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NVMe/FC host configuration for RHEL 8.1 with ONTAP

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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.

Steps

  1. Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1 on the server.

  2. 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.

  3. Install the nvme-cli-1.8.1-3.el8 package:

    # rpm -qa|grep nvme-cli
nvme-cli-1.8.1-3.el8.x86_64

  4. Enable in-kernel NVMe multipath:

    # grubby –args=nvme_core.multipath=Y –update-kernel /boot/vmlinuz-4.18.0-147.el8.x86_64

  5. 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

  6. 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
    Note 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.

  7. Reboot the host.

Configure the Broadcom FC adapter for NVMe/FC

You can use the following procedure to configure a Broadcom FC adapter.

Steps

  1. 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

  2. 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
    Note 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.

  3. Reboot the host.

  4. 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

  5. Verify that lpfc_enable_fc4_type is set to 3:

    # cat /sys/module/lpfc/parameters/lpfc_enable_fc4_type
3

  6. 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

  7. 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.

Note The following steps don't apply to Qlogic NVMe/FC hosts.
Steps

  1. Set the lpfc_sg_seg_cnt parameter to 256:

    cat /etc/modprobe.d/lpfc.conf
    Example output
    options lpfc lpfc_sg_seg_cnt=256

  2. Run the dracut -f command, and reboot the host:

  3. Verify that lpfc_sg_seg_cnt is 256:

    cat /sys/module/lpfc/parameters/lpfc_sg_seg_cnt

    The expected value is 256.

Validate NVMe/FC

You can use the following procedure to validate NVMe/FC.

Steps

  1. 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

  2. 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

  3. 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

  4. 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
    }
]