General description

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

Every instance of KGPSA-CA works in one of the three following modes:

Fabric virtualization mode (mapping to disk images and host/SAN physical disks). This is default mode.
Usage of "presentation mode" of external storage controllers to automatically configure KGPSA-CA disks correspondent to the LUNs provided by the external storages
Pass Through mode (using a specific CHARON PCI Pass Through driver to work through the EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter plugged into host)

Loading KGPSA storage adapter

Syntax for loading KGPSA-CA storage adapter:

load KGPSA <name>

Example: load KGPSA FGA

In AlphaStation 400 configuration use the following syntax for KGPSA-CA storage adapter loading:

load KGPSA FGA irq_bus = isa

The adapter instance name ("FGA" in the example above) is used then for parametrization, for example:

set FGA container[100]="C:\My disks\vms_distributive.vdisk"

Numbers in the square brackets represent KGPSA-CA units. They can be in the range 0..32766, but no more than 255 units can be configured on a single controller.

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 Virtual Machine (VM) PCI bus.

Configuration parameters

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

storage_controller_path_id

Parameter

storage_controller_path_id

Type

Text String

Value

Instructs CHARON-AXP to create a set of virtual FC devices and connect to the virtual system through the virtual KGPSA FC Adapter.

In this mode WWID and UDID values are taken from the storage controller directly. Note that some storage controllers may not support aquiring UDID, in this case this way of mapping cannot be used in case of OpenVMS (Tru64 Unix is Ok)!

Syntax:

load KGPSA <controller name> storage_controller_path_id = <Storage controller path ID>

where the "Storage controller path ID" parameter is a storage (for example SAN) controller path ID. This ID can be obtained from the "Host Device Check" utility ("Storage Controllers" section).

Once specified, all the disks attached to the storage are automatically mapped as disk units to CHARON-AXP.

Example:

load KGPSA FGA storage_controller_path_id = 5008-05F3-0005-2950-5008-05F3-0005-2951

It is also possible to use wildcards for specifying the ID number:

Example:

load KGPSA FGA storage_controller_path_id = 5008-05F3-0005-2950-*-05F3-0005-*

In this case CHARON will collect the LUNs from all the matching paths.

This syntax works disregarding whether Windows MPIO is active or not. If it is active, CHARON-AXP uses "active" path (because it works through Windows), if Windows MPIO is OFF, CHARON-AXP selects the first matching path (and warns you in the LOG file).

Note that LUNs obtained by usage of "storage_controller_path_id" parameter is not re-enumerated on reboot, so this mode is possible to use in case of shared disks clusters.

host_bus_location

Parameter

host_bus_location

Type

Text String

Value

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="PCI bus X, device Y, function Z"

where X, Y, and Z describe location of physical EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter in the host computer (see Pass Through mode for details).

Example:

load KGPSA FGA host_bus_location="PCI bus 3, device 1, function 0"

wwid

Parameter

wwid[N]

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

Type

Text String

Value

Sets WWID for emulated KGPSA adapter unit in case if the WWID can not be obtained directly from the device CHARON-AXP is mapped to.

For example in case of disk images or local physical drives CHARON-AXP cannot get its WWID from the the host system, so it is automaticaly introduce some generated WWID. In case if this WWID is not acceptable it can be replaced with the custom one using the "wwid" parameter.

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
- "\\.\PhysicalDrive<X>", where X is 0, 1, …
  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.
  In this mode WWID is generated by CHARON and UDID is defined by the index of the "container" parameter.
  Example:
  set FGA container[0]=”\\.\PhysicalDrive1"
  .
Physical disk by its WWID
- "\\.\PhysicalDrive(DevID =XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX)"
  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.
  DevID addresses the target physical disk by its WWID (hexadecimal 128-bit identifier assigned to the disk drive by its manufacturer/originator).
  In this mode WWID is generated by CHARON-AXP and UDID is defined by the index of the "container" parameter.
  Example:
  The WWID values can be obtained from "Host Device Check" utility ("All drives" section).
iSCSI disks
- "\\.\PhysicalDrive(iSCSITarget = <iSCSI target>, LUN = <LUN number>)"
  iSCSITarget addresses the disk by its iSCSI target name. LUN specifies LUN on connected iSCSI disk.
  In this mode WWID is generated by CHARON-AXP and UDID is defined by the index of the "container" parameter.
  Example:
  .
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 "MkDisk" utility. Data and OS disks 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: "C:\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>][“/”<B>] or <X>”,”<Y>[“,”<Z>][“,”<B>] where:

