Recommended Host Settings for FC AIX Host Utilities

Recommendations for the host settings NetApp recommends that you use certain values for host parameters when you run the AIX Host Utilities with the Fibre Channel (FC) Protocol. These recommendations are based on research and internal testing done at NetApp. The recommended values may differ depending on your system environment and the version of the Host Utilities that you are using. Different versions of the Host Utilities support different environments. Note This document provides information for multiple versions of the Host Utilities, not just the current version. As a result, not all the recommendations apply to your version of the Host Utilities. Before you change a value, make sure that the recommendation applies to your version of the Host Utilities and your system setup. For information on supported AIX Host Utilities configurations, see the NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool at http://now.netapp.com/matrix/. In some cases, the AIX Host Utilities modify the host settings when you install the Host Utilities. This document contains information on the host settings that the Host Utilities change during the installation process as well as recommended settings that you might want to manually change later. Because each system is set up differently, you should evaluate whether the recommended changes would be good for your system.

Recommended host settings

The following table lists the settings that are changed and the recommendations for the settings that are not changed. In some cases these values apply to both the Veritas Dynamic Multipathing (DMP) and AIX MPIO environments. Other times, as indicated in the table, they apply to only one environment.

Recommended Host Settings for FC AIX Host Utilities Part Number 215-05787_A0

Clustered Systems Recommended Value

round_robin

Parameter
algorithm

Environment AIX MPIO

Description (Changed by Host Utilities) Determines the method for distributing I/O. Using round_robin distributes I/O across all enabled paths so that the host can take advantage of multiple interactions. Doing this can improve performance. The path priority is determined by the path priority attribute value. If you change this value, you also need to change the
reserve_policy value.

dyntrk

All

yes

(Recommendation only) The recommended value for this parameter is yes; however, you must manually set this parameter. The Host Utilities installation does not change this parameter from its default value of no. This parameter provides dynamic tracking of FC devices. The default value of no allows for cables on the host FC adapter to be moved on the switch side. If a cable is disconnected on the switch, it must be reconnected in the same port to start functioning again. When you set the value to yes and you are using soft zoning, you can safely relocate the cable to another port on the switch. Internal testing has shown that a value of yes works well for this parameter. However, you may want to change this value based on your system setup, especially if you have a large number of QFULL events occurring on over-subscribed storage arrays.

Recommended Host Settings for FC AIX Host Utilities

Clustered Systems Recommended Value

fast_fail

Parameter
fc_err_recov

Environment All

Description (Recommendation only) This parameter enables the AIX Fast I/O Failure. Symantec requires that you set this parameter to fast_fail when you are running Veritas Storage Foundation. Other applications and AIX MPIO environments may also require that you set this value to fast_fail. For more information on recommended values for this parameter, see the IBM APAR IY85526. The Host Utilities installation does not change change this value. When the FC adapter driver detects a link event, such as a lost link between a storage device and a switch, the adapter driver waits a short period of time to allow the fabric to stabilize. The normal wait is about 15 seconds. After that time, if the adapter driver detects that the device is not on the fabric, it begins failing all I/Os at the adapter driver. The adapter immediately fails any new I/O or retries of the failed I/Os until it detects that the device has rejoined the fabric.

hcheck_cmd

AIX MPIO

inquiry

(Changed by Host Utilities) Specifies which SCSI command to use during the healthcheck periods for all paths that have active I/O. (Changed by Host Utilities) Defines how often the health check is performed on the paths for a device. Internal testing has shown that a value of 30 works well for this parameter. (Changed by Host Utilities) Sends the healthcheck command down paths that have no active I/O, including paths with a state of failed.
3

hcheck_interval

AIX MPIO

30

hcheck_mode

AIX MPIO

nonactive

Recommended Host Settings for FC AIX Host Utilities

Clustered Systems Recommended Value

yes

Parameter
lun_reset_spt

Environment All

Description (Changed by Host Utilities) Resets the LUN if there is a problem. (Host Utilities 4.1 and later) The ODM device settings file shipped with the Host Utilities 4.1 and later supports LUN-level reset over targetlevel resets. The advantage of using lun_reset_spt is that, when there is a problem with a LUN, this parameter resets only that LUN. Using the target_reset causes a reset of the entire target and all LUNS on it, which results in more commands being lost (Host Utilities prior to 4.1) Early versions of the Host Utilities and Host Attach Kits used target_reset as the parameter.

max_transfer

All

FC LUNs: 0x100000 bytes iSCSI LUNS: 0x80000 bytes

(Changed by Host Utilities) Determines the maximum size in bytes that can be transferred to the device in one operation. The AIX Host Utilities 5.1 has increased this value to 0x100000 bytes for FC LUNs and 0x80000 bytes for iSCSI LUNs. These values align with the default settings used by numerous storage vendors. (Host Utilities prior to 5.1) Earlier versions of the Host Utilities used a value of 0x40000 for this parameter.

