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Optimizing the HP P4000 Storage Array for a Microsoft Hyper-V Environment

by Patrick_Lownds on 08-16-2011 04:53 PM - last edited on 08-16-2011 04:53 PM

I often get asked how to optimize the HP P4000 Storage Array for a Microsoft Hyper-V Environment and over time, through my engagements, I have pulled together a list of the settings that I tweak.

 

There is a good whitepaper on the subject at http://tiny.cc/xtoiv entitled “Configuring HP P4000 SAN Solutions with Microsoft Windows Server” which is a must read.

 

I have broken down my tweaks into 6 categories:

 

Flow Control

  1. Flow Control should be enabled globally across the Switch and the NIC ports on the storage nodes. This can be done from the TCP/IP settings page within the CMC console for each node.
  2. Flow Control is required if the DSM is installed.
  3. Flow Control needs to be enabled on Host NICs.

Duplex and Speed Settings

  1. Ensure that appropriate speed e.g. 1000mb full duplex is configured for each NIC and switch port. This should be automatically negotiated.

Jumbo Frames

  1. Leave Jumbo Frames disabled UNLESS you have demonstrated LARGE Sequential Reads and Writes. If enabling:
    • Set Jumbo frames across the dedicated VLAN to 9000k
    • Ensure that Server NICs support Jumbo Frames – Max MTU 9014k
    • Not all Switches support both Jumbo Frames and Flow Control – if you have to pick between the two choose Flow Control.

ALB

  1. Use ALB on the storage node and where two dedicated Switches are available. Plug each storage node NIC into each Switch. No special Switch configuration (Spanning-tree, etc.) needs to be performed.
  2. Truck between two dedicated Switches
  3. Create a LACP trunk between the two Switches using 2 gig-ports.

Failover Manager

  1. Install the Failover Manager. Find the Failover Manager Node from within CMC and then add it to the appropriate Management Group.
  2. Ensure that two Managers exist to maintain Quorum.

Windows Server Specific Settings

  1. Always install the DSM for Microsoft for increased performance (ensure that flow control is enabled).
  2. Install the latest version of the MS iSCSI initiator software.
  3. If dual cards are installed in the server enable MPIO on the iSCSI initiator and then install DSM with MPIO support.  From the iSCSI initiator Targets screen manually direct each NIC to the virtual IP of the SAN.
  4. Create Persistent devices and bind volumes and devices.
  5. Create registry keys for MaxHoldRequest
    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
    • Find MaxRequestHoldTime
    • Set to Decimal and change value to 600
    • Restart the Server
  6. Set dependencies for specific services
    • Hyper-V
    • From CMD Prompt: sc config <service name> depend= MSiSCSI

 

Patrick Lownds

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Comments
by smurteira(anon) on 08-16-2011 06:25 PM
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Hi Patrick,  great article.  Thank you for posting this.  Just wondering why you are setting the MaxRequestHoldTime to 600.  Mine are currently at 60.  Thanks.

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