what is the best load balance policy to use for mpio dsm with W2K3 FC lun?

[dclark_uk]

Hello

We are in the process of migrating our data to a FAS2040 and are using the NetApp MPIO DSM on our physical windows servers (W2k3 r2)

The LUNS are presented via FC. We have 2 HBAs per server and it would see 4 paths to the LUN - 2 active\optimized and 2 active\unoptimized.  What is the best load balance policy to use?

Looking at the docs I have chosen "Round Robin with Subset" which looks like the best option as I understand it will balance the I/O over the 2 active/optimized paths and only use the active/unoptimized paths if the optimized paths are not available. Is my understanding of this correct or is there a better option?

Many thanks in advance!

[radek_kubka · Accepted solution]

Hi,

I believe you are correct.

In a single-image FC mode (default) you see active controller paths & also paths going via the other controller and cluster interconnect down to the LUN in question. So the latter ones are deemed as 'unoptimized' and normally shouldn't be used for load balancing.

Regards,
Radek

[dclark_uk]

Hi Radek, thanks for your update