vLab VNX With VMware Integration - Lab03 VSI, VAAI & VASA (1)

Lab Guide

EMC Solutions Group

Abstract

This Lab Guide serves as a guide for a demonstration of VNX with VMware Integration – VSI, VAAI & VASA. It provides an introduction to some of the main integration points between EMC and VMware and a set of labs to demonstrate the solution to customers.

VNX with VMware Integration – VSI, VAAI & VASA Lab Guide

2 VNX with VMware Integration – VSI, VAAI & VASA

Copyright © 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

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All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.


Table of contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 4

Purpose ............................................................................................................................................ 4

Scope ............................................................................................................................................... 4

Terminology ...................................................................................................................................... 4

Lab overview ......................................................................................................................................... 5

Lab environment ............................................................................................................................... 5

Labs Summary .................................................................................................................................. 6

Connecting to the lab ........................................................................................................................ 6

Lab 1 – Virtual Storage Integrator Plugin .............................................................................................. 7

Overview ........................................................................................................................................... 7

Lab ................................................................................................................................................... 7

Configure the VSI Plugin ............................................................................................................... 7

Provision an iSCSI Datastore ..................................................................................................... 18

Provision an NFS Datastore ....................................................................................................... 27

VSI – Storage Viewer ................................................................................................................. 35

VSI – FAST Clones ..................................................................................................................... 38

VSI – Virtual Machine Compression ........................................................................................... 44

Lab 2 – VAAI – vStorage API’s for Array Integration ............................................................................ 49

Overview ........................................................................................................................................ 49

Lab ................................................................................................................................................ 49

vMotion With VAAI Disabled ...................................................................................................... 49

vMotion with VAAI Enabled ........................................................................................................ 55

Lab 3 – VMware vSphere Aware Storage API - VASA ........................................................................... 62

Overview ........................................................................................................................................ 62

Lab ................................................................................................................................................ 62

Review VASA Setup ................................................................................................................... 62

Virtual Machine Compliance ...................................................................................................... 68

Additional Notes – Accessing the VMware vSphere Web Client .......................................................... 76

Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 78

Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 78

Support.......................................................................................................................................... 78

Customer .................................................................................................................................. 78

EMC personnel .......................................................................................................................... 78

References ..................................................................................................................................... 78


Introduction

This Lab Guide serves as a guide to a demonstration of EMC® VNX with VMware Integration – VSI, VAAI & VASA, for customers who have either an EMC VNX in a VMware environment

This Lab Guide provides:

An introduction to the technology components used in the solution

EMC Virtual Storage Integrator

VAAI

VASA

A set of illustrated labs to demonstrate the solution

Table 1 explains VSI, VAAI and VASA terminology.

Table 1. Terminology

Term Description

Product 1

EMC VSI EMC Virtual Storage Integrator is a free plugin set available to all EMC customers from Powerlink that help to manage a VMware environment running on EMC storage

VAAI vStorage APIs for Array Integration is a feature introduced ESX/ESXi 4.1 that provides hardware acceleration functionality. It enables your host to offload specific virtual machine and storage management operations to compliant storage hardware. With the storage hardware assistance, your host performs these operations faster and consumes less CPU, memory, and storage fabric bandwidth.

VASA VMware vSphere Aware Storage API

API to provide insight and awareness to VMware and vSphere about the capabilities of a storage system, how it is configured and performing

Purpose

Scope

Terminology


Lab overview

The environment for this lab includes the following:

VNX Block VSA

IP: 192.168.0.30

Array Credentials

Username: sysadmin

Password: sysadmin

VNX File VSA

IP: 192.168.0.35

Array Credentials

Username: nasadmin

Password: nasadmin

Windows vCenter RDP host

IP: 192.168.0.11

Windows Credentials

Username: vlab\administrator

Password: Password123!

