Table of Contents
General description
CHARON-AXP supports emulation of DEC-KGPSA-CA PCI Fibre Channel adapter.
Every instance of KGPSA-CA works in one of three modes:
- Fabric virtualization mode (creating virtual fabric in combination with virtual FC-3 Storage Controller). This is default mode.
- Usage of "presentation mode" of connected or external storage controllers
- CHARON PCI Pass Through mode (using a specific CHARON PCI Pass Through driver)
Loading KGPSA storage adapter
Syntax for loading KGPSA-CA storage adapter:
load KGPSA <name> |
Example:
load KGPSA FGA |
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 neded, refer to this section for details of specific placement of PCI peripherals on CHARON-AXP PCI bus.
Configuration parameters
The KGPSA-CA PCI FC adapter emulation has the following configuration parameters:
Parameter | Type | Value | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| storage_controller_path_id | Text String | Instructs the CHARON software to create a set of virtual FC devices and connect to the virtual system through the virtual KGPSA FC Adapter. Syntax:
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. Once specified, all the disks attached to the storage are automatically mapped as disk units to CHARON. Example:
| ||||||||||||||
| host_bus_location | Text String | Establish connection between virtual DEC-KGPSA-CA PCI FC adapter and physical EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter (pass through mode) Syntax:
where X, Y, and Z describe location of physical EMULEX LightPulse PCI/PCI-X/PCIe FC adapter in the host computer (see this section for details). Example:
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wwid[N] N is 0..327660 (no more than 255 units) | Text String | Sets WWID for emulated KGPSA adapter unit. Syntax:
Example:
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container[N] N is 0..327660 (no more than 255 units) | Text String | Possible values of the parameter are strings in one of the following forms:
This parameter is initially not set, thus creating NO storage elements on the controller. | ||||||||||||||
media_type[N] N is 0..327660 (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:
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removable[N] N is 0..327660 (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:
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geometry [N] N is 0..327660 (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>] where:
If this parameter is not set, CHARON-AXP will configure the geometry based on the most probable disk type. Initially not set. Example:
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use_io_file_buffering[N] N is 0..327660 (no more than 255 units) | Boolean | When set to "true", instructs CHARON-AXP to enable host operating system I/O cache on reading/writing operations. 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:
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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
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:
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See the "Configuration parameters" 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 connect to the virtual 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.
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.
Example:
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See the "Configuration parameters" 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 |
|---|---|
| "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-AXP 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 |
|---|---|---|
LP8000 | LPe1150 (FC2142SR, A8002A) | LPe11000 |
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.
- 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”:
On the right panel select desired physical EMULEX LP FibreChannel adapter under "CHARON PCI Pass Through":
Open its property sheet by double-click on 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.