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Deployment Guide
VMware vSphere 5.1: 16Gb Fibre

Channel SANs with HP ProLiant
DL380 Gen8 servers and HP 3PAR
Storage
Create robust, highly available
vSphere 5.1 environments with best-
of-breed Fibre Channel HP 3PAR
Storage and HP ProLiant DL servers

Table of contents
Emulex Solution Implementers Series .............................................................................................................3
Executive summary ..........................................................................................................................................3
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................5
About this guide ...........................................................................................................................................5
Solution components ........................................................................................................................................6
ESXi 5.1 .......................................................................................................................................................7
HP ProLiant Gen8 servers ...........................................................................................................................7
Deploying the solution components .............................................................................................................8
Pre-installation .................................................................................................................................................9
Updating firmware ........................................................................................................................................9
Configuring network connectivity .................................................................................................................... 10
Planning the network environment for the host .......................................................................................... 11
Configuring storage ........................................................................................................................................ 12
Using the VMFS-5 filesystem for additional functionality ............................................................................ 12
Configuring Fibre Channel connectivity ...................................................................................................... 13
Deploying ESXi 5.1 ........................................................................................................................................ 18
Post-installation .............................................................................................................................................. 19
Configuring the HBA .................................................................................................................................. 19
Using NPIV to identify HBA ports ............................................................................................................... 21
Configuring the storage array ..................................................................................................................... 21
Provisioning virtual LUNs ........................................................................................................................... 22
Performance comparison ............................................................................................................................... 23
Test method ............................................................................................................................................... 24
Results ........................................................................................................................................................... 25
Summary ........................................................................................................................................................ 30
Appendix A Configuring BfS ........................................................................................................................ 31
For more information ...................................................................................................................................... 32

Solution Implementers Series

3 Deploying 16Gb/s Fibre Channel SANs with HP ProLiant DL380 Gen8 servers and HP 3PAR Storage

Emulex Solution Implementers Series
This document is part of the Emulex Solution Implementers Series, providing Implementers (IT
administrators and system architects) with solution and deployment information on popular
server and software platforms. As a leader in I/O adapters Fibre Channel (FC), Ethernet,
iSCSI and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) the Emulex technology team is taking a lead
in providing guidelines for implementing I/O for these solutions.
Executive summary
With vSphere 5.1, VMware continues to raise the bar for hypervisor products, introducing many
new features along with support for more and larger virtual machines (VMs) that can now utilize
up to 64 virtual CPUs (vCPUs).
vSphere 5.1, like 5.0, does not include a service console operating system (OS); VMware
agents and Common Information Model (CIM) providers run directly on the hypervisor layer
(VMkernel). There are three options for communicating with VMkernel: VMware vSpheres
enhanced command-line interface (vCLI), vSphere PowerCLI or the vSphere Management
Assistant (vMA) virtual appliance.
vSphere 5.1 provides many new features and enhancements in areas such as storage and
networking. Indeed, VMware has several new features,
1
claiming, for example, that vSphere 5.1
can run VMs that are two-times as powerful as those supported by earlier versions and support
for new VM hardware formats, such as VM Virtual Hardware Version 9. In storage, there is
added support for 16Gb Fibre Channel (16GFC), however, as shown in Table 1, the new, larger
VM will place heavy demands on data center infrastructure.

1
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/vsphere/vmware-what-is-new-vsphere51.pdf


Table 1. Resources supported by various VMware hypervisors
Component
E
S
X

1

E
S
X
2

V
M
w
a
r
e

I
n
f
r
a
s
t
r
u
c
t
u
r
e

3

V
M
w
a
r
e

v
S
p
h
e
r
e

4

V
M
w
a
r
e

v
S
p
h
e
r
e

5

V
M
w
a
r
e

v
S
p
h
e
r
e

5
.
1

S
c
a
l
e

f
a
c
t
o
r

vCPUs 1 2 4 8 32 64 x 64
Memory
(GB per VM)
2 3.6 64 256 1,000 1,000 x 500
Network
(Gb)
< 0.5 0.9 9 30 >36 >36 x 72
Fibre Channel SAN
(MB/s per HBA port)
1GFC:
100
2GFC:
200
4GFC:
400
8GFC:
800
8GFC:
800
16GFC:
1,600
x 16

