VAAI support with ESX 5.1U1 on P2000 G3 MSA

[jmorrell]

Is VAAI supported on ESX 5.1 Update 1 running on a P2000 G3 MSA? I've been doing some research and I'm looking for clarification around using VAAI w/ a P2000 G3 MSA. I can't seem to find a definitive answer. I noticed that there is a bug listed in the release notes for ESX 5.1 Update 1 released in April 2013. If you look at the Driver Versions listed for the HP custom image, the VAAI package is included in the April 2013 release but not included in the September 2013 release. September 2013 release notes do not mention VAAI either. The build # for both releases is the same. 

The recommend fix noted in the April 2013 release notes is to disable VAAI locking on the ESX host. Attached are the release notes for both April and September. On the VMware download page for the HP ESX 5.1 U1 custom image, the only version you can get is the one released in September 2013.

TIA,

Jim

[jmorrell]

I think I found the answer in the HP MSA 2040 Storage Configuration and Best Practices for VMware vSphere doc. Even though the title states MSA2040, it seems like this applies to the P2000 G3 MSA. I would still like to see an official response from HP. I have not received the equipment yet so I cannot open a support ticket, I may do so once I get the equipment configured.

See the note from the guide on page 12. Again it does not explicitly mention the P2000 G3 MSA but the technology is very similar.

The HP MSA 2040 array natively supports these three primitives, which means an additional MSA plug-in is no longer required with vSphere 5.0 and higher to receive the benefits of VAAI integration.

[CalvinZito]

While certainly the MSA 2040 is an MSA, I'm not sure it's a good assumption that it will work the same way with the MSA 2000 G3.  They are different platforms and the code base is different.  I'm asking around to see if there's more on MSA 2000 and 5.1.  If I find something, I'll post it.

Also, if I'm correct, the change to natively using primitives with 5.1 is because VMware switched to using standard SCSI T-10 commands and so if your array understands those natively, no plug-in is needed.  I'm not aware of any array on 5.1 and beyond that needs a plug-in.

[Stan Gobien]

I ran into this problem after installing a new ESXi host with the sept. 2013 ISO, my other hosts were installed some months ago, using the April 2013 edition.

If you already have ESXi hosts with VAAI plugin using the P2000G3 then you have 2 choices:

1) Shut down all VM's, and disable VAAI on all hosts.

2) Install HP VAAI plugin on the new HOST with the ESXi 5.1 U1 HP sept. 2013 edition.

I just took option 2, shutting down all VM's was not an option. This applies for iSCSI and FC MSA', probably SAS too.

But I'm going to read the release notes, you say HP recommends to disable VAAI, because of a bug?

EDIT: I'm not affacted by the bug, we use Qlogic FC HBA's or Broadcom iSCSI NIC.

EDIT: Hp Advisory

more info: http://ares.gobien.be:8080/2013/11/vmware-esxi-5-1-u1-hp-customized-vaai-ats-only/

[Kashif Ahmed]

HI,

Download the zip file, extract it. Inside you’ll find another ZIP file with the word bundle in the filename. Upload this zip to your ESXi server’s /tmp/scratch directory (to do this: enable SSH using the client and use WinSCP or FastSCP).

https://h20565.www2.hp.com/portal/site/hpsc/template.PAGE/public/psi/swdDetails/?javax.portlet.begCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.endCacheTok=com.vignette.cachetoken&javax.portlet.prp_bd9b6997fbc7fc515f4cf4626f5c8d01=wsrp-navigationalState%3Didx%3D|swItem%3DMTX_30e09de4fc7e4498bfd9102a99|itemLocale%3D|mode%3D|action%3DdriverDocument&javax.portlet.tpst=bd9b6997fbc7fc515f4cf4626f5c8d0...

Login to the SSH shell (using Putty) and execute:

esxcli software vib install -d /tmp/scratch/hp_vaaip_p2000_offline-bundle-210.zip

Reboot the host, and the problem is gone. You’re datastores now appear under storage tab for this host.