to the LUN
created on the CLARiiON storage array.
In XenCenter click the New Storage button.

Select Hardware HBA as the type of new storage and click Next.

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XenServer will now probe the Storage Array for available LUNs.

One this is finished give the SR a name and select the LUN you want to use for this Storage
Repository and click Finish

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XenServer will now verify if there are existing SRs on the LUN to re-attach to.

Since this is a newly created LUN we need to confirm to format the disk and create the SR. Click
Yes to confirm.

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After completion of the formatting, you can verify the creation of the SR in XenCenter by selecting
the SR in the left hand pane.

To verify the multipathing, expand the Multipathing box in the right pane.

The number of active paths can differ depending on the zoning setup of the FC switches. Please
follow best practices as recommended by the FC switch vendor.

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AboutCitrix
CitrixSystems,Inc.(NASDAQ:CTXS)istheleadingproviderofvirtualization,networkingandsoftwareasaservice
technologiesformorethan230,000organizationsworldwide.ItsCitrixDeliveryCenter,CitrixCloudCenter(C3)
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Foundedin1989,annualrevenuein2008was$1.6billion.

2009CitrixSystems,Inc.Allrightsreserved.Citrix,AccessGateway,BranchRepeater,CitrixRepeater,
HDX,XenServer,XenApp,XenDesktopandCitrixDeliveryCenteraretrademarksofCitrixSystems,Inc.
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