Stefan Radovanovici's questions

We are trying to upgrade an DL360 G6 ESXi host with a DL360p G8. The G6 has a Qlogic ISP2532 FC card inside and everything works fine. Since I don't have a spare FC card, I need to use the same card in the new server.

The problem I am having is that while the card seem to work fine in the new server, I do not see the storage. The whole SAN/FC switches is out of my hands, I have no access to it.

I am no SAN specialist but I thought this shouldn't matter. Obviously the card is the same, the WNNs are the same so in theory this shouldn't affect the zoning configuration on the switches.

If I move the FC card back in the old server, it works without problem and I can see the storage. This is what the kernel shows on the new server (when it's not working):

2016-04-11T13:36:25.937Z cpu7:33267)Loading module qlnativefc ...
2016-04-11T13:36:25.941Z cpu7:33267)Elf: 1865: module qlnativefc has license GPLv2
2016-04-11T13:36:25.979Z cpu7:33267)Device: 191: Registered driver 'qlnativefc' from 20
2016-04-11T13:36:25.979Z cpu7:33267)Mod: 4943: Initialization of qlnativefc succeeded with module ID 20.
2016-04-11T13:36:25.979Z cpu7:33267)qlnativefc loaded successfully.
2016-04-11T13:36:25.981Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): MSI-X vector count from config space: 1f
2016-04-11T13:36:25.981Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): MSI-X vector count usable: 2
2016-04-11T13:36:25.981Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): Found an ISP2532, iobase 0x0x41000a200000
2016-04-11T13:36:25.981Z cpu16:33266)IntrCookie: 1915: cookie 0x14 moduleID 20 <qlnativefc (default)0> exclusive, flags 0x1d
2016-04-11T13:36:25.981Z cpu16:33266)IntrCookie: 1915: cookie 0x15 moduleID 20 <qlnativefc (rsp_q)0> exclusive, flags 0x1d
2016-04-11T13:36:25.981Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): num_rsp_queues = 1, num_req_queues = 1
2016-04-11T13:36:25.981Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): MSI-X: Enabled (0x2, 0x0).
2016-04-11T13:36:25.981Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): Calling initialize adapter
2016-04-11T13:36:28.941Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): FW: Loading via request-firmware...
2016-04-11T13:36:29.039Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): Allocated (64 KB) for EFT...
2016-04-11T13:36:29.042Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): Allocated (5414 KB) for firmware dump...
2016-04-11T13:36:29.054Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): Setting Parameter to mark RDP ELS command as a passthrough ELS command
2016-04-11T13:36:29.066Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): Enabling PUREX.
2016-04-11T13:36:29.078Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): FAWWN feature : disabled.
2016-04-11T13:36:29.091Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): Unable to read FCP priority data.
2016-04-11T13:36:29.101Z cpu16:33266)Device: 326: Found driver qlnativefc for device 0x74b0430275473f33
2016-04-11T13:36:29.103Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): MSI-X vector count from config space: 1f
2016-04-11T13:36:29.103Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): MSI-X vector count usable: 2
2016-04-11T13:36:29.103Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): Found an ISP2532, iobase 0x0x41000a1b8000
2016-04-11T13:36:29.103Z cpu16:33266)IntrCookie: 1915: cookie 0x16 moduleID 20 <qlnativefc (default)1> exclusive, flags 0x1d
2016-04-11T13:36:29.103Z cpu16:33266)IntrCookie: 1915: cookie 0x17 moduleID 20 <qlnativefc (rsp_q)1> exclusive, flags 0x1d
2016-04-11T13:36:29.103Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): num_rsp_queues = 1, num_req_queues = 1
2016-04-11T13:36:29.103Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): MSI-X: Enabled (0x2, 0x0).
2016-04-11T13:36:29.103Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): Calling initialize adapter
2016-04-11T13:36:30.053Z cpu0:33098)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): LOOP UP detected (4 Gbps).
2016-04-11T13:36:30.226Z cpu2:33269)qlnativefc: (7:0.0): scsi(0): SNS scan failed -- assuming zero-entry result...
2016-04-11T13:36:31.698Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): FW: Loading via request-firmware...
2016-04-11T13:36:31.796Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): Allocated (64 KB) for EFT...
2016-04-11T13:36:31.798Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): Allocated (5414 KB) for firmware dump...
2016-04-11T13:36:31.811Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): Setting Parameter to mark RDP ELS command as a passthrough ELS command
2016-04-11T13:36:31.823Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): Enabling PUREX.
2016-04-11T13:36:31.835Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): FAWWN feature : disabled.
2016-04-11T13:36:31.847Z cpu16:33266)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): Unable to read FCP priority data.
2016-04-11T13:36:31.860Z cpu16:33266)Device: 326: Found driver qlnativefc for device 0x6eeb43027547401e
2016-04-11T13:36:32.812Z cpu2:33100)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): LOOP UP detected (4 Gbps).
2016-04-11T13:36:33.234Z cpu10:33271)qlnativefc: (7:0.1): scsi(1): SNS scan failed -- assuming zero-entry result...

