Настройка mpio в windows server 2016

В этой статье мы рассмотрим особенности реализации, установки и настройки MPIO в Windows Server 2016/2012 R2. MPIO (Multi—Path Input Output) или многопутевой ввод-вывод, это технология для построения отказоустойчивого транспорта к системе хранения данных (СХД) или выполняющему эти функции серверу за счет использования избыточных путей. Дополнительные пути между сервером и хранилищем создаются с использованием избыточных физических компонентов (коммутаторы, кабели, адаптеры или сетевые карты). Обратная сторона такой избыточности – операционная система может видеть один и тот же LUN по разным путям и считать их разными устройствами.

Если ОС поддерживает MPIO, она будет видеть каждый из презентованных ей дисков в одном экземпляре. При включенном MPIO сервер может обращаться к данным на СХД по нескольким путям, что увеличивает скорость доступа к подключенному LUN и позволяет задействовать для доступа несколько сетевых или HBA-адаптеров.
MPIO может задействовать альтернативный логический путь при выходе из строя одного/нескольких компонентов, заставив операционную систему использовать для доступа к логическому диску (LUN) резервный маршрут, сохраняя непрерывность доступа к данным. Таким образом MPIO является важным компонентом при реализации отказоустойчивой системы доступа к данным, кроме того входящие в состав MPIO модули позволяют распределять нагрузку между различными путями к одному и тому же LUN-у.

Совет. Если ОС не поддерживает MPIO, то для предотвращения потери данных нужно уменьшить количество путей к LUN до 1. На сервере нужно оставить включенным только один порт Fiber Channel или адаптер iSCSI инициатора. Также нужно отключить дополнительные пути для данного LUN на уровне СХД и коммутаторов.

Установка MPIO в Windows Server 2016/2012R2

Windows Server поддерживает многопутевой ввод-вывода MPIO начиная с версии Windows Server 2008 R2. Технология Microsoft MPIO позволяет обеспечить высокую доступность и балансировку нагрузки посредством возможности организации нескольких подключений к СХД, не зависит от протоколов и поддерживает подключение дисковых массивов и хранилищ по iSCSI, Fiber Channel и хранилищ SAS.

MPIO-модуль в Windows Server по умолчанию не включен. Установить его в Windows Server 2016 можно двумя способами:

• Из графического интерфейса с использованием консоли Server Manager
• Из командной строки Powershell

Установка MPIO с помощью консоли Server Manager

1. Откройте консоль Server Manager;
2. В списке компонентов (Features) найдите и активируйте опцию Multipath I/O;
3. Завершите установку компонента MPIO и перезагрузите сервер.

Установка MPIO с помощью Powershell

Запустите консоль PowerShell с правами администратора и для установки компонента выполните команду:

Add-WindowsFeature -Name 'Multipath-IO'

Чтобы убедиться, что модуль MPIO установлен в вашем Windows Server, выполните:

Get-WindowsFeature -Name 'Multipath-IO'

Настройка MPIO в Windows Server 2016

После установки MPIO модуля, необходимо активировать его для LUN, которые доступны по нескольким путям. По умолчанию ОС видит каждое подключение к диску как разные логические диски (LUN).

Совет. Одним из компонентов MPIO является специальный модуль MSDSM (Microsoft Device Service Module), позволяющий управлять политиками балансировки нагрузки. По умолчанию MPIO устанавливается со стандартным Microsoft DSM, однако в большинстве случаев стоит установить DSM модуль, предоставляемый производителем СХД (IBM DSM, HP DSM MPIO и т.д.). Обычно скорость работы и функционал нативного DSM модуля выше, чем у стандартного DSM-модуля Microsoft (производитель пишет свои DSM модули с учетом специфики работы и особенностей своего железа)/

Разрешите модулю DSM от Microsoft (MSDSM) автоматически объединять SAN диски в зависимости от типа подключений. MSDSM автоматически определяет наличие LUN, имеющих несколько путей к СХД и поддерживает большинство популярных систем хранения.

Сделать это можно из командной строки:

• Для SAS дисков:
  Enable-MSDSMAutomaticClaim -BusType SAS

• Для iSCSI дисков:
  Enable-MSDSMAutomaticClaim -BusType iSCSI

Также вы можете включить DSM через графический интерфейс. Откройте консоль управления Server Manager и в меню Tools выберите пункт MPIO (или выполните команду mpiocpl).

Перейдите на вкладку Discover Multi—Paths, включите опцию Add support for SAS devices (или Add support for iSCSI devices, если вы используете iSCSI хранилище) и нажмите Add. После этого перезагрузите сервер.