Esxi01

IP: 192.168.0.20

Credentials

Username: root

Password: Password

Esxi02

IP: 192.168.0.21

Credentials

Username: root

Password: Password

Lab environment


This lab includes the following labs:

Lab 1: VSI

Configure VSI

Provision an iSCSI Datastore

Provision an NFS Datastore

VSI - Storage Viewer

VSI – FAST Clones

VSI – Virtual Machine Compression

Lab 2: VAAI

vMotion with VAAI Disabled

vMotion with VAAI Enabled

Lab 3: VASA

Review VASA Setup

Virtual Machine Compliance

Connecting to the lab

To connect to the lab launch an RDP session from the remote access drop down menu for VNX_With_VMware Integration_VC01_5.1

Labs Summary


Lab 1 – Virtual Storage Integrator Plugin

In this lab, you will use the EMC Virtual Storage Integrator plugins to manage your VMware environment for the following tasks

VSI Storage Viewer

Provision storage with Unified Storage Management

Datastore performance analysis

Note: The new vSphere Web Client is installed on your vCenter Server and can be used however it is outside the scope of this lab.

Configure the VSI Plugin

The first required step is to configure the VSI plug-in and Storage Viewer Component. While both the plug-in and the Storage Viewer are already installed, it’s nice to show how easy it is to configure. The following steps will add value to the simplicity and integration EMC has with VMware.

1. To log into vCenter double click VMware vSphere Client on the desktop. The vSphere client will auto login to VC01.vlab.local (See Error! Reference source not found.)

Figure 1. Launching the vSphere Client

2. Once the vSphere Client opens click Home, and not the EMC VSI icon under Solutions and Applications. Click EMC VSI to launch the VSI plugin configuration.(See Figure 2)

Overview

Lab


Figure 2. Accessing VSI

3. You will now be presented with a screen within the vSphere Client that contains Settings and Features. The default view displays the General/Feature Manager which provides status and version information of the components of the VSI plugin installed. (See Figure 3)


Figure 3. VSI Settings and Features

4. You are now going to configure the Unified Storage Management component of the VSI plug-in to connect to the VNX File storage appliance. The VNX-Block storage appliance is already added for you. From Features in the left hand pane click Unified storage Management. In the right hand pane click Add. (See Figure 4)

Figure 4. Add VNX-File Appliance

5. Select Enter Storage System or Connection Broker Credentials and click Next. (See Figure 5)


Figure 5. Select Access type

6. Select EMC VNX and click Next. (See Figure 6)


Figure 6. Select Array Model

7. Select File and click Next. (See Figure 7)


Figure 7. Select File

8. Enter the following details and click Next. (See Figure 8)

VNX Control Station Hostname/IP: 192.168.0.35

VNX Control Station Username: nasadmin

VNX Control Station Password: nasadmin

Configure DHSM: Selected


Figure 8. Enter Array details

9. Select Use Existing DHSM User and from the drop down select Administrator. (See Figure 9)


Figure 9. Configure DHSM User

10. Enter Password: Password. Click Finish. (See Figure 10)


Figure 10. Enter DHSM user password

11. Monitor the progress in the Recent Tasks pane. (See Figure 11)

Figure 11. Monitor task progress

12. Once complete you will see your new VNX-File appliance added under Storage Systems. (See Figure 12)


Figure 12. VNX-File Added

13. You have now successfully added your array to the Unified Storage Management component and will now go on to add the details under the Storage Viewer component so it too can communicate with both VNX-Block and VNX-File.

Under Features in the left hand pane click VNX Systems. (See Figure 13)

Figure 13. Access Storage Viewer Setup

14. Enter the following details for VNX-Block and click Discover New VNX System. Note: You may see multiple command prompt screens during this process. This is normal.(See Figure 14)

a. SP-A Name or IP: 192.168.0.30

b. SP-B Name or IP: 192.168.0.31

c. Scope: Global

d. Username: sysadmin


e. Password: sysadmin

f. Re-Type Password: sysadmin

Figure 14. Adding VNX-Block

15. Enter the following details for VNX-File and click Discover New VNX System. (See Figure 15)

a. Control Station Host Name or IP: 192.168.0.35

b. Scope: Global

c. Domain: Blank

d. Username: nasadmin

e. Password: nasadmin

f. Re-Type Password: nasadmin

Figure 15. Adding VNX-File

You have now successfully configured your Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) plugin to manage your arrays for both storage viewer and provisioning. The next labs will guide you through using these plugins.