X corresponds to the number of sectors per track
Y corresponds to the number of tracks per cylinder
Z corresponds to 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 corresponds to 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"

It is possible 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

Text String

Value

Instructs CHARON-AXP to enable host operating system I/O cache on reading/writing operations.

The following values are possible:

"true" or "write-back" - the "write back" caching mode is used
"write-through" - the "write through" caching mode is used
"false" - caching is switched off

Note this caching has a significant effect only in case of mapping to disk containers, not physical 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 "XXYY" number, where:

XX - SCSI ID (0..15)

YY - LUN (00..07)

Type

Numeric

Value

Specifies KZPBA 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 specified 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 PKA io_queue_depth[603]=4

min_n_of_threads

Parameter

min_n_of_threads

Type

Numeric

Value

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

All units of KZPBA 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 PKA min_n_of_threads=16

When a disk image connected to an emulated KGPSA-CA controller is dismounted by OpenVMS, it is disconnected from CHARON-AXP and can be manipulated. It can be replaced with a different disk image if it keeps the same name. This capability may be useful when designing back-up and restore procedures. When copying CHARON disk images while CHARON-AXP is running, please take care to minimize the risk of overloading a heavily loaded CHARON host system. For example, using a sequential series of simple ftp binary copies is less resource intensive and thus less disruptive than multiple, simultaneous copies.

Empty disk images are created with the "MkDisk" utility.

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

Mapping to host resources

There are 3 modes of KGPSA-CA mapping to system resources:

Mode	Description	Pros	Cons

Mode

Description

Pros

Cons

Fabric virtualization mode

Virtual KGPSA-CA PCI FC adapter is mapped to physical disks (both local, FC and iSCSI) and disk images

This is default mode, suitable for most cases

High I/O performance using modern local SSD disks.

Requires CHARON-AXP reconfiguration and restart on any change to the mapped disk images and physical drives

Disk images cannot be used in case of Tru64 cluster, but acceptable for OpenVMS cluster.

"Presentation" mode

CHARON-AXP automatically creates/removes a set of virtual FC devices on a virtual KGPSA-CA FC adapter correspondent to available external SAN LUNs

This mode is recommended in case of working with SAN that may change LUN configuration - so CHARON-AXP will reflect it on-fly w/o reconfiguration and restarting.

No reconfiguration and restart of CHARON-AXP is needed on change to the virtual FC drives provided as LUNs by the connected SAN.

Effectively any SAN FC system could be used, that means newer, faster, larger, FC HBA controllers and device drivers supported by newer, faster host server platforms and operating systems - it offers significant performance capabilities and performance improvements.

Target configurations are restricted to the SAN models capable to work with HW Alphas (for example aquiring UDID must be supported in case of OpenVMS).
This restriction comes from the fact that different SAN controllers could have different level of SCSI-3 protocol support, and if apparently some individual SAN model does not properly support complete set of SCSI-3 commands used by OpenVMS & Tru64 KGPSA-CA drivers, then with high probability such SAN Controller will not be able to work with CHARON-AXP in "presentation" (as well as in Pass Through) Mode.

Pass Through mode

This mode allows connection between virtual KGPSA-CA FC adapter and physical EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter plugged into host’s PCI/PCI-X/PCIe slot

This mode is recommended for cluster setups that include HW Alphas

High performance

Support of shared disks and cluster configuration that includes HW Alphas

Cannot be used in VMware environment

Obsolete PCI-X cards are not available anymore, HBA list is restricted to several EMULEX HBA models only. No way to use HBA from other vendors.

