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General description

CHARON-AXP supports emulation of DEC-KGPSA-CA PCI Fibre Channel adapter.

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Fabric virtualization mode (creating virtual fabric in combination with virtual FC-3 Storage Controller). This is default mode.
CHARON PCI Pass Through mode (using a specific CHARON PCI Pass Through driver)

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Loading KGPSA storage adapter

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By default KGPSA-CA adapter uses first available PCI slot. If instead some particular slot is needed, refer to this section for details of specific placement of PCI peripherals on CHARON-AXP PCI bus.

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Configuration parameters

The KGPSA-CA PCI FC adapter emulation has the following configuration parameters:

host_bus_location

Parameter host_bus_location

Type Text String

Value

Pass through mode only!

Establish connection between virtual DEC-KGPSA-CA PCI FC adapter and physical EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter (pass through mode)

Syntax:

load KGPSA <controller name> host_bus_location="/dev/kgpsa<X>"

Example:

load KGPSA FGA host_bus_location="/dev/kgpsa0"

wwid

Parameter

wwid[N]

N is 0..32766 (no more than 255 units)

Type Text String

Value

Sets WWID for emulated KGPSA adapter unit.

Syntax:

set <controller name> wwid[unit-number]="XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX"

Example:

set FGA wwid[2]="6008-05F3-0005-2950-BF8E-0B86-A0C7-0001"

container

Parameter

container[N]

N is 0..32766 (no more than 255 units)

Type

Text String

Value

Possible values of the parameter are strings in one of the following forms:

Physical disk

"/dev/sd<L>", where "L" is letter, for example "/dev/sdb"
"/dev/disk/by-id/..." - addressing by the disk ID, for example "/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST1000DM003-9YN162_S1D01QJ4"
"/dev/disk/by-label/..." - addressing by the disk label, for example "/dev/disk/by-label/MyStorage"

"/dev/disk/by-uuid/..." - addressing by the disk UUID, for example "/dev/disk/by-uuid/0e808a2f-cdd3-4944-a245-f729ffd73882"
Please note that existing data on such a disk may be destroyed, depending on how it is used in the emulator.

Note
"/dev/sd<L>" addressing is not persistent, so it is strongly recommended to use "/dev/disk/by-id/wwn-*" syntax instead to refer the disk by its WWID - especially in the enviroments utilizing FC and SAN storages.

These disks must not be formatted by the host OS.

Example:

set FGA container[0]="/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST1000DM003-9YN162_S1D01QJ4"

It is also possible to use not a whole disk, but previously created partitions on it. In this case the syntax is the following: "/dev/sd<L><N>" where N is the number of partition to be used.

Example:

set FGA container[0]="/dev/sdc3"

.Loop (virtual block) devices

Loop (virtual block) devices
- "/dev/loop<N>"
  Example:
  set FGA container[100]="/dev/loop0"
Multipath disk
- "/dev/dm-<N>"
- "/dev/mapper/mpath<N>"
- "/dev/mapper/disk<N>"
  Be careful not to destroy all the information from the disk dedicated to CHARON-AXP by mistake.
  These disks must not be formatted by the host OS.
  Example:
  set FGA container[200]="/dev/dm-0"
  .
File representing a physical disk of the HP Alpha system (disk image)
- [<drive>":\"<path-name>”\”]<file-name>[“.vdisk”]
  These files can be created from scratch with "mkdskcmd" utility. Data and OS disk backups are transferred from the original system via tapes or network and restored into these container files.
  Mapping may also include the full path (recommended), for example: "/my_disks/my_boot_disk.vdisk"
  Example:
  set FGA container[401]="my_dka401.vdisk"
  .

This parameter is initially not set, thus creating NO storage elements on the controller.

media_type

Parameter

media_type[N]

N is 0..32766 (no more than 255 units)

Type

Text String

Value

Instructs CHARON-AXP to use the supplied value as the PRODUCT field in the FC INQUIRY data returned to a software running on virtual HP Alpha system in response to FC INQUIRY command.

If not specified, CHARON-AXP attempts to guess the FC INQUIRY data based on virtual FC device type and underlying container (which is specified in the corresponding container configuration parameter).

Initially is not specified.

Example:

set FGA media_type[0]="HSZ70"

removable

Parameter

removable[N]

N is 0..32766 (no more than 255 units)

Type Boolean

Value

When set to "true", the removable configuration parameter instructs CHARON-AXP to report the corresponding virtual FC device as removable.

By default the removable configuration parameter is set to "false".

Example:

set FGA removable[400]=true

geometry

Parameter

geometry[N]

N is 0..32766 (no more than 255 units)

Type

Text String

Value

This formatted string value specifies the explicit geometry of the disk storage element.

The string format is <X>”/”<Y>[“/”<Z>] or <X>”,”<Y>[“,”<Z>][“,”<B>] where:

Parameter	Description
X	The number of sectors per track
Y	The number of tracks per cylinder
Z	The number of cylinders on the unit. If omitted, Z is calculated based on X, Y and the total number of sectors on the unit that reflects the size of the disk storage element. This is an optional parameter.
B	The total size of the disk (in blocks) reported to the guest OS. If omitted it is calculated automatically. This is an optional parameter.

If this parameter is not set, CHARON-AXP will configure the geometry based on the most probable disk type.

Initially not set.