После перезагрузки откройте диспетчер устройств или диспетчер дисков и убедитесь, что количество подключенных дисков (LUN), доступных серверу уменьшилось в 2 раза (при наличии подключений к СХД по двум путям).

Вы можете управлять списком устройств, для которых включена поддержка MPIO на вкладке MPIO Devices (или командой
Get-MSDSMSupportedHw
).

Вы можете добавить новые MPIO устройства, нажав кнопку Add или из PowerShell:

New-MSDSMSupportedHw -VendorId <vend> -ProductId <product>

При настройке кластера конфигурацию MPIO необходимо выполнить на всех узлах.

Если вы подключаете iSCSI таргет по 2 путям и хотите использовать MPIO для этого подключения, нужно при подключении Target выбрать iSCSI LUN, нажать кнопку Connect и включить опцию Enable multi—path.

Затем нажмите на кнопку Advanced и привяжите разные IP адреса инициатора к разным IP адресами target.

С помощью PowerShell можно получить текущие настройки MPIO:

Get-MPIOSetting

PathVerificationState     : Disabled
PathVerificationPeriod    : 30
PDORemovePeriod           : 20
RetryCount                : 3
RetryInterval             : 1
UseCustomPathRecoveryTime : Disabled
CustomPathRecoveryTime    : 40
DiskTimeoutValue          : 60

Можно изменить настройки MPIO таймеров так (например, установим рекомендованные настройки для flash массива):

Set-MPIOSetting -NewPathRecoveryInterval 20 -CustomPathRecovery Enabled -NewPDORemovePeriod 30 -NewDiskTimeout 60 -NewPathVerificationState Enabled

Доступны следующие политики балансировки MPIO:

• FOO — Fail Over Only
• RR — Round Robin
• LQD — Least Queue Depth
• LB — Least Blocks

Чтобы задать политику балансировки (например, Round Robin):

Set-MSDSMGlobalLoadBalancePolicy -Policy RR

Также политику балансировки можно изменить в свойствах подключенного LUN на вкладке MPIO. В этом примере для массива выбрана политика Round Robin.

Чтобы увидеть полный список PowerShell команд, доступных в модуле MPIO, выполните команду:

Get-Command –Module Mpio

SAN Policy

В Windows имеется специальная политика дисков (SAN Policy), которая определяет, нужно ли автоматически монтировать диски при их подключении к хосту.

Текущую настройку SAN Policy можно получить с помощью diskpart. По умолчанию используется SAN политика Offline Shared.

Чтобы автоматически монтировать диски, нужно изменить значение SAN Policy на OnlineAll.

DISKPART> san policy=OnlineAll

Возможные значение SAN policy:

Webmasters can enable Multi-Path Input-Output or MPIO on a Windows server either from a graphical interface using the Server Manager console
or from the PowerShell command line.

As a part of our Server Management Services, we help our Customers with Windows related requests regularly.

Let us today discuss the possible steps to enable MPIO on the windows server.

Installing MPIO Installation on Windows Server 2016/2012 R2

Windows Server supports multi-path input-output (MPIO) starting from Windows Server 2008 R2.

By default, Windows Server disables MPIO module. There are two ways to install it in Windows Server 2016:

• From a graphical interface using the Server Manager console
• From the PowerShell command line

Enable MPIO Using Server Manager

1. Open the Server Manager
2. Find and check the Multipath I/O in the Features list
3. Finish MPIO installation and restart the server

Installing Multipath-IO Using PowerShell

Run the PowerShell console as an administrator and use the following command to install the Windows Server feature:

Add-WindowsFeature -Name 'Multipath-IO'

To make sure that MPIO has been installed on the Windows Server, run this command:

Get-WindowsFeature -Name 'Multipath-IO'

To disable MPIO, enter the following command:

Remove-WindowsFeature -Name 'Multipath-IO'

Configuring MPIO on Windows Server 2016

After installing the MPIO module, we need to activate it for the LUNs that are available by multiple paths. By default, Windows sees each connection to a disk as different logical disks (LUNs).

Among MPIO components, there is a special module, MSDSM (Microsoft Device Service Module) that allows you to manage load balancing policies.

Typically, native DSM offers better performance and more features than Microsoft. Thus it would be a good idea to install the DSM module provided by the storage manufacturer (IBM DSM, HP DSM MPIO, etc.) though it is present with the standard Microsoft DSM by default.

Allow the DSM module by Microsoft (MSDSM) to automatically merge SAN disks based on the connection type. MSDSM automatically detects LUNs that have multiple paths to storage and supports the most popular storage devices.

