Query: How to set MSA2062 (SAS) to use HPP instead of NMP, and also with PSP-RR enable

[Gyokai]

Dear mates,

I have a problem with setting MSA 2062 that connect to a HPE E208e-p SR Gen10 HBA on VMware ESXi 7.0 Update 3 Host(HPE Proliant DL380 Gen10).

Here is what I want to do:

1, I have create several volumes and map them to DL380, But in default, they are claiming by NMP, and it's need to be set to HPP to get better performance.

2, the PSP is set by default with VMW_PSP_MRU, but there's two HPE E208e-p SR Gen10 on my DL380, both of them with 1 SAS cable connection to MSA 2062 controller A and B. So I want it set to VMW_PSP_RR.

So, Here is my plan:

1, I will use the following ESXCLI commands to set all volumes claim rule, which are mapped to the DL380 to change their plugin to HPP:

#All volumes on MSA 2062 which are map to the DL380, will claim by HPP instead of NMP, and the priority is 49 ( recently highest)
esxcli storage core claimrule add -c MP -r 49 -P HPP -t vendor -V HPE -M "MSA 2060 SAS" --force-reserved

#Confirm that new rule had been added correctly.
esxcli storage core claimrule list

#reload the claimrule list
esxcli storage core claimrule load

#then, reboot the DL380 host.

2, I will use the following ESXCLI commands to set path select policy from VMW_PSP_MRU to round robin.

#Get a list of which device are need to set to using round robin as path selection policy. copy the leading 4 charactors for grep.
esxcli storage nmp device list | grep "HPE Serial Attached SCSI Disk"

#Then, chane their PSP to VMW_PSP_RR, and change the default iops to 1 to get better performance.
#remember to change the grep matching part naa.xxxx to that 4 charators you just copy in last step.

for i in `esxcfg-scsidevs -c |awk '{print $1}' | grep naa.xxxx`; 
do esxcli storage nmp device set --device $i --psp VMW_PSP_RR;
esxcli storage hpp psp roundrobin deviceconfig set --type=iops --iops=1 --device=$i; 
done

#If it's work, I should seen all volumes has been set to using VMW_PSP_RR as their path selection policy.
esxcli storage nmp device list | grep "HPE Serial Attached SCSI Disk" -A 3 | grep "Path Selection Policy"

then reboot the DL380 host to make config enable.

I am not sure this is a good idea or not. If there is any advice it will really help me a lot.

Thank you.

[Gyokai]

Nov 11th, 2022 15:23:00(GMT+9 JST) Update:

Hi there.

I just try these commands on my development environment, but, there's good news and bad news.

the good news is, has confirmed that PSP has been changed to VMW_PSP_RR, and connection to the MSA 2062 looking good. I totally believe that even I remove one of two SAS cable between MSA 2062 and DL380, I won't lose my access to each volumes created on MSA 2062.

but the bad news is, I have changed the claimrule and make sure that the HPP rule on the top of claimrule list, then load it and got DL380 host rebooted. After that, I use the following commands to confirm that all volumes are claim by HPP instead of NMP,

#If it's work, I should seen all volumes has been set to using VMW_PSP_RR as their path selection policy.
esxcli storage nmp device list | grep "HPE Serial Attached SCSI Disk" -A 3 | grep "Path Selection Policy"

but still, all volumes are claim by NMP, none of them are claim by HPP.

So it must be something wrong in my plan. What should I do?

[Gyokai]

The following content is just my speculation.

For those volumes has been mapped to DL380 already, in default, they should be claim by NMP if I don't do anything with ESXi Host. So, they have already claim by NMP. Althought, actually I want they claim by HPP instead.

In this case, all path that detected by DL380 ESXi Host, Once they claim by NMP, unless I disconnect the volumes mapping between MSA 2062 and DL380, They won't claim by HPP(even these device is match for the rule and the rule's priority is top on rule list).

Is that true?

[RaviTyagi]

Hello Gyokai,

Please find below the information.

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc/GUID-F7B60A5A-D077-4E37-8CA7-8CB912173D24.html

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc/GUID-6035DE0C-9285-4D37-B631-A7DC3606DB61.html

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc/GUID-895AEB6D-58B7-4B4D-99A8-C71D6E853076.html

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vsphere.storage.doc/GUID-9B19EF2E-DA5A-43D2-B41F-8E7C112D2E00.html

Regards,

RRT 

I am an HPE Employee