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ONTAP SAN Host Utilities

Configure AIX 7.3/VIOS 4.x for FCP and iSCSI with ONTAP storage

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The AIX Host Utilities software provides management and diagnostic tools for AIX hosts that are connected to ONTAP storage. When you install the AIX Host Utilities on an AIX 7.3/VIOS 4.x host, you can use the Host Utilities to help you manage FCP and iSCSI protocol operations with ONTAP LUNs.

Step 1: Optionally, enable SAN booting

You can configure your host to use SAN booting to simplify deployment and improve scalability. If your configuration doesn't support SAN booting, you can use a local boot.

SAN boot

SAN booting is the process of setting up a SAN-attached disk (a LUN) as a boot device for an AIX/PowerVM host host. You can set up a SAN boot LUN to work in a AIX Multipath I/O (MPIO) environment that is using the FC protocol and running AIX Host Utilities with either the FC or FCoE protocol. The method you use to create a SAN boot LUN and install a new OS image in an AIX MPIO environment depends on the protocol that you are using.

Steps

  1. Use the Interoperability Matrix Tool to verify that your AIX OS, protocol, and ONTAP version support SAN booting.

  2. Follow the best practices for setting up a SAN boot in the vendor documentation.

Local boot

Perform a local boot by installing the AIX OS on the local hard disk, for example, on an SSD, SATA, or RAID.

Step 2: Install the AIX Host Utilities

NetApp strongly recommends installing the AIX Host Utilities to support ONTAP LUN management and assist technical support with gathering configuration data. The MPIO package from the Host Utilities provides MPIO support for AIX and VIOS.

Note Installing the AIX Host Utilities provides additional timeout settings on your AIX host.

Install AIX Host Utilities 8.0.

Step 3: Confirm the multipath configuration for your host

You can use multipathing with AIX and PowerVM to manage ONTAP LUNs.

Multipathing allows you to configure multiple network paths between the host and storage system. If one path fails, traffic continues with the remaining paths. The AIX and PowerVM environments of the Host Utilities use the AIXs native multipathing solution (MPIO).

The Path Control Module (PCM) is responsible for controlling multiple paths for an AIX host. The PCM is a storage vendor supplied code that handles path management and is installed and enabled during the Host Utilities installation.

To ensure that multipathing is configured correctly for your host, verify that you have the NetApp recommended settings configured for your ONTAP LUNs.

Steps

  1. Verify that "MPIO NetApp" is available. "MPIO NetApp" is loaded during the AIX Host Utilities installation and becomes available after you reboot the host.

    lsdev -Cc disk
    Example output

    hdisk1 Available 00-00-02 MPIO NetApp FCP Default PCM Disk

  2. The AIX Host Utilities load the following parameter settings for ONTAP LUNs.

    Show parameter settings
    Parameter Environment Value for AIX Note

    algorithm

    MPIO

    round_robin

    Set by Host Utilities

    hcheck_cmd

    MPIO

    inquiry

    Set by Host Utilities

    hcheck_interval

    MPIO

    30

    Set by Host Utilities

    hcheck_mode

    MPIO

    nonactive

    Set by Host Utilities

    lun_reset_spt

    MPIO / non-MPIO

    yes

    Set by Host Utilities

    max_transfer

    MPIO / non-MPIO

    FC LUNs: 0x100000 bytes

    Set by Host Utilities

    qfull_dly

    MPIO / non-MPIO

    2-second delay

    Set by Host Utilities

    queue_depth

    MPIO / non-MPIO

    64

    Set by Host Utilities

    reserve_policy

    MPIO / non-MPIO

    no_reserve

    Set by Host Utilities

    re_timeout (disk)

    MPIO / non-MPIO

    30 seconds

    Uses OS Default values

    dyntrk

    MPIO / non-MPIO

    Yes

    Uses OS Default values

    fc_err_recov

    MPIO / non-MPIO

    Fast_fail

    Uses OS Default values

    q_type

    MPIO / non-MPIO

    simple

    Uses OS Default values

    num_cmd_elems

    MPIO / non-MPIO

    1024 for AIX
    3072 for VIOS

    FC EN1B, FC EN1C

    num_cmd_elems

    MPIO / non-MPIO

    1024 for AIX

    FC EN0G

  3. Configure the following settings to optimize I/O operations for FC.

    Parameter AIX versions AIX OS default value NetApp recommended value

    rw_timeout (disk)

    AIX 7.3TL3

    NPIV:30 seconds, vSCSI:45 seconds

    NPIV:30 seconds, vSCSI:120 seconds

    AIX 7.2TL5

    NPIV:30 seconds, vSCSI:45 seconds

    NPIV:30 seconds, vSCSI:120 seconds

    VIOS 3.1

    30 seconds

    30 seconds

    VIOS 4.1

    30 seconds

    30 seconds

  4. Configure the following settings to optimize I/O operations for iSCSI.

    Parameter AIX versions AIX OS default value NetApp recommended value

    rw_timeout (disk)

    AIX 7.3TL3

    vSCSI:45 seconds

    vSCSI:120 seconds

    AIX 7.2TL5

    vSCSI:45 seconds

    vSCSI:120 seconds

    VIOS 3.1

    120 seconds

    30 seconds

    VIOS 4.1

    120 seconds

    30 seconds

    All AIX7.2 and AIX 7.3 standalone

    120 seconds

    30 seconds

    isw_err_recov (iscsi0)

    All AIX7.2 and AIX 7.3 standalone

    delayed_fail

    fast_fail

  5. If your storage configuration includes MetroCluster or SnapMirror active sync, change the default settings:

    MetroCluster

    By default, the AIX OS enforces a shorter I/O timeout when there are no available paths to a LUN. This might occur in configurations that include single-switch SAN fabric and in MetroCluster configurations that experience unplanned failovers. For additional information and recommended changes to default settings, see the Knowledge Base article What are AIX Host support considerations in a MetroCluster configuration?.