Recommended Host Settings for FC AIX Host Utilities

Clustered Systems Recommended Value 200

Parameter
num_cmd_elems

Environment All

Description (Recommendation only) Specifies the maximum number of requests that can be outstanding on a SCSI bus. The Host Utilities use the AIX default value of 200 because the best value for your system depends on how your system is set up. Based on the number of LUNs going through a particular adapter and the type of workload you are running, your AIX performance engineer may tune this value. (Default value) Controls the number of seconds before any outstanding command is retried. The retries are based on the number of pending commands at the time of the first QFULL event.The AIX Host Utilities 5.1 use the qfull_dly parameter with its default value of a 2-second delay: The retry counter logic inside the AIX I/O stack uses a per-command counter. For example, if the commands A, B, and C are all pending at the storage system when the first queue full comes in, this parameter puts the errored command at the end of the error queue and delays it for the default 2 seconds. When this happens, the storage system rotates between commands A, B, and C. Thus the total time before one of those commands reaches the error threshold would be approximately: queue_depth * 2 * <qfull_dly value in seconds> * 3 commands. When the error threshold is reached before the command is processed, the outstanding command receives an EIO error status and fails.

qfull_dly

All

2-second delay

Recommended Host Settings for FC AIX Host Utilities

Clustered Systems Recommended Value

64

Parameter
queue_depth

Environment All

Description (Changed by Host Utilities) Determines the maximum number of requests that the disk device can hold in its queue. The AIX Host Utilities 5.1 sets this value to 64. This value aligns with the default settings used by numerous storage vendors The best value for your system depends on your system setup. Based on the number of LUNs and the type of workload you are running, your AIX performance engineer may tune this value. In general, any value above 1 is good. A value of 1 serializes all I/O and slows things down. (Host Utilities prior to 5.1) The ODM device settings file shipped with the Host Utilities 4.1 through the Host Utilities 5.0 set the value to 12.

q_type

All

simple

(Changed by Host Utilities) Specifies the devices queue type. The queue type is the way commands are queued to the device. Internal testing has shown that a value of simple works well for this parameter. (Changed by Host Utilities) Indicates the type of reservation to be established and managed by the device driver while the disk is open in normal mode. This value is connected with the value for the algorithm parameter. By default, the Host Utilities use the round_robin algorithm. As a result, requiring a scsi-2 reservation be established when using a path would cause performance overhead. You should not change this value unless you change the algorithm parameter.

reserve_policy

All

no_reserve

Recommended Host Settings for FC AIX Host Utilities

Clustered Systems Recommended Value

30 seconds

Parameter
rw_timeout

Environment All

Description (Changed by Host Utilities) Indicates the amount of time in seconds for the Read/Write commands to complete before they time out. Internal testing has shown that a time-out value of 30 seconds works well for this parameter.

Recommended Host Settings for FC AIX Host Utilities

Recommendations for Veritas Storage Foundation settings

NetApp recommendations for Veritas values

When you run the Host Utilities with Veritas Volume Manager (VxVM) and Dynamic Multipathing (DMP), NetApp recommends that you use the values provided in the Veritas Release Notes with the exceptions listed below. These values are also provided in the AIX Host Utilities Release Notes. Note Check the NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool (http://now.netapp.com/matrix/) to determine which version of Veritas Storage Foundation the Host Utilities support. Based on testing done when the version of the Host Utilities was developed, NetApp recommends you set the following values when using Veritas Storage Foundation:

The Veritas DMP restore daemon interval. This tunable specifies the number of seconds the restore daemon waits before checking the paths between the host and the storage system. The NetApp recommended value is 60 seconds.Testing has shown that you get a faster recovery by making the restore daemon poll more often, However, systems set to a longer polling interval take longer to detect path recoveries, which can impact storage system performance during a failover operation.

The restore daemon policy. This tunable specifies which paths the restore daemon checks when it polls the system. NetApp recommends that you set the value to check_disabled, which tells the daemon to check only the disabled paths.

All other settings. Use the values recommended in the Veritas Storage Foundation Release Notes.

Recommendations for Veritas Storage Foundation settings