Target configurations are restricted to SAN models capable to work with HW Alphas.

As EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapters have been never used on Alphas, formally there is a probability that some compatibility problems may be detected.

All the described modes can be used in case of a cluster including HW Alphas and shared SAN, but pay attention that all the disks must look absolutely the same to the operating systems on all the cluster nodes, including CHARON: same WWID, same UDID (in case of OpenVMS), same size, same geometry etc.

Fabric virtualization mode

In this mode KGPSA-CA PCI FC adapter can be directly mapped to physical disks (both local and iSCSI) and disk images as shown in the following example:

set FGA container[0]="C:\My disks\my_dka401.vdisk"
set FGA container[100]="\\.\PhysicalDrive1"
set FGA container[200]="\\.\PhysicalDrive(DevID= 6008-05F3-0005-2950-BF8E-0B86-A0C7-0001)"
set FGA container[300]="\\.\PhysicalDrive(iSCSITarget= iqn.2008-04:iSCSI.charon-target-test1, LUN= 1)"

Use only "Mapping by WWID" and "Mapping iSCSI disks" syntax in case of the mapped physical disk located on some external disk controller (SAN, etc) since the "\\.\PhysicalDrive<N>" re-enumeration may happen on CHARON host reboot.

Note that WWID and UDID is generated by CHARON-AXP in its mode. It may be important in case of shared disks cluster configurations.

See the "Containers" section for details.

Usage of "presentation mode"

CHARON-AXP can utilize so called "presentation mode" of the storage controller it maps to.

In this mode CHARON-AXP creates a set of virtual FC devices and connects to the SAN system through the virtual KGPSA FC adapter.

The main benefit of this mode is a flexible way of CHARON-AXP virtual disks management depending on the mapped storage controller configuration. LUN parameters of any available to CHARON host storage controller specified in CHARON-AXP configuration file via "storage_controller_path_id" parameter are automatically scanned and then assigned as ‘virtual’ FC drives which guest OS can see, no need to manually change/redefine/modify virtual LUN parameters in emulator.

For example if an extra disk has been added to the storage controller it will automatically appear as a new disk unit on the corresponding virtual KGPSA-CA virtual controller mapped to that storage controller.

In "presentation mode" CHARON-AXP supports the following operations with FC disks (similar to ones supported in KGPSA FC Pass Through mode) w/o need of CHARON-AXP restart:

Dynamically allocation (retranslation) of new created SAN LUN to virtual Alpha configuration
Scan and translation of SAN LUN parameters to virtual Alpha’s KGPSA DGxx: virtual drive parameters
Propagation of SAN LUN size change to virtual Alpha’s KGPSA virtual drive parameters
Automatically deallocation from virtual Alpha deleted SAN LUN

Example of configuration:

load KGPSA FGA storage_controller_path_id = 5008-05F3-0005-2950-5008-05F3-0005-2951

The ID number specified in the example above is a storage (for example SAN) controller path ID. This ID can be obtained from the "Host Device Check" utility ("Storage Controllers" section):

Once specified, all the disks attached to the storage are automatically mapped as disk units to CHARON-AXP.

It is also possible to use wildcards for specifying the ID number:

load KGPSA FGA storage_controller_path_id = 5008-05F3-0005-2950-*-05F3-0005-*

In this case CHARON-AXP will collect the LUNs from all the matching paths.

This syntax works disregarding whether Windows MPIO is active or not. If it is active, CHARON-AXP uses "active" path (because it works through Windows), if Windows MPIO is OFF, CHARON-AXP selects the first matching path (and warns you in the LOG file).

Usage of LUNs in cluster configuration:

Note that PATHs (on OpenVMS level) do not affect OpenVMS cluster. What really makes sense is LUN size, geometry, WWI, etc. CHARON-AXP obtains these properties from the LUN (within the limits established by Windows), so LUNs should appear similar to all cluster members.