To help you transition to an infrastructure that is capable of supporting the storage needed by
new-generation VMs, Emulex has validated the functionality and performance of vSphere 5.1 in
conjunction with 16GFC connectivity. The proof-of-concept (POC) environment included the
following components:
Best-of-breed HP ProLiant DL380 Gen 8 server
Dual-port 16GFC adapter produced for HP by Emulex
HP 3PAR P10000 V400 Storage
SANBlaze 16GFC storage emulator (16GFC connectivity end-to-end)
In addition, since 16GFC Storage Area Network (SAN) storage is better suited for the new
release of vSphere, this implementers guide outlines the process for deploying vSphere 5.1
with 16GFC connectivity and outlines the results of performance tests carried out in such an
environment.
The performance test section was executed by the Emulex Technical Marketing team in their
labs and it was to validate and test 16GFC connectivity end-to-end.
The performance testing demonstrated that, with a 16GFC Emulex Fibre Channel Host Bus
Adapter (HBA), I/O performance was significantly higher (as much as 99%) than with 8GFC
technology, without requiring additional CPU cycles. Thus, as VM density increases, you are
placing more burden on the storage array by migrating from 8GFC to 16GFC since I/O
bandwidth has doubled on the array.
Intended audience: This document is intended for engineers, system administrators and
VMware administrators interested in deploying vSphere 5.1 on an HP ProLiant Gen8 server


featuring an HP Ethernet 10Gb 2-port 554FLR-SFP+ Adapter (684213-B21) and HP SN1000E
16Gb 2-port PCIe Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter (QR559A).
Testing performed in August September, 2012, is described.
Introduction
vSphere 5.1 supports an unprecedented number of VMs on a single host; moreover, these VMs
can reach unprecedented size depending on the application and workload for each VM. Thus,
Emulex expects to see more and more workloads being virtualized, as well as additional
resources being assigned to existing VMs in order to meet the needs of particular workloads. As
noted by VMware,
2
the VM will only get bigger and faster.

VMware sees more VMs being deployed than ever before,
3
with vSphere 5.1 allowing these
VMs to grow as much as two times larger. With this increased density, virtualized environments
must be able to provide additional network and storage resources in order to support the
increased workload.
About this guide
This implementers guide describes how to configure a 16GFC SAN with a DL380 Gen8 server
in a vSphere environment. Guidelines and instructions are provided for configuring servers,
adapters and storage using technical documentation provided by VMware and HP.
Information is provided on the following topics:
Solution components
Networking configuration
Storage configuration, including boot from SAN (BfS)
Performance testing to compare 8GFC and 16GFC

2
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/vsphere/vmware-what-is-new-vsphere51.pdf
3
Based on interim results of VMware customer surveys performed in January 2010 and April 2011


Solution components
Emulex built the POC environment shown in Figure 1 in order to validate 16GFC connectivity
with vSphere 5.1.

Figure 1. 16GFC POC



Table 2 outlines the key components deployed in this environment.

Table 2. Test environment
Component Device Comments
Tested server HP ProLiant DL380 Gen8 Virtualization host running ESXi 5.1;
10 identically-configured VMs
Management server vCenter Server 5.1 VM running on
ESXi 5.1 host
vCenter Server 5.1 is a VM running Windows
Server 2008 R2
AD & DNS server Generic Windows Server 2008 system Support for Microsoft Active Directory (AD) and
Domain Name System (DNS)
Storage HP 3PAR Storage P10000 V400 Storage
Fibre Channel
connectivity
16GFC HBA HP SN1000E 16Gb 2-port PCIe Fibre Channel
Host Bus Adapter (HBA)
16GFC fabric switch 2 x Brocade 6510 16GFC SAN switch

If this is your first time installing VMware products on a ProLiant server, it is important for you to
have a basic understanding of each of the solution components so that the terminology used in
this guide is clear.
vSphere 5.1
VMwares latest hypervisor, vSphere 5.1, extends the core capabilities of vSphere 4.1 and 5.0
to provide the foundation for a cloud infrastructure, whether public or private. Areas where you
can expect to see improvements after deploying vSphere 5.1 include server consolidation,
performance, management, provisioning and troubleshooting.
For more information on vSphere 5.1, refer to Whats New in VMware vSphere 5.1, available
at http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/vsphere/vmware-what-is-new-vsphere51.pdf.
HP ProLiant Gen8 servers
The latest DL380 Gen8 servers are based on Intel Romley processors. These systems continue
to be the servers of choice for many HP shops in the VMware space and are widely used from
small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to large data centers for their high availability,
scalability, CPU horsepower and memory capacity. In addition, these 2U rack-mount servers
save space and power, making them ideal for large data centers moving to a cloud
infrastructure.


