KZPBA PCI SCSI adapter

General description

KZPBA is a PCI SCSI adapter based on the QLogic ISP1040 Fast Wide SCSI adapter chip for HP Alpha.

In CHARON-AXP environment it supports up to 120 disks and tapes.

For systems with more than 16 heavily used units it is recommended to configure several virtual KZPBA PCI SCSI adapters and distribute the heavily loaded units evenly between the adapters.

Back to Table of Contents

Loading KZPBA storage adapter

Syntax for loading KZPBA storage adapter:

load KZPBA <name>

Example:

load KZPBA PKA

In AlphaStation 400 configuration use the following syntax for KZPBA storage adapter loading:

load KZPBA PKB irq_bus=isa

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

set PKA container[602]="/Mydisks/vms_distributive.vdisk"

The numbers in the square brackets represent SCSI ID and LUN of the devices on the virtual KZPBA SCSI bus.

They have the following format: XXYY, where:

Parameter	Range	Description
XX	0..15	SCSI ID
YY	00..07	LUN

By default KZPBA 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.

By default each loaded KZPBA SCSI PCI adapter has SCSI ID=7. This setting can be changed with "scsi_id" parameter, for example:

set PKA scsi_id=0

CHARON-AXP HP Alpha models may have one or two KZPBA adapters preloaded.

Back to Table of Contents

Configuration parameters

The KZPBA PCI SCSI adapter emulation has the following configuration parameters:

scsi_id

Parameter scsi_id

Type Numeric

Value

Specifies SCSI ID of KZPBA PCI SCSI Adapter in a range 0..7

By default the "scsi_id" configuration parameter is set to 7.

Example:

set PKA scsi_id=0

host, port

Parameter host, port

Type Text String

Value

These parameters are used in SCSI cluster configurations.

Parameter	Description
host	Specifies remote end-point (remote host name and, optionally, TCP/IP port on remote host) of SCSI connection between this KZPBA PCI SCSI adapter and remote KZPBA PCI SCSI adapter on some host.
port	Specifies local end-point (TCP/IP port on local host) of SCSI connection between this KZPBA PCI SCSI adapter and remote KZPBA PCI SCSI adapter on some host.

By default the "host" and "port" configuration options are not specified.

Syntax:

port[connection-number]=<local port> host[connection-number]="<host-name{:tcpip-port-no}>"

where: connection_number = remote_scsi_id * 100 + lun_id

Example:

set PKA port[600]=17060 host[600]="localhost:16070"

container

Parameter

container[N]

N is "XXYY" number, where:

XX - SCSI ID (0..15)
YY - LUN (00..07)

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.
- "/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"
  Be careful not to destroy all the information from the disk dedicated to CHARON-AXP by mistake.
  
  Since "/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 PKA container[0]="/dev/sdb"
  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 PKA container[0]="/dev/sdc1"
  .
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 PKA container[100]="/dev/dm-0"
  .
Direct mapping to some SCSI device, for example, a SCSI disk or tape reader
- "/dev/sg<N>"
  Example:
  set PKA container[200]="/dev/sg0"
  .
CD-ROM device
- "/dev/sr<N>"
- "/dev/cdrom"
- "/dev/cdrom<N>"
  Example:
  set PKA container[400]="/dev/sr0"
  .
ISO file for reading distribution CD-ROM image
- [<drive>":\"<path-name>"\"]<file-name>[".iso"]
  Mapping may also include the full path (recommended), for example: "/my_disks/vms_distributive.iso"
  Example:
  set PKA container[600]="/my_disks/vms_distributive.iso"
  .
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, for example: "/my_disks/my_boot_disk.vdisk"
  Example:
  set PKA container[401]="my_dka401.vdisk"
  .
File representing the tape (tape image)
- [<drive>":\"<path-name>"\"]<file-name>".vtape"
  These files are created automatically.
  Mapping may also include a full path (recommended), for example: "/my_tapes/backup.vtape"
  Example:
  set PKA container[500]="my_mka500.vtape"
  .

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

media_type

Parameter

media_type[N]

N is "XXYY" number, where:

XX - SCSI ID (0..15)
YY - LUN (00..07)

Type

Text String

Value

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

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

Initially is not specified.

Example:

set PKA media_type[0]="HSZ70"

removable

Parameter

removable[N]

N is "XXYY" number, where:

XX - SCSI ID (0..15)
YY - LUN (00..07)

Type Boolean

Value

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

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

Example:

set PKA removable[400]=true

Note that virtual SCSI tapes and CD-ROM devices are always reported as removable regardless of the "removable" configuration parameter.

geometry

Parameter

geometry[N]

N is "XXYY" number, where:

XX - SCSI ID (0..15)
YY - LUN (00..07)

Type

Text String

Value

This formatted string value specifies the explicit geometry of the disk storage element. This parameter is not applicable to tape storage elements.

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.

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

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

The syntax described above is applicable only to disk storage elements. If the container is a tape image, the following format is used instead:

Syntax:

"<image-size>[, <early-warning-zone-size>]"

where:

Parameter

Description

image-size

The tape size in MB

early-warning-zone-size

The size (in KB) of the space left on the tape when a warning to the OS is issued.

If omitted, 64K is assumed.

Example:

set PKA geometry[603] = "255/255"

use_io_file_buffering

Parameter

use_io_file_buffering[N]

N is "XXYY" number, where:

XX - SCSI ID (0..15)
YY - LUN (00..07)

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 and tape 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 PKA use_io_file_buffering[603]=true

When a tape or disk image connected to an emulated KZPBA 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-AXP disk images while CHARON-AXP is running, please take care to minimize the risk of overloading a heavily loaded CHARON-AXP 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 "mkdskcmd" utility. Tape images ("*.vtape") will be created automatically if they don't exist (no utility needed).

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

The virtual KZPBA storage controller examines the file extension (vdisk or vtape) to distinguish between a disk image and a tape image.

Configured physical devices or tape/disk images that do not exist on the host system will, in general, cause OpenVMS/Alpha to report the unit offline. In some cases this will result in a VMS BUG CHECK. In this case, an error message will be written to the log file.

Back to Table of Contents