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E-Series storage systems

Configure the multipath software in E-Series - VMware

Contributors netapp-driley netapp-jolieg
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To provide a redundant path to the storage array, configure multipath software.

Multipath software provides a redundant path to the storage array in case one of the physical paths is disrupted. The multipath software presents the operating system with a single virtual device that represents the active physical paths to the storage. The multipath software also manages the failover process that updates the virtual device.

Multipathing Policies

Details for the multipathing policies are below. For FCP, iSCSI, and SAS protocols, the default is Native Multipathing Plug-Ins (NMP). For NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe over FC, NVMe over RoCE, and NVMe over TCP), the default is High Performance Plug-In (HPP).

Native Multipathing Plug-Ins (NMP)

Applicable only for FCP, iSCSI, and SAS protocols, VMware provides Native Multipathing Plug-Ins (NMP), known as Storage Array Type Plug-ins (SATP), to handle the failover implementations of specific vendors' storage arrays.

The SATP you should use is VMW_SATP_ALUA (This is the chosen default for NetApp E-Series). For more information, see VMware SATPs.

Path Selection Plug-Ins and Policies (PSP)

These plug-ins are submodules of the VMware NMP. The NMP assigns a default PSP for each logical device based on the device type. You can override the default PSP. For more information, see Change the Path Selection Policy. NMP assigns the default path selection policy of VMW_PSP_RR (Round Robin) for NetApp devices. This is the recommended PSP.

For more information, see VMware Path Selection Plug-Ins and Policies.

High Performance Plug-In (HPP)

The HPP replaces the NMP for high-speed devices, such as NVMe. The HPP is the default plug-in that claims NVMe-oF targets. ESX supports end-to-end NVMe without emulation and SCSI to NVMe emulation. The HPP supports only active/active and implicit ALUA targets.

Path Selection Schemes (PSS)

To support multipathing, the HPP uses the Path Selection Schemes (PSS) when selecting physical paths for I/O requests. The default scheme for devices claimed by HPP is LB-RR (Load Balance - Round Robin). This is the recommended PSS.

For more information on HPP or PSS, see VMware High Performance Plug-In and Path Selection Schemes.