Example:

set FGA geometry[201] = "255/255"

Info

It is possiblle to specify each parameter independently of another one. The following syntax is used for that:

set FGA geometry[300]="*,*,*,16777210"

use_io_file_buffering

Parameter

use_io_file_buffering[N]

N is 0..32766 (no more than 255 units)

Type

Boolean

Value

When set to "true", instructs CHARON-AXP to enable host operating system I/O cache on reading/writing operations.

Note that this caching has a significant effect only in case of mapping to disk containers, not physcial drives.

When enabled, host operating system I/O cache may significantly improve I/O performance of the virtual system. At the same time maintaining I/O cache requires additional host resources (CPU and memory) which may negatively affect overall performance of the virtual system.

Initially is set to "false".

Example:

set FGA use_io_file_buffering[300]=true

io_queue_depth

Parameter

io_queue_depth[N]

N is 0..32766 (no more than 255 units)

Type Numeric

Value

Specifies KGPSA I/O requests (read or write) for a given unit in a range 2..128

Setting this parameter enables KZPBA instance to run up-to the specifiied numbers of I/O requests (read or write) for unit N in parallel, thus improving the performance.

The default value set by controller is optimal for most of the cases. It may be needed to enlarge this number if guest OS I/O queue for a certain unit contains too much pending entries. In this case the value should be equal to an average size of the queue, collected statistically.

Please do not set this parameter without clear understanding the purpose.

By default parallel execution of I/O requests is disabled.

Example:

set FGA io_queue_depth[603]=4

min_n_of_threads

Parameter

min_n_of_threads

Type Numeric

Value

Instructs KGPSA I/O to reserve a given number of working threads in a range 1..64, thus improving the performance.

All units of KGPSA instance share the I/O threads.

The default value is equal to number of units plus 2.

For optimization it is possible to set this parameter to sum of the "io_queue_depth" parameters for each unit plus 2. This assumption seems optimal for most of the cases.

Please do not set this parameter without clear understanding the purpose.

Example:

set FGA min_n_of_threads=16

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CHARON-AXP is able to boot from disk images of any OpenVMS/Alpha and Tru64 version.

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Mapping to host resources

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See the "Configuration parameters" section for details.

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Pass Through mode

The CHARON PCI Pass Through mode allows connection between virtual DEC-KGPSA-CA PCI FC adapter and physical EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter plugged into host’s PCI/PCI-X/PCIe slot.

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Supported	Not Supported	Not tested
LP8000 LP9000 LP9002 LP9802 LP10000 LP10000DC LP10000-S LPX1000 LP11002 LPe11002 (FC2242SR, A8003A) LPe1105 LPe12002 (AJ762B)	LPe1150 (FC2142SR, A8002A)	LPe11000

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Pass Through mode establishing sequence

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Warning
If kernel of the host system has been upgraded or reinstalled all the steps of the PPT KGPSA driver installation must be repeated

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Building PPT driver for EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC

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Step Description

1

Make sure that the required building tools and include files are installed. If they are absent install them:

# yum groupinstall “Development Tools”
# yum install kernel-headers kernel-develop

Info

The kernel version must match the version of the installed kernel-headers (i.e. this packages must have same versions. It can be verified via "rpm -q -a | grep kernel-" )

Check that the "kernel" and the "kernel-headers" have the same version, and ensure that system is booted from this kernel version (not from some older one and etc) with "uname -a" command.

2

Open xterm and change the default directory to "/opt/charon/drivers/kgpsa":

# cd /opt/charon/drivers/kgpsa

3

Issue "make clean; make" commands to build kernel object:

# make clean; make

It is prohibited to use a module built on a certain version of kernel on another one.

4 Check that there are no compilation errors and the file "ppt_kgpsa.ko" has been built

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Installation of PPT driver for EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC

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Step Description

1

Unload standard "lpfc" driver; to do that issue the following command:

# rmmod lpfc

2

Load "ppt_kgpsa.ko" driver; to do that issue the following command:

# insmod ppt_kgpsa.ko

3

Issue "dmesg" command and check that no error appeared during the driver loading, also check that the driver has found all KGPSA devices:

# dmesg

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Adding PPT driver for EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC to Linux startup

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Step Description

1 Disable auto-loading of Linux standard "lpfc" driver on boot. To do that add "blacklist lpfc" to the black list file "/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf"

2

Copy the KGPSA-CA kernel module to the location of Linux kernel modules, for example:

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# cp /opt/charon/drivers/kgpsa/ppt_kgpsa.ko /lib/modules/3.10.9-200.fc20.x86_64/kernel/drivers/scsi/

The particular path may be different, depending on the kernel version and Linux distribution.

3

Enable auto load of the module:

# echo ppt_kgpsa > /etc/modules-load.d/ppt_kgpsa.conf

4

Regenerate new "initramfs" image with "mkinitrd":

# mkinitrd -f /boot/initramfs-3.10.9-200.fc20.x86_64.img 3.10.9-200.fc20.x86_64

The particular path may be different, depending on the kernel version and Linux distribution.

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Versions Compared

Old Version 8

New Version 9

Key

General description

Loading KGPSA storage adapter

Configuration parameters

host_bus_location

wwid

container

media_type

removable

geometry

use_io_file_buffering

io_queue_depth

min_n_of_threads

Mapping to host resources

Pass Through mode

Pass Through mode establishing sequence

Building PPT driver for EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC

Installation of PPT driver for EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC

Adding PPT driver for EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC to Linux startup