KGPSA-CA PCI Fibre Channel adapter

load KGPSA <name>

load KGPSA FGA

set FGA container[100]="/my_disks/vms_distributive.vdisk"

host_bus_location

Text String

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:

Example:

wwid[N]

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

Text String

Sets WWID for emulated KGPSA adapter unit.

Syntax:

Example:

container[N]

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

Text String

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.

    These disks must not be formatted by the host OS.

    Example:

    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:

    .Loop (virtual block) devices

• Loop (virtual block) devices

  • "/dev/loop<N>"
    Example:

     

     

• 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:

    .

• 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:

    .

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

media_type[N]

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

Text String

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:

removable[N]

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

Boolean

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:

geometry[N]

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

Text String

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:

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

Initially not set.

Example:

use_io_file_buffering[N]

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

Boolean

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

Note that 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:

io_queue_depth[N]

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

Numeric

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

Setting this parameter enables KGPSA 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 of the purpose.

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

Example:

min_n_of_threads

Numeric

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 container[0]="/my_disks/my_dka401.vdisk"
set FGA container[100]="/dev/sdb"
set FGA container[200]="/dev/sdc2"
set FGA container[300]="/dev/dm-0"

load <controller name> host_bus_location="/dev/kgpsa<N>"

load KGPSA FGA host_bus_location="/dev/kgpsa0"

LP8000
LP9000
LP9002
LP9802
LP10000
LP10000DC
LP10000-S
LPX1000
LP11002
LPe11002 (FC2242SR, A8003A)
LPe1105
LPe12002 (AJ762B)

LPe1150 (FC2142SR, A8002A)

LPe11000

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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"

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

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

Enable auto load of the module:

Regenerate new "initramfs" image with "mkinitrd":

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

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).

fc show {adapter | port | device} 

Displays corresponding part of volatile FC database.

fc set {boot | dump} udid <X> 

Fills the environment variables wwid0..wwid3 and n1..n4 to identify path(s) to logical unit with the specified UDID.

These variables are later used by "INIT" to create device database entries and by OpenVMS/Tru64 to get access to boot and dump disks.

This command does NOT make any change to other environment variables.

fc set {boot | dump} wwid <X>

Fills the environment variables wwid0..wwid3 and n1..n4 to identify path(s) to logical unit with the specified WWID. 

These variables are later used by "INIT" to create device database entries and by OpenVMS/Tru64 to get access to boot and dump disks.

This command does NOT make any change to other environment variables.

This parameter is useful if UDID is absent.