We can do it from the command prompt:

• For SAS disks: Enable-MSDSMAutomaticClaim -BusType SAS
• For iSCSI disks: Enable-MSDSMAutomaticClaim -BusType iSCSI

We can do the same using the mpclaim tools. The following command will scan all devices detected by a system, find those that have multiple paths, and enable MPIO support for them:

mpclaim.exe -r -i -a ""

Enable DSM vi GUI

We can also enable DSM in the GUI. Open the Server Manager and select MPIO in the Tools menu (or run the command: mpiocpl).

Go to the Discover Multi—Paths tab, check to Add support for SASdevices (or Add supportfor iSCSI devices if you are using iSCSI storage), and click Add. Then restart your server.

After the restart, open the Device Manager (or the Disk Manager) and make sure that the number of connected disks (LUNs) available to your server has reduced twice (if there are two paths to your storage device).

We can manage the list of devices with MPIO support enabled in the MPIO Devices tab (or using the Get-MSDSMSupportedHw command).

We can add new MPIO devices by clicking Add or from PowerShell:

New-MSDSMSupportedHw -VendorId <vend> -ProductId <product>

while deploying a cluster, configure MPIO on all nodes.

To use MPIO while we connect an iSCSI target via 2 paths, select iSCSI LUN while we connect a Target, click Connect, and check the Enable multi-path option.

Then click Advanced and bind different initiator IP addresses to different target IP addresses.

You can get current MPIO settings using PowerShell:

Get-MPIOSetting

PathVerificationState : Disabled
PathVerificationPeriod : 30
PDORemovePeriod : 20
RetryCount : 3
RetryInterval : 1
UseCustomPathRecoveryTime : Disabled
CustomPathRecoveryTime : 40
DiskTimeoutValue : 60

We can change MPIO timer settings as follows:

Set-MPIOSetting -NewPathRecoveryInterval 20 -CustomPathRecovery Enabled -NewPDORemovePeriod 30 -NewDiskTimeout 60 -NewPathVerificationState Enabled

The following MPIO balancing policies are available:

• FOO — Fail Over Only
• RR — Round Robin
• LQD — Least Queue Depth
• LB — Least Blocks

To change a balancing policy:

Set-MSDSMGlobalLoadBalancePolicy -Policy RR

We can also select the balancing policy in the MPIO tab of the connected LUN properties. In this example, the Round Robin policy is selected for the array.
To view the full list of PowerShell commands available in the MPIO module, run this command:

Get-Command –Module Mpio

SAN (Disk) Policy on Windows Server

Windows has a special disk policy (SAN Policy) that determines whether disks must be mounted automatically when they are connected to a host.

We can get the current SAN Policy setting using diskpart. By default, Offline Shared policy for SAN is used:

diskpart
DISKPART>>san<

Due to this SAN policy, external storage LUNs may be disabled after a restart. To mount the drives automatically, change the SAN Policy value to OnlineAll.

DISKPART> san policy=OnlineAll

Possible SAN Policy values:

• OfflineAll : All disks are offline by default
• OfflineInternal : All disks on internal buses are offline
• OfflineShared : All disks connected via iSCSI, FC, or SAS are offline
• OnlineAll : All disks get online automatically (recommended)

[Need any further assistance to enable MPIO on windows server? – We’re available 24*7]

Conclusion

In short, webmasters can enable Multi-Path Input-Output or MPIO on a Windows server either from a graphical interface using the Server Manager console or from the PowerShell command line. Today, we saw how our Support Engineers perform this task.

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In this article we will consider how to install and configure MPIO on Windows Server 2016/2012 R2. MPIO (Multi—Path Input Output) is a technology that allows to build fault-tolerant transport to a data storage system (or a storage server) by using redundant paths. Additional paths between a server and a storage are created using redundant physical components (switches, cables, adapters or NICs). This redundancy type has a drawback: an operating system may see the same LUN at different paths and treat it as different drives.

If the OS supports MPIO, it will see each of the disks presented to it in one copy. If MPIO is enabled, a server may access data on a storage using multiple paths that makes access to a connected LUN faster and allows using multiple network or HBA adapters.
MPIO may use an alternative logical path if one or more components fail, thus making an operating system use another route to access a logical disk (LUN) maintaining data access consistency. So, MPIO is an important component of a fail-tolerant storage and data access system, and MPIO modules can distribute the load on the same LUN across different paths.