Someone suggested to me that the zoning is somehow related to the server name and that I should change the the new server's name to reflect the old one. I am not sure how this is related to anything but in a last attempt, I changed the ESXi hostname. It didn't help.

Is there something I am missing ? Does the zoning configuration on the switches have to be redone ? If so, why ?

Any help is appreciated.

Regards, Stefan

I have a question about the best design for site redudancy when using vSphere clusters. A bit of background info about our situation first though.

We are a medium-sized company with two main offices, located in different countries. Our networks are linked by a Layer2 150Mbps leased line which is currently underused. We have a variety of services running for internal use within the company, some on physycal servers and some on existing vSphere clusters. In our department we also run several services (almost all running under various forms of Linux) like NTP, Syslog, jump servers, monitoring servers and so on.

We have now the requirement that those servers need to be redundant within each location (which they are not at the moment) and also site redudant (which they are to some extent, the servers are duplicated in the 2nd location with configurations kept in sync via various methods at the application layer). There is no SAN available for us, at least not something that we can use at the moment.

Cost is also an issue. While we do have some budget available for this, we can't afford to buy SANs for both locations for example.

I looked at the VSA feature and it seems that this could be something for us but I am unsure how to solve the site-redudancy requirement.

At the moment for testing purposes I am setting up in a lab a vSphere 5 with VSA on two ESXi hosts. I am currently using the Essentials Plus kit with VSA license, which allows me to build a VSA cluster on up to 3 hosts, together with a vCenter license to manage them. The hosts each have two dual-port network cards and two 600GB drives, running in Raid1. Hardware-wise this will be enough for us to run the all the services we need as VMs and will provide redundandcy within the site.

At the moment I see only two option to have site redundancy:

1. build an identical VSA cluter in the second location and keep the various services sync'ed at application layer (database sync, rsync and so on).
2. simply move one of the hosts from the existing cluster to the second location, basically having the VSA cluster span the 150Mbps link between the sites.

I would very much prefer the second option but I am unsure how well it'll work, if it can work at all. Technically it should, we can span the needed VLANs across the leased line and have them available in the second location. The advantage would be that we don't need to worry at all about sync'ing databases and the like. But I have the feeling that the bandwidth will not be enough, I have no way of knowing how much traffic will the VSA cluster generate between the hosts. I realize that this will most likely depend on the individual usage of the VMs but still, I have no idea how VSA replicates data between the ESXi hosts.

Are these my only options or can my goals be achieved in some other way ? Is there perhaps a way to have some sort of "cold stand by" cluster in the second location where the VMs would be sync'ed once per night from the main location ? The idea is that in case the first site becomes unavailable, we would be able to bring all those VMs online there. We would be ok with the data being 1 day old.

Any answers are appreciated.

Best regards, Stefan