Using Fibre Channel for shared storage
When deploying vSphere on ProLiant servers, you should always consider using a SAN so that
you can take full advantage of the many hypervisor features and enhancements that require
shared storage.
While VMware supports most of the more common protocols, Fibre Channel is the predominant
choice for shared SAN storage. Thus, while storage protocols continue to evolve, introducing
options such as iSCSI and NFS storage arrays, this guide focuses on Fibre Channel
connectivity.
Server sizing
HP has developed an automated tool HP Sizing Tool for VMware vSphere that can help you
size and scope a server for a particular vSphere deployment. Based on your responses to a
questionnaire, the tool provides a quick, consistent method for identifying the best server for
your environment. It also creates a bill of material.
For more information on this sizer and other HP solutions for VMware, visit
www.hp.com/go/vmware.
HP 3PAR Storage
Highly virtualized from the ground up, HP 3PAR Storage can enhance the benefits of a vSphere
environment by taking care of the demands that server virtualization places on the storage
infrastructure.
HP 3PAR Storage combines highly virtualized, autonomically managed, dynamically tiered
storage arrays with advanced internal virtualization capabilities to increase administrative
efficiency, system utilization and storage performance. As a result, HP 3PAR Storage can boost
the return on a vSphere investment by allowing you to optimize your data center infrastructure,
simplify storage administration and maximize virtualization savings.
A key area for HP 3PAR P10000 V400 storage arrays which makes a significant impact on
performance when migrating from 8GFC to 16GFC is the wide striping architecture. As noted in
HPs documentation, wide striping distributes each vSphere storage volume across all array
resources. When you increase bandwidth to the array, you are not disk bound on the LUN like
you are with traditional arrays that narrow stripe data.
Deploying the solution components
Having introduced the key components of the POC, this implementers guide now describes
how to configure 16GFC connectivity. Guidelines are provided for the following areas:
Pre-installation
Configuring network connectivity


Configuring storage
Deploying vSphere 5.1
Post-installation
Pre-installation
There are several steps to consider before applying power or installing an operating system on
a system. First, you need to ensure that sufficient rack space and appropriate power and
cooling are available; you should also verify that firmware is at the latest levels and download
any necessary patches and drivers using the HP and VMware links provided in this section.
The following pre-installation process offers guidelines for pre-configuring a network to support
an ESXi host, as well as suggestions for configuring storage systems and storage area
networking.
As a best practice, Emulex recommends verifying with HP technical support that you are
running the very latest HP firmware and drivers on components, such as HP FlexLOM
4
and PCI
adapters.
Updating firmware
Before deploying vSphere 5.1 on a ProLiant server, you should determine the latest versions of
the following firmware and, if necessary, update:
ESXi host:
o System BIOS
o Flexible-LOMs and PCI adapters
Storage array and controllers
SAN switches
You can review the latest firmware levels recommended by HP and VMware at the following
sites:
HP: Visit www.hp.com/go/vmware and refer to the Certified ProLiants and Certified HP
Storage links under Tools/Resources.
VMware: Refer to the VMware Compatibility Guides at
http://www.vmware.com/resources/guides.html.
Note
Always contact HP support to identify the latest firmware
updates and drivers.

4
Where LOM refers to LAN on motherboard


As always, plan your deployment or upgrade before installing software; read all the
documentation provided by VMware and HP before starting. Planning will speed up the process
particularly if you intend to deploy multiple servers.
With pre-installation activities complete, you can now start configuring your network.
Configuring network connectivity
Before installing vSphere 5.1, you need to understand the network requirements for the
particular ESXi host and the connectivity supported by the physical server. For example, while
many physical servers feature LOM or integrated network interfaces, ports are typically 1Gb
Ethernet (1GbE), though newer models such as the DL380 Gen8 server offer 10GbE ports.
In order to best use 10GbE, you should understand the requirements of the traffic being carried
on the network, as outlined in Table 3.