    SnapMirror active sync

    Beginning with ONTAP 9.11.1, SnapMirror active sync is supported for an AIX host. The primary cluster in an AIX configuration is the "active" cluster.

    In an AIX configuration, failovers are disruptive. With each failover, you need to perform a re-scan on the host for I/O operations to resume.

    Refer to the Knowledge Base article How to configure an AIX host for SnapMirror active sync.

  6. Verify the parameter settings and that multiple paths are listed for an ONTAP LUN:

    lsmpio

    In the following example for an AFF or FAS system, the PCM is listed for NetApp.

    Show example 
    # lsmpio -l hdisk1
name    path_id  status   path_status  parent  connection

hdisk1  0        Enabled  Non          fscsi6  203200a098ba7afe,5b000000000000
hdisk1  1        Enabled  Non          fscsi8  203100a098ba7afe,5b000000000000
hdisk1  2        Enabled  Sel,Opt      fscsi6  203000a098ba7afe,5b000000000000
hdisk1  3        Enabled  Sel,Opt      fscsi8  203800a098ba7afe,5b000000000000
#
lsattr -El hdisk1
PCM             PCM/friend/NetAppDefaultPCM Path Control Module                     False
PR_key_value    0x6d0000000002              Persistant Reserve Key Value            True
algorithm       round_robin                 Algorithm                               True
clr_q           no                          Device CLEARS its Queue on error        True
dist_err_pcnt   0                           Distributed Error Sample Time           True
dist_tw_width   50                          Distributed Error Sample Time           True
hcheck_cmd      inquiry                     Health Check Command                    True
hcheck_interval 30                          Health Check Interval                   True
hcheck_mode     nonactive                   Health Check Mode                       True
location                                    Location Label                          True
lun_id          0x5b000000000000            Logical Unit Number ID                  False
lun_reset_spt   yes                         LUN Level Reset                         True
max_transfer    0x100000                    Maximum TRANSFER Size                   True
node_name       0x204800a098ba7afe          FC Node Name                            False
pvid            none                        Physical volume identifier              False
q_err           yes                         Use QERR bit                            True
q_type          simple                      Queuing TYPE                            True
qfull_dly       2                           Delay in seconds for SCSI TASK SET FULL True
queue_depth     64                          Queue DEPTH                             True
reassign_to     120                         REASSIGN time out value                 True
reserve_policy  PR_shared                   Reserve Policy                          True
rw_timeout      30                          READ/WRITE time out value               True
scsi_id         0xec409                     SCSI ID                                 False
start_timeout   60                          START unit time out value               True
timeout_policy  fail_path                   Active/Passive Disk Path Control Module True
ww_name         0x203200a098ba7afe          FC World Wide Name                      False

  7. Verify the path status for ONTAP LUNs:

    sanlun lun show

    The following example outputs show the correct path status for ONTAP LUNs in an ASA, AFF, or FAS configuration.

    ASA configurations

    An ASA configuration optimizes all paths to a given LUN, keeping them active ("primary"). This improves performance by serving I/O operations through all paths at the same time.

    Show example 
    # sanlun lun show -p |grep -p hdisk78
                    ONTAP Path: vs_aix_clus:/vol/chataix_205p2_vol_en_1_7/jfs_205p2_lun_en
                           LUN: 37
                      LUN Size: 15g
                   Host Device: hdisk78
                          Mode: C
            Multipath Provider: AIX Native
        Multipathing Algorithm: round_robin
------ ------- ------ ------- --------- ----------
host   vserver  AIX                      AIX MPIO
path   path     MPIO   host    vserver     path
state  type     path   adapter LIF       priority
------ ------- ------ ------- --------- ----------
up     primary  path0  fcs0    fc_aix_1     1
up     primary  path1  fcs0    fc_aix_2     1
up     primary  path2  fcs1    fc_aix_3     1
up     primary  path3  fcs1    fc_aix_4     1
    AFF or FAS configuration

    An AFF or FAS configuration should have two groups of paths with higher and lower priorities. Higher priority Active/Optimized paths are served by the controller where the aggregate is located. Lower priority paths are active but non-optimized because they are served by a different controller. Non-optimized paths are only used when optimized paths aren’t available.

    The following example displays the correct output for an ONTAP LUN with two Active/Optimized ("primary") paths and two Active/Non-Optimized ("secondary") paths:

    Show example 
    # sanlun lun show -p |grep -p hdisk78
                    ONTAP Path: vs_aix_clus:/vol/chataix_205p2_vol_en_1_7/jfs_205p2_lun_en
                           LUN: 37
                      LUN Size: 15g
                   Host Device: hdisk78
                          Mode: C
            Multipath Provider: AIX Native
        Multipathing Algorithm: round_robin
------- ---------- ------ ------- ---------- ----------
host    vserver    AIX                        AIX MPIO
path    path       MPIO   host    vserver         path
state   type       path   adapter LIF         priority
------- ---------- ------ ------- ---------- ----------
up      secondary  path0  fcs0    fc_aix_1        1
up      primary    path1  fcs0    fc_aix_2        1
up      primary    path2  fcs1    fc_aix_3        1
up      secondary  path3  fcs1    fc_aix_4        1

Step 4: Review the known issues

There are no known issues.

What's next?

Learn about using the AIX Host Utilities tool.