Provision an iSCSI Datastore

In this section you are going to provision an iSCSI Block Datastore and an NFS Datastore using the VSI plugin.

16. Click Home > Hosts and Clusters. (See Figure 16)

Figure 16. Navigate to Hosts and Clusters View

17. Right click esx01.vlab.local. From the drop down navigate to EMC > Unified Storage > Provision Storage. (See Figure 17)


Figure 17. Open the Provision Storage Wizard

18. To provision a block iSCSI LUN select Disk/LUN. Click Next. (See Figure 18)


Figure 18. Select Disk/LUN

19. To select your array click VNX-Block. Click Next. (See Figure 19)


Figure 19. Select VNX-Block

20. On the Choose Storage Pool screen click Pool 1 – FAST Cache Disabled. Click Next. (See Figure 20)


Figure 20. Choose Storage Pool

21. Select VMFS-5. Click Next. (See Figure 21)


Figure 21. Select VMFS-5

22. Select VMFS Datastore and enter he following information: (See Figure 22)

a. Datastore name: iSCSI_LUN

b. LUN ID: Accept the Default

c. Default Owner: SPA

d. Capacity: 2GB

e. Thin: Selected


Figure 22. iSCSI LUN Properties

23. To review or change FAST Tiering policy click Advanced. (See Figure 23)


Figure 23. Access Tiering Policy options

24. Note that the default Tiering policy is Auto-Tier but this can be change to Highest or lowest Available Tier if desired. Click OK to close. (See Figure 24)

Figure 24. Tiering options

25. To create the new iSCSI LUN with the parameters you have entered click Finish. (See Figure 25)


Figure 25. Click Finish

26. Monitor the LUN creation progress in the Recent Tasks pane. (See Figure 26)

Figure 26. Monitor LUN Creation

27. Once complete your new Datastore will be available under your storage list. (See Figure 27)


Figure 27. New LUN Created

You have successfully created a new block iSCSI LUN using the VSI plugin. Next you will create a new NFS share using the plugin.

Provision an NFS Datastore

28. To provision an NFS datastore right click esx01.vlab.local. from the drop down navigate to EMC > Unified Storage > Provision Storage. (See Figure 28)


Figure 28. Navigate to Provision Storage

29. Select Network File System. Click Next. (See Figure 29)


Figure 29. Select Network File System

30. Select your VNX-File Appliance. Click Next. (See Figure 30)


Figure 30. Select VNX-File 192.168.0.35

31. For Datastore name enter NFS_Datastore. Click Next. (See Figure 31)


Figure 31. Enter datastore Name

32. Select the following options and click Next. (See Figure 32)

a. Data Mover Name: server_2

b. Data Mover Interfaces: 192.168.1.35


Figure 32. Data Mover Details

33. Click Create New NFS Export. Click Next. (See Figure 33)


Figure 33. Create New NFS Export

34. Enter the following information and click Finish. (See Figure 34)

a. Storage Pool: clar_r5_performance

b. Initial Capacity: 2GB

c. Thin Enabled: Selected

d. Max Capacity: 3GB


Figure 34. NFS Export Properties

35. Monitor the progress in the Recent Tasks Pane. (See Figure 35)

Figure 35. Monitor NFS Export creation progress

36. Once complete you will see your new NFS Export available in your storage list. (See Figure 36)


Figure 36. NFS Export Created

VSI – Storage Viewer

In this section you will see the increased level of detail on the underlying storage that the Storage Viewer component provides you as a VMware administrator.

37. Click esx01.vlab.local. In the right hand pane click EMC VSI. (See Figure 37)

Figure 37. Access EMC VSI Tab

38. In the right hand pane under Storage Viewer\Datastores click NFS FS01. Once the view refreshes you will notice that the Storage Details pane becomes populated with a significant amount of information.

Some of this information you receive as standard within the vSphere Client though you will notice that there is also additional information included around the actual underlying physical storage. In your case EMC VNX.

Take some time to review this information reported back from the VSI Plugin such as the name of the data mover that is presenting the NFS share. Also note the storage Pool information which can be useful information for a VMware administrator. (See Figure 38)


Figure 38. NFS datastore Storage Details

Now that you have looked at the additional useful information you can get from using the VSI Storage Viewer when looking at you EMC VNX File appliance you will now look at the information you also get from your EMC VNX-Block.