Table 3. Typical network requirements
Traffic type Bandwidth usage Other requirements
Management Low Highly reliable, secure channel
VMware vMotion High Isolated
VMware Fault
Tolerance (FT)
Medium to -high Highly reliable, low-latency channel
iSCSI High Reliable, high-speed channel
VM Application-dependent Application-dependent

In general, combining management port traffic, which is relatively light, with VMware vMotion
traffic is acceptable in many deployments that utilize four network interface cards (NICs). Since
vMotion traffic is heavier, it is not a good practice to combine this with VM traffic; thus, you
should consider separating such traffic on different subnets.
For simplicity, Emulex placed management and vMotion traffic on the same virtual switch in the
POC. In such an implementation, it is a good practice to use virtual LANs (VLANs) to enhance
security and isolate traffic.
Following VMwares best practices for performance
5
provides a good starting point. Remember
that, as time passes, you should regularly revisit your environment to ensure the network
configuration is still effective.

5
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/Perf_Best_Practices_vSphere5.1.pdf


Planning the network environment for the host
You should plan the network environment for the host in conjunction with your network
administrator.
The DL380 Gen8 server utilized in the POC was equipped with an HP Ethernet 10Gb 2-port
554FLR-SFP+ Adapter, which was used to configure the single network interface card (NIC)
that was needed.
In vSphere deployments featuring 1GbE network adapters, it is not uncommon for the use of six
or even eight NICs in order to meet VMwares networking requirements for performance,
isolation and redundancy. However, for this 10GbE environment, Emulex was able to utilize just
two 10GbE ports; VLANs were used in conjunction with VMwares networking I/O control to
manage bandwidth.
Table 4 shows VMwares best practices for two 10GbE ports.
Table 4. VMwares best practices, which were used in the POC
Traffic type Port group Teaming
option
Active uplink Standby
uplink
NIOC shares
VM PG-A LBT dvuplink 1, 2 None 20
iSCSI PG-B LBT dvuplink 1, 2 None 20
FT PG-C LBT dvuplink 1, 2 None 10
Management PG-D LBT dvuplink 1, 2 None 5
vMotion PG-E LBT dvuplink 1, 2 None 20

After setting up network connectivity, you can now configure storage.



Configuring storage
This section provides information on the following topics:
Using the new VMFS-5 filesystem
6
to support additional storage functionality
Configuring Fibre Channel connectivity
Implementing fabric zoning
Configuring the storage array
Configuring BfS
Using the VMFS-5 filesystem for additional functionality
Introduced with ESXi 5.0, the VMFS-5 filesystem provides support for VMFS volumes up to
64TB in a single extent. With VMFS-3, 32 extents would have been required to achieve 64TB.
Note
The volume creation wizard for VMFS-5 uses GUID
Partition Table (GPT) format rather than Master Boot
Record (MBR), which allows you to create VMFS
volumes that are larger than 2TB.
GUID refers to a globally-unique identifier.

With the ability to create large VMFS volumes, you must now manage storage array queue
depth as well as LUN queue depth. For example, queue depth for an HP SN1000E 16Gb 2-port
PCIe Fibre Channel HBA is set by default to 30 and may be adjusted via Emulex OneCommand
Manager, the OneCommand Manager plug-in for vCenter Server, or vMA.
Other benefits delivered by the VMFS-5 filesystem include:
Support for up to 130,000 files rather than 30,000 as before
Support for 64TB physical-mode RDM LUNs
Virtual mode allows you to create snapshots, which is beneficial when a file exceeds 2TB
For space efficiency, there can now be up to 30,000 8KB sub-blocks
There is small-file support for files of 1KB or less; in the past, such files would have occupied
entire sub-blocks
As you plan the deployment of shared storage, take into consideration the benefits of VMFS-5.
For example, if you are migrating from a hypervisor that is pre-vSphere 5.1, you may also wish
to migrate to VMFS-5 to take advantage of the new features and enhancements.