Tip. If an OS doesn’t support MPIO, leave only one path to a LUN to prevent data loss. Enable only one Fibre Channel port or one iSCSI initiator adapter on a server. Also, disable additional paths to the LUN on the data storage system and SAN/network switch levels.

Installing MPIO Installation on Windows Server 2016/2012R2

Windows Server supports multi-path input output (MPIO) starting from Windows Server 2008 R2. Microsoft MPIO provides high availability and load balancing using multiple connections to a storage, doesn’t depend on any protocols and supports disk array and storage connection using iSCSI, Fiber Channel and SAS.

By default, MPIO module is disabled on Windows Server. There are two ways to install it in Windows Server 2016:

• From a graphical interface using Server Manager console;
• From the PowerShell command line.

Enable MPIO Using Server Manager

1. Open the Server Manager;
2. Find and check the Multipath I/O in the Features list ;
3. Finish MPIO installation and restart the server.

Installing Multipath-IO Using PowerShell

Run the PowerShell console as an administrator and use the following command to install the Windows Server feature:

Add-WindowsFeature -Name 'Multipath-IO'

To make sure that MPIO has been installed on your Windows Server, run this command:

Get-WindowsFeature -Name 'Multipath-IO'

Configuring MPIO on Windows Server 2016

After installing the MPIO module, you need to activate it for the LUNs that are available by multiple paths. By default, Windows sees each connection to a disk as different logical disks (LUNs).

Tip. Among MPIO components, there is a special module, MSDSM (Microsoft Device Service Module) that allows you to manage load balancing policies. By default, MPIO is installed together with the standard Microsoft DSM. However, in most cases it is recommended to install the DSM module provided by your storage manufacturer (IBM DSM, HP DSM MPIO, etc.). Typically, native DSM offers better performance and more features than Microsoft (since the manufacturer builds its DSM based on the operating conditions and characteristics of its hardware).

Allow the DSM module by Microsoft (MSDSM) to automatically merge SAN disks based on the connection type. MSDSM automatically detects LUNs that have multiple paths to a storage and supports most popular storage devices.

You can do it from the command prompt:

• For SAS disks: Enable-MSDSMAutomaticClaim -BusType SAS
• For iSCSI disks: Enable-MSDSMAutomaticClaim -BusType iSCSI

You can also enable DSM in the GUI. Open the Server Manager and select MPIO in the Tools menu (or run the command: mpiocpl).

Go to the Discover Multi—Paths tab, check Add support for SASdevices (or Add supportfor iSCSI devices if you are using iSCSI storage) and click Add. Then restart your server.

After the restart, open the Device Manager (or the Disk Manager) and make sure that the number of connected disks (LUNs) available to your server has reduced twice (if there are two paths to your storage device).

You can manage the list of devices with MPIO support enabled in the MPIO Devices tab (or using the Get-MSDSMSupportedHw command).

You can add new MPIO devices by clicking Add or from PowerShell:

New-MSDSMSupportedHw -VendorId <vend> -ProductId <product>

If you are deploying a cluster, configure MPIO on all nodes.

If you connect an iSCSI target via 2 paths and want to use MPIO for it, select iSCSI LUN when you connect a Target, click Connect and check the Enable multi—path option.

Then click Advanced and bind different initiator IP addresses to different target IP addresses.

You can get current MPIO settings using PowerShell:

Get-MPIOSetting

PathVerificationState     : Disabled
PathVerificationPeriod    : 30
PDORemovePeriod           : 20
RetryCount                : 3
RetryInterval             : 1
UseCustomPathRecoveryTime : Disabled
CustomPathRecoveryTime    : 40
DiskTimeoutValue          : 60

You can change MPIO timer settings as follows (for example, let’s enable recommended settings for the all-flash array):

Set-MPIOSetting -NewPathRecoveryInterval 20 -CustomPathRecovery Enabled -NewPDORemovePeriod 30 -NewDiskTimeout 60 -NewPathVerificationState Enabled

The following MPIO balancing policies are available:

• FOO — Fail Over Only
• RR — Round Robin
• LQD — Least Queue Depth
• LB — Least Blocks

To change a balancing policy:

Set-MSDSMGlobalLoadBalancePolicy -Policy RR

You can also select the balancing policy in the MPIO tab of the connected LUN properties. In this example, the Round Robin policy is selected for the array.

To view the full list of PowerShell commands available in the MPIO module, run this command:

Get-Command –Module Mpio

SAN (Disk) Policy on Windows Server

Windows has a special disk policy (SAN Policy) that determines whether disks must be mounted automatically when they are connected to a host.