39. In the right hand pane under Storage Viewer\Datastores click VAAI_Enabled. Once the view refreshes you will notice that the Storage Details pane becomes populated with a significant amount of information. (See Figure 39)

Note: During the discovery process you may see multiple command prompt windows flash onscreen. This is normal.

Figure 39. VAAI_Enabled Storage Viewer Details

40. Another useful view provided by the VSI plugin is to display a list of the VMs running on a vSphere cluster and also details of the underlying storage the Vm is running on along with information on whether the VM has been compressed (more on this in the next section) or not.


To see this right click vlab Cluster. From the drop down navigate to EMC > Unified Storage > Properties. (See Figure 40)

Figure 40. Access Unified Storage Properties

41. Note the VM details from this screen. To finish click Close.(See Figure 41)


Figure 41. VM Properties

VSI – FAST Clones

42. This section provides an overview of utilizing VSI to perform FAST Clones of your VMs

Right click FASTClone-VM. From the drop down navigate to EMC > Unified Storage > Fast Clone. (See Figure 42)


Figure 42. Navigate to Fast Clone Wizard

43. Expand Hosts & Folders. Click esx01.vlab.local. Click Next. (See Figure 43)


Figure 43. Select esx01.vlab.local

44. Enter the following under Clone Info and click Finish. (See Figure 44)

a. Clone Count: 5

b. Clone Name: Clone

c. Customization Specification: None

d. Automatically Power On: Selected


Figure 44. Clone Info

45. Monitor the Fast Clone progress in the Recent Tasks pane. (See Figure 45)

Figure 45. Monitor Fast Clone Progress

46. Once complete you will see the 5 new VM Clones listed under your ESX host. (See Figure 46)


Figure 46. New Cloned VMs

47. To view the properties of one of your cloned VMs right click Clone1. From the drop down navigate to EMC > Unified Storage > Properties. (See Figure 47)


Figure 47. View Clone1 Properties

48. The properties screen for Clone1 displays information on the VM including its path, the parent from which the Fast Clone was taken (Fast Clone Parent) and confirmation that the Vm is in fact a Thin Clone (File Type). Tak a look at some of the other properties presented. When finished click OK. (See Figure 48)


Figure 48. Clone1 Properties

VSI – Virtual Machine Compression

49. In this section you are going to look at how easily you can compress your VMs and reclaim valuable disk.

Click Compress-VM. Click Summary and note the Used Storage. (See Figure 49)


Figure 49. Compress-VM Used Storage

50. To compress your VM right click Compress-VM. From the drop down navigate to EMC > Unified Storage > Compress. (See Figure 50)


Figure 50. Launch Compression wizard

51. Monitor the progress in the Recent Tasks Pane. (See Figure 51)

Figure 51. Monitor the progress

52. To view the results of the compression right click Compress-VM. From the drop down navigate to EMC > Unified Storage > Properties. (See Figure 52)


Figure 52. View VM Properties

53. Review the space savings from the Virtual Machine Compression operation. Once finished click OK. (See Figure 53)


Figure 53. Compressed VM Summary

That completes Lab 1: VSI


Lab 2 – VAAI – vStorage API’s for Array Integration

This lab demonstrates the performance improvements for your ESX hosts using VAAI for Storage vMotions.

vMotion With VAAI Disabled

1. Click Home > esx01.vlab.local >Configuration >Storage. In the right hand pane under Datastores you will see 2 datastores named VAAI_Enabled & VAAI_Disabled (See Figure 54)

Figure 54. Navigate to Datastores view

2. To disable VAAI click Advanced Settings under Software. (See Figure 55)

Figure 55. Access Advanced Settings

3. In the left hand pane click DataMover. Change the value for DataMover.HardwareAccelleratedMove from 1 to 0. This disables VAAI on the ESX host. To finish click OK. (See Figure 56)

Overview

Lab


Figure 56. Disable VAAI

4. You will now migrate a VM between 2 datastores on the EMC VNX with VAAI disabled. To do this right click VAAI-VM and select Migrate from the drop down. (See Figure 57)