6
VMFS is a VMware Virtual Machine File System format.


Configuring Fibre Channel connectivity
The Emulex Fibre Channel driver is in-box with vSphere, making it is easy to transition to
16GFC connectivity from an earlier platform there is no need to install the driver during the
deployment of vSphere 5.1. As a best practice, it is recommended to update the fibre channel
driver since the in-box driver will be out of date. Thus, the configuration of 16GFC connectivity
via HP SN1000E 16Gb 2-port PCIe Fibre Channel HBAs is a simple process in a vSphere 5.1
environment, with just the following stages:
Implement fabric zoning
Configure the storage array
Configure BfS
Before you begin the configuration, it is a best practice to review the appropriate VMware
Compatibility Guide to ensure firmware for the storage array is at the latest levels and the array
has been certified, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Showing firmware levels specified in the VMware Compatibility Guide for HP 3PAR P10000 Storage



IMPORTANT
Whenever you need to update code or firmware, Emulex
recommends backing up your data and configuration.

Implementing fabric zoning
Zoning has become a standard component of VMware deployments; indeed, most if not all
storage array vendors recommend zoning LUNs that are presented to ESXi hosts. Fabric zones
can enhance manageability while providing support for advanced features such as vMotion and
Fault Tolerance that require multiple hosts to access the same LUN.
Zones can also enhance security. For example, consider what might happen if you were to
connect a new Microsoft Windows server to the same SAN switch as an existing ESXi host.
Without zoning or some other security measure, the new server would be able to access the
same storage as the existing host and could potentially overwrite the filesystem, obliterating VM
data and files. Thus, since the POC features two 16Gb HBA ports, there should ideally be two
or more fabric switches, each configured with a zone that includes one of the ports.



Figure 3 shows the zoning used in the POC.

Figure 3. Zoning in the POC, with four paths to the LUN



The POC utilizes two Brocade 16Gb SAN switches and a total of four zones, as shown in Table
5. The zones are added to an alias zone configuration, which is then activated.
Table 4. Zone configuration for the POC
HBA Storage
controller
Alias Zone Zone
configuration
Switch
Port 0

Port A1 Zone 1 ZoneSet 1 ZoneConfig_1 1
Port B2 Zone 2 ZoneSet 1 ZoneConfig_1 2
Port 1

Port A2 Zone 3 ZoneSet 2 ZoneConfig_1 2
Port B1 Zone 4 ZoneSet 2 ZoneConfig_1 1

This zone configuration gives the ESXi host four paths to a single LUN. At this stage of the
deployment, no LUNs have been created; thus, LUNs cannot yet be bound to WWN ports on
the HP SN1000E2P 16Gb HBA.
Setting the storage array
HP 3PAR Storage is very popular in VMware environments due to its extensive virtualization
capabilities and ease of management. HP has documented deployment and tuning best
practices for this simple yet robust and highly available array; for more information, refer to
3PAR Utility Storage with VMware vSphere.
Emulex followed HPs best practices when configuring HP 3PAR Storage for the POC. The
process included the following stages:
Update storage array controller firmware and management software as needed
Configure virtual domains
Configure virtual LUNs
Assign host mode
Create hosts
Present LUNs to the host
If the correct zoning and host mode have been applied, LUNs will be visible to the assigned
hosts. There should be four paths to each LUN for optimal performance and redundancy.



Configuring Boot from SAN (BfS)
Enterprise server manufacturers such as HP continue to offer local disk storage; however, with
the growth of virtualization and the increased use of BfS,
7
server configurations are evolving.
For example, HP offers a diskless server that would allow you to deploy vSphere via a USB
flash drive or SD card.
BfS capability is often configured in a vSphere environment, where its benefits include:
Enhanced manageability
Faster deployment
Easier backup
8
of the hypervisor
Enhanced disaster recovery capabilities
The process for configuring BfS via an HP SN1000E2P 16Gb HBA is simple and can be
achieved in the following stages:
Load the latest boot code to HBA
Provision the boot LUNs
Configure the ESXi host
Specify the desired boot volume
Place the HBA first in the boot order
This vendor-specific process is described in more detail in Appendix A Configuring BfS.

Note
If you plan to install or upgrade ESXi 5.1 with local
storage, Emulex recommends disconnecting the Fibre
Channel cables from the SAN to prevent the OS from
being accidentally installed on the SAN.

Once storage has been configured and you have verified that the hardware has been certified
by VMware
9
you can deploy ESXi 5.1.