You can get the current SAN Policy setting using diskpart. By default, Offline Shared policy for SAN is used:

diskpart
DISKPART>>san</code

To mount the drives automatically, change the SAN Policy value to OnlineAll.

DISKPART> san policy=OnlineAll

Possible SAN Policy values:

I’ve already written about guest cluster in my previous blog posts – now I’d like to create a new guest cluster using Windows Server 2016 as a host OS and a multipath Windows Server 2016 – based iSCSI target. In this article I’ll walk all the steps required to create a two-way iSCSI connection to the iSCSI target. Here’s the schematic of my test network:

Network settings:

Host3 – iSCSI Target, WIndows Server 2016 Standard edition (of course in the productional networks iSCSI targets should not be connected to any switches except the dedicated iscsi switches – in this test I use HOST3 network connection only for the convenience).

Host1 – iSCSI initiator, WIndows Server 2016 Standard edition.

All network adapters to be used for iSCSI traffic should have only IP addresses and subnet masks set up – all other options/settings should be blank:

I’ve already described the process of creating an iSCSI target in Windows Server 2012R2 so I’ll just recap what should have been done in Windows Server 2016 to create an iSCSI target as the process has not changed since Windows Server 2012R2:

1) On Host3: I start Add Roles and Features Wizard and add iSCSI services to Host3 as depicted below:

Once the installation is complete I can proceed to creating folders that would be the virtual iSCSI disks on Host3. Since I’m going to create a guest cluster with the virtual domain controller and the virtual Exchange Server I will create three folders on different drives: the first one – iSCSI for the cluster forum, the second – iSCSI1 – for the virtual DC and the third one – iSCSI2 – for the virtual Exchange 2016.

Now I create virtual iscsi drives and the new target:

The first VHD and the target are created:

In the same manner I add the other two VHDs to the same target:

2) On Host1: I start Add Roles and Features Wizard and add MPIO to Host1

Let’s run MPIO:

As you can see, by default MPIO does not have iSCSI support:

…so I will add it:
and restart the server:

Now iSCSI support is enabled:

3) Connect to the target:

As Host1 is connected to the target (Host3) via the two independent paths I should connect to the target twice and configure two pairs of target/initiator  addresses – for this I click Advanced… button:

– now I press OK twice and return to the iSCSI Initiator’s Target window

Once again, I click Connect and enter the second pair of addresses:

…press OK twice.

On the Volumes and Devices tab we can see the three iSCSI VHDs:

Please note that the third volume still doesn’t use MPIO (there’s no mpio prefix after ) so I press Auto Configure and all three volumes “become multipathed”:

4) To make sure MPIO is working I press Devices… and then MPIO

As you can see there two active connections to the target because by default MPIO uses Round Robin load balance policy – it allows to use both paths simultaniously for load distribution.

We can click on each path and see its properties by pressing Details

Once the multipath connection to the target is established, I can proceed to formatting the newly-created disks (in fact iSCSI VHDs) in the Disk Management:

In the same manner I bring online and format the other two iSCSI disks:

Now let’s see the default MPIO configuration (please run PowerShell as Administrator):

Get-Command -Module MPIO

Please note that the DefaultTimeoutValue is set to 60 seconds – it means that if one of the paths fails MPIO will wait 60 seconds before failing over the current IO operations (which were carried out “along” that failed path) to the second path. I think this is too long so I’ll change this value to 20 seconds:

Set-MPIOSetting -NewDiskTimeout 20

Once the server is restarted I can test the multipath connection by copying the file to iSCSI volume and unplugging one of the path-cords from the server: after the disk timeout period (20 sec.) the copy operation should be resumed.

Note: you may find the picture above (with the copying bar) not too much descriptive – this is due to the  speed scale WinServer 2016 chooses (for the unknown reason!) for the bar: the actual  copying speed <=250 MBps  (using 2 x 1Gbps network adapters), that’s why the speed green “bar” is so “weak”.

Summary:

MPIO in Windows Server 2016 does provide both network speed aggregation and network attached storage fault tolerance.

MPIO (in regards in iSCSI) in Windows Server allows us to utilise two or more connectors rather than using a single connector to hook up to our storage appliance.

By default MPIO is not installed / enabled on Server 2012/2016 — so we’ll firstly enable it with:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature –Online –FeatureName MultiPathIO

To enable automatic use of MPIO we should issue:

Enable-MSDSMAutomaticClaim -BusType iSCSI

and then set the load balancing type we’ll want to use with it (in this case we’ll use a round robin style):

Set-MSDSMGlocalDefaultLoadBalancePolicy -Policy RR

and finally set the disk timeout period used for MPIO: