NVMe/FC host configuration for RHEL 8.1 with ONTAP
NVMe/FC is supported on ONTAP 9.6 or later for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8.1. A RHEL 8.1 host can run both NVMe and SCSI traffic through the same FC initiator adapter ports. See the Hardware Universe for a list of supported FC adapters and controllers.
See the NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool for the most current list of supported configurations.
Known limitations
-
Native NVMe/FC auto-connect scripts are not available in the
nvme-cli
package. You can use the host bus adapter (HBA) vendor-provided external auto-connect script. -
NVMe multipath is disabled by default. Therefore, you need to enable it manually.
-
By default, round-robin load balancing is not enabled. You can enable this functionality by writing a
udev
rule. -
SAN booting using the NVMe-oF protocol is currently not supported.
Enable NVMe/FC
You can use the following procedure to enable NVMe/FC.
-
Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1 on the server.
-
After the installation is complete, verify that you are running the specified RHEL kernel:
# uname -r 4.18.0-147.el8.x86_64
See the NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool for the most current list of supported versions.
-
Install the
nvme-cli-1.8.1-3.el8
package:# rpm -qa|grep nvme-cli nvme-cli-1.8.1-3.el8.x86_64
-
Enable in-kernel NVMe multipath:
# grubby –args=nvme_core.multipath=Y –update-kernel /boot/vmlinuz-4.18.0-147.el8.x86_64
-
Add the following string as a separate udev rule at
/lib/udev/rules.d/71-nvme-iopolicy-netapp-ONTAP.rules
. This enables round-robin load balancing for NVMe multipath:# Enable round-robin for NetApp ONTAP ACTION==”add”, SUBSYSTEM==”nvme-subsystem”, ATTR{model}==”NetApp ONTAP Controller”, ATTR{iopolicy}=”round-robin
-
On the RHEL 8.1 host, check the host NQN string at
/etc/nvme/hostnqn
and verify that it matches the host NQN string for the corresponding subsystem on the ONTAP array:# cat /etc/nvme/hostnqn nqn.2014-08.org.nvmexpress:uuid:75953f3b-77fe-4e03-bf3c-09d5a156fbcd
*> vserver nvme subsystem host show -vserver vs_nvme_10 Vserver Subsystem Host NQN ------- --------- -------------------------------------- ----------- rhel_141_nvme_ss_10_0 nqn.2014-08.org.nvmexpress:uuid:75953f3b-77fe-4e03-bf3c-09d5a156fbcd
If the host NQN strings do not match, use the vserver modify
command to update the host NQN string on your corresponding ONTAP array subsystem to match with the host NQN string from/etc/nvme/hostnqn
on the host. -
Reboot the host.
Configure the Broadcom FC adapter for NVMe/FC
You can use the following procedure to configure a Broadcom FC adapter.
-
Verify that you are using the supported adapter. See the NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool for the most current list of supported adapters.
# cat /sys/class/scsi_host/host*/modelname LPe32002-M2 LPe32002-M2
# cat /sys/class/scsi_host/host*/modeldesc Emulex LightPulse LPe32002-M2 2-Port 32Gb Fibre Channel Adapter Emulex LightPulse LPe32002-M2 2-Port 32Gb Fibre Channel Adapter
-
Copy and install the Broadcom lpfc outbox driver and auto-connect scripts:
# tar -xvzf elx-lpfc-dd-rhel8-12.4.243.20-ds-1.tar.gz # cd elx-lpfc-dd-rhel8-12.4.2453.20-ds-1 # ./elx_lpfc_install-sh -i -n
The native drivers that are bundled with the OS are called the inbox drivers. If you download the outbox drivers (drivers that are not included with an OS release), an auto-connect script is included in the download and should be installed as part of the driver installation process. -
Reboot the host.
-
Verify that you are using the recommended Broadcom lpfc firmware, outbox driver, and auto-connect package versions:
# cat /sys/class/scsi_host/host*/fwrev 12.4.243.20, sil-4.2.c 12.4.243.20, sil-4.2.c
# cat /sys/module/lpfc/version 0:12.4.243.20
# rpm -qa | grep nvmefc nvmefc-connect-12.6.61.0-1.noarch
-
Verify that
lpfc_enable_fc4_type
is set to 3:# cat /sys/module/lpfc/parameters/lpfc_enable_fc4_type 3
-
Verify that the initiator ports are up and running:
# cat /sys/class/fc_host/host*/port_name 0x10000090fae0ec61 0x10000090fae0ec62
# cat /sys/class/fc_host/host*/port_state Online Online
-
Verify that the NVMe/FC initiator ports are enabled, running, and you can see the target LIFs:
# cat /sys/class/scsi_host/host*/nvme_info NVME Initiator Enabled XRI Dist lpfc0 Total 6144 NVME 2947 SCSI 2977 ELS 250 NVME LPORT lpfc0 WWPN x10000090fae0ec61 WWNN x20000090fae0ec61 DID x012000 ONLINE NVME RPORT WWPN x202d00a098c80f09 WWNN x202c00a098c80f09 DID x010201 TARGET DISCSRVC ONLINE NVME RPORT WWPN x203100a098c80f09 WWNN x202c00a098c80f09 DID x010601 TARGET DISCSRVC ONLINE NVME Statistics …
Enable 1MB I/O Size for Broadcom NVMe/FC
ONTAP reports an MDTS (Max Data Transfer Size) of 8 in the Identify Controller data. This means the maximum I/O request size can be up to 1MB. To issue I/O requests of size 1 MB for a Broadcom NVMe/FC host, you must increase the lpfc
value of the lpfc_sg_seg_cnt
parameter to 256 from the default value of 64.
-
Set the
lpfc_sg_seg_cnt
parameter to 256:# cat /etc/modprobe.d/lpfc.conf options lpfc lpfc_sg_seg_cnt=256
-
Run a
dracut -f
command, and reboot the host: -
Verify that
lpfc_sg_seg_cnt
is 256:# cat /sys/module/lpfc/parameters/lpfc_sg_seg_cnt 256
This is not applicable to Qlogic NVMe/FC hosts. |
Validate NVMe/FC
You can use the following procedure to validate NVMe/FC.
-
Verify the following NVMe/FC settings.
# cat /sys/module/nvme_core/parameters/multipath Y
# cat /sys/class/nvme-subsystem/nvme-subsys*/model NetApp ONTAP Controller NetApp ONTAP Controller
# cat /sys/class/nvme-subsystem/nvme-subsys*/iopolicy round-robin round-robin
-
Verify that the namespaces are created.
# nvme list Node SN Model Namespace Usage Format FW Rev ---------------- -------------------- ----------------------- /dev/nvme0n1 80BADBKnB/JvAAAAAAAC NetApp ONTAP Controller 1 53.69 GB / 53.69 GB 4 KiB + 0 B FFFFFFFF
-
Verify the status of the ANA paths.
# nvme list-subsys/dev/nvme0n1 Nvme-subsysf0 – NQN=nqn.1992-08.com.netapp:sn.341541339b9511e8a9b500a098c80f09:subsystem.rhel_141_nvme_ss_10_0 \ +- nvme0 fc traddr=nn-0x202c00a098c80f09:pn-0x202d00a098c80f09 host_traddr=nn-0x20000090fae0ec61:pn-0x10000090fae0ec61 live optimized +- nvme1 fc traddr=nn-0x207300a098dfdd91:pn-0x207600a098dfdd91 host_traddr=nn-0x200000109b1c1204:pn-0x100000109b1c1204 live inaccessible +- nvme2 fc traddr=nn-0x207300a098dfdd91:pn-0x207500a098dfdd91 host_traddr=nn-0x200000109b1c1205:pn-0x100000109b1c1205 live optimized +- nvme3 fc traddr=nn-0x207300a098dfdd91:pn-0x207700a098dfdd91 host traddr=nn-0x200000109b1c1205:pn-0x100000109b1c1205 live inaccessible
-
Verify the NetApp plug-in for ONTAP devices.
# nvme netapp ontapdevices -o column Device Vserver Namespace Path NSID UUID Size ------- -------- ------------------------- ------ ----- ----- /dev/nvme0n1 vs_nvme_10 /vol/rhel_141_vol_10_0/rhel_141_ns_10_0 1 55baf453-f629-4a18-9364-b6aee3f50dad 53.69GB # nvme netapp ontapdevices -o json { "ONTAPdevices" : [ { Device" : "/dev/nvme0n1", "Vserver" : "vs_nvme_10", "Namespace_Path" : "/vol/rhel_141_vol_10_0/rhel_141_ns_10_0", "NSID" : 1, "UUID" : "55baf453-f629-4a18-9364-b6aee3f50dad", "Size" : "53.69GB", "LBA_Data_Size" : 4096, "Namespace_Size" : 13107200 } ]