7
ESXi is installed directly on a LUN instead of local storage
8
Since the array owns the LUN, array-based copies can be made without server intervention.
9
Refer to the VMware Compatibility Guides at http://www.vmware.com/resources/guides.html.


Deploying vSphere 5.1
The main points to remember before beginning a vSphere deployment are as follows:
Check all firmware on host and adapters and make updates as needed
Check HBA drivers (vSphere 5.1 has inbox drivers for Emulex 16GFC)
Plan the networking configuration
Plan the Fibre Channel storage configuration and LUNs
Decide on local or BfS storage
Select the most suitable deployment option for your environment
Since vSphere 5.1 has been designed for flexibility, you have a range of options for deploying
this hypervisor on a ProLiant server. These options include the following:
Interactive installation: Suggested for fewer than five hosts
Scripted installation: Unattended deployment for multiple hosts
vSphere Auto Deploy installation: Suggested for a large number of ESXi hosts; uses
VMware vCenter Server
Custom installation: vSphere 5 Image Builder command-line interfaces (CLIs) provide
custom updates, patches and drivers
For the POC, Emulex elected to use the interactive method, downloading an vSphere 5.1 image
from the VMware website to local storage. The deployment process is fairly straightforward and,
in many ways, identical to the deployment of earlier versions of ESXi. Since this process is
detailed in VMwares technical documentation, it is not described in this guide.
It should not take more than a few minutes to install vSphere 5.1.
Following the installation of vSphere 5.1 you can configure the management network and, if
appropriate, enable lockdown mode via vCenter Server or the ESXi direct console user interface
(DCUI). You can then proceed with the post-installation process, which includes configuring the
vSphere 5.1 host for 16GFC SAN connectivity.



Post-installation
After vSphere 5.1 has been deployed on the host, you should review the installation and
perform any updates that are necessary for example, a vendor may have recently released
new firmware or drivers.
Next, you should configure NIC teaming, which is not configured automatically unless you are
using a scripted installation.
If you are using local storage, remember to reconnect the Fibre Channel cables to the SAN and
then verify that the host can login to the fabric and view any LUNs that have been assigned.
You can now configure the vSphere 5.1 host and storage array for 16GFC SAN connectivity,
which may involve the following activities:
Planning the network environment for the host
Configuring the HBA
Configuring the storage array with features such as multipathing
Configuring the HBA
If you are migrating to vSphere 5.1 or are installing vSphere 5.1 for the first time and have
installed the HP SN1000E 16Gb 2-port PCIe HBA in a full-length PCIe 3.0 slot, with the correct
small form-factor pluggable (SFP) transceivers, configuration is simple.
Since vSphere 5.1 already provides an in-box VMware driver for Fibre Channel, there is no
need to install a driver during the initial setup. After the vSphere 5.1 installation, however, you
should verify with VMware or Emulex that the in-box driver is the latest and, if necessary,
update it.



After configuring the HBA, review the Configuration tab of vCenter Server; you should see your
device listed under Storage Adapters, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. In this example, ESXi has automatically recognized a 16GFC HBA

Alternatively, you can use vMA to remotely send commands to the ESXi host to verify that the
driver has been configured correctly.



Using NPIV to identify HBA ports
N-Port ID Virtualization (NPIV)
10
is supported in vSphere 5.1. This capability allows a single
Fibre Channel HBA port to register with the fabric using multiple worldwide port names (WWNs),
each having a unique entity. To learn more, refer to the VMware technical note, Configuring
and Troubleshooting N-Port ID Virtualization, which provides specific information on Emulex
adapters.
For additional information, refer to the VMware document, vSphere Storage Guide, which is
available at http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-pubs.html.
Configuring the storage array
vSphere 5.1 introduced several new storage features and enhanced others. You should be
aware of the following:
VMFS-5
o Support for 32 hosts for single read-only file on a VMFS volume
vStorage API for array integration (VAAI)
Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler (SDRS)
o Datastore correlation detector
o New I/O metric VMobservedLatency
Storage I/O Control (SIOC)
o Automatic setting for threshold latency
Storage vMotion
o Four parallel migrations concurrently
Storage protocol enhancements
o 16GFC support
While these valuable new features are beyond the scope of this guide, be aware that you may
be facing additional steps after you install vSphere 5.1. For example, after mounting a LUN and
formatting it with VMFS-5, you may need to determine if additional, array-specific agents are
required to support features such as VAAI or vSphere APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA).
For this POC, Emulex configured the HP 3PAR Storage based on information provided in the
HP document, HP 3PAR Storage and VMware vSphere 5 best practices.