Note that LUNs obtained by usage of "storage_controller_path_id" parameter is not re-enumerated on reboot, so this mode is possible to use in case of shared disks clusters.

Note that the WWID and UDID are automatically obtained from disk server (SAN) in this mode - it is very convenient in case of shared disks cluster configurations. Also note that some storage controllers may not support aquiring UDID - in this case this way of mapping cannot be used in case of OpenVMS (Tru64 Unix is Ok)!

See the "Presentation mode" section for details.

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.

Syntax:

load <controller name> host_bus_location="PCI bus X, device Y, function Z"

Example:

load KGPSA FGA host_bus_location="PCI bus 3, device 1, function 0"

The "host_bus_location" parameter addresses the host EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter in the following way:

Parameters	Description

Parameters	Description
"PCI bus X"	PCI bus number of the host EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter
"device Y"	PCI bus device number of the host EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter
"function Z"	The "function" parameter of the the host EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter

The following is a list of EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapters supported by CHARON PCI Pass Through driver and suitable for emulation of KGPSA-CA PCI FC adapter in CHARON PCI Pass Through mode:

Supported	Not Supported	Not tested

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

Also see the "host_bus_location" section for details

Installation of EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter driver

Install the EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter (see below for a list of supported models) to some spare PCI/PCI-X/PCIe slot of the host system
Boot a Windows operating system
Install the EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter driver from the following directory "C:\Program Files\CHARON\Drivers\EMULEX_X.X.0.XXXXX" by choosing the "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)" option and then selecting the "emulex_lp_ppt_amd64.inf" file.
Direct Windows to use this custom driver instead of the default one:
1. Type "gpedit.msc" in the "Search programs and files" field under "Start" menu, press "Enter"
2. In the appearing applet choose: Administrative Templates -> System -> Device Installation -> Device Installation Restrictions -> Prevent Installation of Devices not described by other policy settings
3. Change the default "Not configured" to "Disabled"; press "Ok" to apply,
Reboot the host

Collecting the parameters for mapping

There are 2 ways of getting the required parametrs for mapping virtual KGPSA-CA to EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter plugged into host’s PCI/PCI-X/PCIe slot:

Usage of "HOST Device Check" utility. Follow the link for details.
Collecting the parameters directly using "Device Manager" applet

To collect the parameters directly using "Device Manager" applet, open “Computer Management” application and select “Device Manager”:

In the right panel select desired physical EMULEX LP FibreChannel adapter under "CHARON PCI Pass Through":

Open its properties sheet by double-clicking on the selected adapter:

The “Location:” on the above picture gives X, Y, and Z for the "host_bus_location" parameter, for example:

load KGPSA FGA host_bus_location = "PCI bus 3, device 1, function 0"

Non-US-EN installations of Windows may present “Location:” string in local language, but "host_bus_location" parameter requires English notation, so the words “PCI”, “bus”, “device”, and “function” must be specified in English.

Configuration of KGPSA-CA in pass through mode

FCMGR utility description

To configure KGPSA-CA adapter in pass through mode a special SRM console utility "FCMGR" is used (it has the same functionality as the "WWIDMGR" utility of the native HP Alpha hardware).

It provides the following functionality:

Command	Description

Command

Description

fc rescan {/verbose}

Scans connected SAN using FC adapters, discovers FC ports, storage controllers, logical units and then builds volatile FC database.

The "/verbose" qualifier enables FC communication trace on console (for diagnostic and troubleshooting).

KGPSA-CA PCI Fibre Channel adapter

Table of Contents

General description

Loading KGPSA storage adapter

Configuration parameters

storage_controller_path_id

host_bus_location

wwid

container

media_type

removable

geometry

use_io_file_buffering

io_queue_depth

min_n_of_threads

Mapping to host resources

Fabric virtualization mode

Usage of "presentation mode"

Pass Through mode

Installation of EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter driver

Collecting the parameters for mapping

Configuration of KGPSA-CA in pass through mode

FCMGR utility description