Skip to main content
ONTAP SAN Host Utilities

Configure AIX 7.1 for FCP and iSCSI with ONTAP storage

Contributors netapp-pcarriga netapp-ranuk netapp-aoife netapp-sarajane netapp-aherbin
PDFs

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 7.1 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 6.1.

Step 3: Confirm the multipath configuration for your host

You can use multipathing with an AIX 7.1 host 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. 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

    FC EN1B, FC EN1C

    num_cmd_elems

    MPIO / non-MPIO

    500 for AIX (standalone/physical)
    200 for VIOC

    FC EN0G

  2. 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.

  3. 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

The AIX 7.1 with ONTAP storage release has no known issues.

What's next?

Learn about using the AIX Host Utilities tool.