10
Maintained by American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Technical Committee T11


Note
For more information on ESXi 5.1 features that are
supported by a particular HP array, you should see
VMwares HCL to see which specific array features are
supported for each model and also consult HP technical
support.

Provisioning virtual LUNs
You can use the HP 3PAR InForm Management Console (shown in Figure 5) to configure and
manage HP 3PAR Storage.
Figure 5. View of the HP 3PAR InForm Management Console

For this POC, Emulex started off by configuring a single ESXi Common Provisioning Group
(CPG) named VMware and used all drives in the array for provisioning virtual LUNs (VLUNs).
Using this CPG group, Emulex had to validate FC connectivity provisioned to the DL380 Gen8
server with a single 600GB LUN to provide support for VMs.
The next concern, after deploying vSphere 5.1, is HPs suggested configuration for multipathing.


Configuring multipathing
By default with vSphere 5.1, HP 3PAR Storage uses Fixed path policy for active/active storage
arrays. This policy maximizes bandwidth utilization by designating the preferred path to each
LUN through the appropriate storage controller.
According to HP documentation, HP 3PAR Storage also supports Round Robin path policy,
which can improve storage performance by load-balancing I/O requests between active paths,
sending a fixed number of requests through each in turn.
Note
The fixed number of I/Os is user-configurable. You
should consult HP technical support for their
recommendations.

You might consider enabling the arrays Asymmetric Logical Unit Access (ALUA) feature,
which can improve storage performance in some environments.
Performance comparison
As VM density increases, the burden placed on storage by applications running on these VMs
will also increase. As a result, both Emulex and VMware have carried out performance tests
designed to demonstrate the ability of 16GFC storage to sustain a significantly higher workload
than 8GFC storage without increasing CPU utilization on the host.



Figure 6 shows how storage was configured in the VMware test environment.

Figure 6. Test environment

Test method
The Iometer tool was used to compare sequential read and write throughput and CPU
effectiveness with 16GFC and 8GFC HBAs. Various block sizes were used.
A VM was configured with a single IOmeter worker thread. The VM was hosted on a DL380
Gen8 server that was configured with the following:
Two six-core Intel Xeon E5-2640 processors
HP SN1000E dual-port 16GFC HBA
Emulex LPe12002 dual-port 8GFC HBA
A Brocade 6510 16Gb FC switch was also in the POC.



The VM was configured as follows:
One virtual CPU
Guest memory: 4,096MB
Virtual disk: 10GB OS and 256GB RDM
SCSI controllers: One LSI Logic and one PVSCSI virtual controller
VM Virtual Hardware Version 9
Guest OS: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, 64-bit
The target RDM LUN for the testing was placed on a SANBlaze VirtualLUN 6.3 16GFC
appliance, which is used to emulate Fibre Channel drives in order to characterize read/write
performance. The SANBlaze device was configured as follows:
HP DL380 G7
256GB RAM
16GFC HBA
Results
Sequential read throughput
Figure 7 shows sequential read throughput for a range of block sizes.



Figure 7. Sequential read throughput in MB/s in the test environment

With larger block sizes the result is what was expected from 16GFC as we are able to utilize
near-line rate.
11
As we double the pipeline in size, we are also able to prove the 16GFC adapter
can double the throughput.
12

16GFC out-performed 8GFC by almost 100% with larger blocks.
CPU effectiveness reads
Figure 8 shows CPU effectiveness (defined as total IOPS divided by CPU utilization) for
sequential reads. This metric characterizes the number of CPU cycles taken to complete a
particular IOPS total; thus, a lower number is more desirable because it indicates the processor
is less stressed.

11
1,560 MB/s for sequential reads
12
750 MB/s for sequential reads
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
1K 4K 8K 16K 32K 64K 128K 256K
M
B
s

Block Size
MB/Sec
Seq. Reads
8GB Reads
16GB Reads


Figure 8. CPU effectiveness for sequential reads at various block sizes

CPU effectiveness was similar with 16GFC and 8GFC, despite the fact that, with 16GFC, the
CPU was completing significantly more I/Os.