Figure 57. Migrate VAAI-VM

5. Select Change Datastore. Click Next. (See Figure 58)


Figure 58. Change Datastore

6. Select VAAI_Disabled. Click Next. (See Figure 59)


Figure 59. Select VAAI_Disabled

7. To complete the migration click Finish. (See Figure 60)


Figure 60. Finish

8. Monitor the progress of the vMotion in the Recent Tasks pane. (See Figure 61)

Figure 61. vMotion Progress

9. To see the impact of the vMotion on the ESX host click esx01.vlab.local. Click Performance > Advanced. Ensure VAAI Chart is selected in the Switch to drop down. Note the large spike in average commands issued in the performance chart. (See Figure 62)


Figure 62. Performance Chart VAAI Disabled

vMotion with VAAI Enabled

10. You will now enable VAAI and perform the same operation. To do this click Configuration > Advanced Settings. (See Figure 63)

Figure 63. Access Advanced Settings

11. In the left hand pane click DataMover. Change the value for DataMover.HardwareAccelleratedMove from 0 back to 1. This enables VAAI on the ESX host. To finish click OK. (See Figure 64)


Figure 64. Enable VAAI

12. You will now migrate your VM back to its original location to see the benefits of VAAI. Right click VAAI-VM and select Migrate from the drop down. (See Figure 65)


Figure 65. Migrate VAAI-VM

13. Click Change Datastore. Click Next. (See Figure 66)



14. Select VAAI_Enabled. Click Next. (See Figure 67)


Figure 67. Select VAAI_Enabled Datastore



Figure 68. Finish the Migration

16. To monitor the performance impact on the ESXi with VAAI enabled click Performance > Advanced and ensure VAAI Chart is selected from the Switch to drop down. Once the migration has reached at least 50% you should be able to see the dramatic improvement in command issued by the ESXi host. Thus showing the benefit of VAAI to you as a VMware Administrator. (See Figure 69)


Figure 69. Performance Chart comparing VAAI disabled & VAAI enabled

That completes Lab 2: VAAI


Lab 3 – VMware vSphere Aware Storage API - VASA

VASA or VMware vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness are a new set of APIs that compliment and coexist with the existing vSphere API for Array Integration (VAAI) offload capabilities. Where VAAI has a focus of providing APIs to enable offloading of storage related functions from VMs to storage systems that support those capabilities, VASA has a focus around providing insight and information. For example VASA enables storage systems that support the API to provide vCenter with visibility into storage configuration, health status and functional capabilities.

Functional capabilities include things such as support for thin provision or other data footprint reduction (DFR) features to optimize storage space capacity as well as performance optimization characterizes. What this means is that a storage system can inform vCenter of how it is configured along with its RAID levels, thin or thick provisioning, replication and other functionalities that can be used for effective management. For vCenter, being able to gain additional insight into how a storage system is configured and its capabilities is used for enabling automated, policy based and profile driven storage management. In vSphere 5.0, Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler (SDRS) makes recommendations on performance and capacity load balancing leveraging insight obtained from VASA.

VASA can be used by system administrators to aid in planning, configuration and troubleshooting tasks involving VMs and storage. For system administrators, VASA capabilities means eliminating or reducing decencies on excel worksheets or other configuration documents to track how LUNs (for block) and file systems (for NAS) are configured to meet performance, availability and capacity service level objectives (SLOs). Where VASA comes into play is to help admins rapidly and effectively provision VMs and their associated storage in a more productive manner. By having VASA enabled insight into the performance, availability and capacity characteristics of a given storage volume (LUN or file system), administrators can allocate the applicable type of storage to meet SLO requirements to a given VM.

