VMware SAN Connectivity:The NPIV Breakthrough

Jean-Yves Chevallier

Director, Product Marketing

Emulex Corporation

Emulex-VMware Relationship

A common focus on Data Center excellence.Strong penetration in the world’s leading DC’s.Four years of cooperationEmulex drivers in all ESX versions from 2.0 upJoint development:

Emulex is a VMware Community Source partnerJoint VMware-Emulex program on NPIVActive driver, API development, close interaction.

Joint quality assurance:VMware-trained Emulex engineers actively participated in ESX 3.0 testing based on joint test plans and suitesEmulex has qualified ESX 2.5 and ESX 3.0 configurations for a Tier-1 server vendor.Emulex is an active participant in VMware’s IOV Partner program:faster, more responsive driver testing, qualification and availability.

90 of the Fortune 100 Use Emulex. 90 of the FORTUNE 100 Run Emulex

Emulex Product Support in ESX

ESX 2.5: All Emulex 2 Gigabit/sec HBAs (PCI-X, PCI-Express and blades)FC boot operational and widely used.

ESX 3.0:All Emulex 2Gbit HBAsAll Emulex 4Gbit.sec “LightPulse ® Virtual“ HBAs Expanded OEM listings: Dell, HP (2G and 4G HBAs, P-blade, C-blade), IBM (2G and 4G blades), NetApp, Sun. More details at http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_io_guide.pdf FC boot operational and fully supported

Path protection:Runtime protection by ESX multipathing capabilityMulti-boot: eight alternate paths and targets for system bringup.Alternate paths and scan order editable via lputil (utility posted on Emulex web). Available on all Emulex HBAs, ESX 2.5 and ESX 3.0

VMware and the SAN Today

Majority of VMware servers are FC connectedNetworked storage is required for VMotion and workload balancingStorage networks enables storage consolidation storage much like VMware enables server consolidation

Rapid deployment of 4Gigabit/second technologyMajority of VMware FC connections through Emulex HBAs

CA BA B C

ServerOS

D

HBA

D

Hypervisor

I/O I/O I/O I/OI/OI/OI/OI/O I/O

ServerOS

ServerOS

ServerOS

Discrete Server Farm (pre-VMware) Consolidated Server Farm (VMware)OS OS OS OS

HBA HBAHBADAS DAS DAS

SAN

The Next Phase

More and more, Data Centers are looking to move from the basic storage requirements of “Virtual Workstation”, into the more complex storage requirements for Tier1 applicationsThis involves bringing today’s SAN best practices to virtual server environments:

Fabric zoningCorporate backup and disaster recovery plansStorage and fabric resource chargeback based on utilization

This also requires using the same set of tools and skills for the data accessed by virtualized servers, as with traditional bare-metal servers.The answer: Emulex LightPulse® Virtual HBA technology with N-Port ID Virtualization

HypervisorHBAs

Corporate storage

Corporate SAN

Tradserver

Tradserver

HBAs HBAs

One fabric visibility,Tools, methods

Onestorage management,

Tools, methods

Virtualizedserver

VirtualizedServer

What is N-Port ID Virtualization?

ANSI T11 standard enables creation and fabric registration of multiple logical ports per physical portImplemented in Emulex LightPulse® Virtual HBAs and leading fabric switches

HBA Fabric switch

Arrays

And LUNs

Arrays

And LUNs

Virtual port

Virtual port

Virtual port

Advancing SAN Integration With NPIV

Associate a virtual port to each guestEnables WWPN-based fabric and array tools

VM1Devt

VM3Mgmt

VM2Prod

Hypervisor

HBAs

Each virtual server individuallyvisible

No FC VisibilityOf virtualized servers

SAN (single view)

A BC

VM1Devt

VM3Mgmt

VM2Prod

Hypervisor

LightPulse Virtual HBAs

LightPulseVirtual HBAs

Virtual Ports and VM Migration

VMware’s VMotion relocates VMs to available resources.Currently requires open zoningVMotion future direction:

Will shut down initial virtual port, re-create it on another serverApplication will restart on new server with its zoned storage accessWill enable unlimited VMotion in zoned fabric

LightPulseVirtual HBAs

A B CHypervisor

FC Fabric

Server 1 out of resources !

Move selected apps, FC accessto Server 2

D E BHypervisor

NPIV Benefits

Leverage existing fabric toolsStorage customization to application/VM need:• Fast, cached storage vs FAT• Mirroring, backup policy, etccan limit target visibility to selected applicationsFabric QOS (guaranteed bandwidth to priority VMs)Granular management of I/O, storage capacity utilization, hot spot detection, chargeback

Leverage corresponding SAN and storage administrative skills

NPIV Future Directions

Virtual Machine level zoningMore flexibility in VM migration (e.g., VMotion):port name and attributes follow the VM!Seamless HBA upgrade, expansion, and replacement

Physical HBA in HBA-only management zoneLogical HBAs and arrays in production zone. No fabric or array reconfiguration. Because the WWPN is no longer tied to a physical HBA, HBA upgrade, expansion, and replacement no longer require modifications to the zoning or LUN masking

Convergence with Virtual Fabric (e.g., VSAN)

Reality Check

NPIV is an ANSI T11 Standard. References:FC-LS (T11/05-345v1) - Clause 4.2.8, 4.2.42, 6.4, 6.6.2, 8FC-DA (T11/04-202vA) - Clause 4.13FC-GS-4 (T11/04-031v2) - Clause 5.2.3.16, 5.2.5.31

NPIV is a standard feature in fabric switchesBrocade switches with Fabric OS 5.1.0Cisco switches with SAN-OS 3.0(1)McData switches with E/OS 8.0

Standard capability on IBM zSeries mainframes, with IBM-branded Emulex-built HBAsNPIV joint demonstration by VMware and Emulex: October 2005Prototype in VMware Community Source, at early end user site now.NPIV is built into 4gigabit/sec Emulex LightPulse® Virtual HBAs.

Productization Plans

switch

4G HBA

Driver

API

OS tools/services

VM VM

StorageNo impact

(NPIV transparent)No impact

(NPIV transparent)

NPIV (T11) standard, existing FC switchesNPIV (T11) standard, existing FC switches

Emulex LightPulse® Virtual HBA(4 Gigabit/second)

Emulex LightPulse® Virtual HBA(4 Gigabit/second)

Driver and user interface (1H ’07)Driver and user interface (1H ’07)

No change to virtualized environmentsNo change to virtualized environments

Conclusion

Server virtualization is moving into mission-critical applications, corporate SAN access

4 Gigabit Fibre Channel bandwidth and infrastructureN-Port ID Virtualization:

Integrates with SAN architectures, tools, best practicesEnables transition to mass deployment, production use

Emulex and VMware are leading in innovationFirst demonstration (ESX, LightPulse® Virtual HBA technology)First product in end user handsThriving Community Source joint developmentExtensive program delivering exceptional end user value

Bringing server virtualization to the mission-critical enterprise.

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