0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
1K 4K 8K 16K 32K 64K 128K 256K
Block Size
CPU Effectiveness
Seq. Reads
8GB Reads
16GB Reads


Sequential write throughput
Figure 9 shows sequential write throughput for a range of block sizes.

Figure 9. Sequential write throughput in MB/s in the test environment

With larger block sizes the result is what was expected from 16GFC as we are able to utilize
near-line rate. Again, as we double the pipeline in size, we are able to also prove the 16GFC
adapter can double the throughput.16GFC out-performed 8GFC by almost 100% with larger
blocks.

0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
1400
1600
1800
1K 4K 8K 16K 32K 64K 128K 256K
M
B
s

Block Size
MB/Sec
Seq. Writes
8GB Writes
16GB Writes


CPU effectiveness writes
Figure 10 shows CPU effectiveness for sequential writes.

Figure 10. CPU effectiveness for sequential writes at various block sizes

CPU effectiveness was similar with 16GFC and 8GFC, despite the fact that, with 16GFC, the
CPU was completing significantly more I/Os.

0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
1K 4K 8K 16K 32K 64K 128K 256K
Block Size
CPU Effectiveness
Seq. Writes
8GB Writes
16GB Writes


Summary
vSphere 5.1 clearly adds a broad range of features to the hypervisor; however, taking full
advantage of these features requires newly-supported 16GFC SAN connectivity in your
virtualization environment.
Testing carried out by Emulex indicated that I/O performance with a 16GFC implementation with
HP DL380 Gen 8 Servers and HP 3PAR P10000 V400 was significantly higher than with 8GFC,
without the need to stress the CPUs. This gives HP DL380 Gen 8 servers the ability to utilize
the CPU power to complete others higher priority tasks.
Planning the deployment of a vSphere 5.1 HP host or the migration of an existing host to
vSphere 5.1 is a relatively simple process; guidelines are provided in this guide.
Using HP DL380 Gen8, HP 3PAR P10000 with 16GFC connectivity, rather than 8GFC, results
in an infrastructure that can meet the demands of the larger VMs you are now able to create
with vSphere 5.1, thus allowing you to introduce additional business-critical applications.



Appendix A Configuring BfS
This appendix outlines the process for configuring BfS:
1. Collaborate with your SAN administrator on provisioning a boot LUN and presenting it to the
vSphere 5.1 host.
2. Download the Universal Boot Code firmware for your adapter, available at
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&pr
odNameId=5219801&prodTypeId=12169&prodSeriesId=5219798&swLang=8&taskId=135&
swEnvOID=54. For example, select HP SN1000E 16Gb 2-Port PCIe Fibre Channel Host
Bus AdapterCross operating system (BIOS, Firmware, Diagnostics, etc.).
3. Power on the server and, at the prompt, select Ctrl-E.
4. Install the boot code firmware.
5. Reboot the host and, at the prompt, select Ctrl-E.
6. Specify the adapter port from which the system will be booting.
7. Scan the array and select the boot LUN.
8. Save the settings and reboot the host.
9. Insert the vSphere 5.1 CD into the CD drive.
10. Initiate the install.
11. Select the appropriate disk on the SAN when asked where to install the media.



For more information
Storage I/O Performance on VMware
vSphere 5.1 over 16 Gigabit Fibre Channel
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/V
Mware-vSphere-16Gb-StorageIO-Perf.pdf
Whats New in VMware vSphere 5.1
Performance
http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresour
ces/10309
Whats New in VMware vSphere 5.1
Storage
http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresour
ces/10308
HP virtualization with VMware, including a
section on ProLiant servers
www.hp.com/go/vmware
HP storage solutions for VMware http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/w1/en/
solutions/storage-vmware.html
3PAR Utility Storage with VMware vSphere http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/vm
w-vsphere-3par-utility-storage.pdf

To help us improve our documents, please provide feedback at implementerslab@emulex.com.

Copyright 2012 Emulex Corporation. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for
Emulex products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Emulex
shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.
OneCommand is a registered trademarks of Emulex Corporation. HP is a registered trademark in the U.S. and other countries.
VMware is a registered trademark of VMware Corporation.

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VMware vSphere 5.1: 16Gb Fibre

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