Review VASA Setup

Overview

Lab


17. To use VASA with a supported array it must first be added to Storage Providers in your vSphere Client. This has been done for you but to see how this is done in your vSphere client click Home > Storage Providers. (See Figure 70)

Figure 70. Navigate to Storage Providers

18. Under Vendor Providers note that your EMC VNX array VNX-Block is added. Note the Vendor Provider Details in the bottom pane. (See Figure 71)

Figure 71. Vendor Provider Details


19. To configure Vm Storage Profiles click Home > VM Storage Profiles. (See Figure 72)

Figure 72. Access VM Storage Profiles

20. There are 2 pre created VM Storage Profiles and currently there is one associated VM. To verify this click Mixed FAST Pool with FAST Cache under VM Storage Profiles. Then Click Summary. (See Figure 73)

Figure 73. Verify associated VM


21. Creating new VM Storage Profiles for specific storage configurations is quick and easy. Click Create VM Storage Profile. (See Figure 74)

Figure 74. Create VM Storage Profile

22. Enter SSD with FAST Cache for Name. Description is optional. Click Next. (See Figure 75)

Figure 75. Enter Name and optional Description


23. Select Solid State Storage; FAST Cache. Click Next. (See Figure 76)

Figure 76. Select Storage Capabilities

24. To create the profile click Finish. (See Figure 77)


Figure 77. Complete the wizard

25. Your new profile is now added and available for use. (See Figure 78)

Figure 78. New profile added


Virtual Machine Compliance

26. To apply VM Storage Profiles to your Virtual Machines click Home > Hosts and Clusters. (See Figure 79)

Figure 79. Navigate to Hosts and Clusters

27. Right click VAAI-VM. From the drop down navigate to VM Storage Profiles > Manage Profiles. (See Figure 80)


Figure 80. Manage Profiles

28. To associate a profile with VAAI-VM select Mixed FAST Pool with FAST Cache from the drop down and click Propagate to disks. To finish click OK. (See Figure 81)


Figure 81. Associate VM Storage Profile

29. To verify that the profile is assigned click VAAI-VM and review the VM Storage Profiles on the Summary tab. Note that Profiles Compliance is now Compliant. (See Figure 82)


Figure 82. Verify Compliance

30. You will now migrate VASA-VM to another datastore that does not comply to the assigned VM Storage Profile. To do this right click VASA-VM and from the drop down select Migrate. (See Figure 83)

Figure 83. Migrate VASA-VM


31. Select Change Datastore. Click Next. (See Figure 84)


32. Note that your datastores are now sorted into Compatible and Incompatible. This allows you as a VMware administrator to easily see which datastores are compatible with the desired VM Storage profile thus enabling you to remain within SLO’s. You will now migrate to an incompatible datastore. Select VASA_DS2_FAST_Cache_Disabled. Click Next. (See Figure 85)


Figure 85. Select an Incompatible Datastore



Figure 86. Complete the Migration

34. On the Summary tab for VASA-VM click Refresh under VM Storage Profiles and note that VASA-VM is now in a Noncompliant state. (See Figure 87)


Figure 87. VASA-VM is now Noncompliant

Migrating VASA-VM back to its original datastore will return it to a compliant state.

That completes Lab 3: VASA


Additional Notes – Accessing the VMware vSphere Web Client The vSphere web client is installed on your system however it is outside the scope of this lab. If you wish to use it for training or personal learning please do the following.

1. On the desktop of your launchpad double click vSphere Web Client. (See Figure 88)

Figure 88. vSphere Web Client

2. Click Continue to this website. (See Figure 89)

Figure 89. Click Continue

3. Click Yes to the Security Warning. (See Figure 90)

Figure 90. Click Yes

4. Enter the following credentials and click Login. (See Figure 91)

a. Username: vlab\administrator

b. Password: Password123!


Figure 91. Enter Credentials


Conclusion

During this demonstration, you completed the following labs:

EMC VSI configuration and management

Provisioning Block & File storage using VSI

Exploring the benefits of using VAAI

Exploring the benefits of using VASA

Customer

For any issues or feedback, or for further information about EMC products, solutions, and demonstrations, contact your EMC representative.

EMC personnel

For any issues or feedback, please email [email protected]. Please include as much detail as possible to ensure your email is addressed in a timely manner.

That completes the demonstration of VNX with VMware Integration – VSI, VAAI & VASA

Thank You

Summary

Support

References

vLab VNX With VMware Integration - Lab03 VSI, VAAI & VASA (1)

Documents

vmware integration vsi

recent tasks pane

storage viewer component

vendor provider details

unified storage

vm storage profiles

click home

vsphere web client