[BETA] Using VVOLs with NetApp & VMware

[datacenterdude]

UPDATE [Apr 9 2015]: The official versions of both VSC 6.0 and VASA Provider 6.0 are available as of today.

VSC 6.0 - CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

VP 6.0 - CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

FEEDBACK!

We want to hear your feedback!  We would love to consolidate everything centrally here in this thread, but if you have something that you don't want to say in the communities, you can always send VSC feedback to xdl-vsc-feedback@netapp.com.

-NetApp VSC/VASA team-

[datacenterdude]

RUSHIN,

Anytime you receive this error message, something has broken in the vSphere client itself, and it needs refreshing.  It's often uncertain as to what it is exactly.  When you get this message, be sure to always reload the vSphere client and try your operation again.

-Nick

[RUSHINS46]

Hi Nick,

I did this , reloading client for 5 times and i get the same error so i have unregistered VASA from VSC and was able to logon without any issues.

Can you provide some tips how to overcome this issues. As it does prevent me to do further steps and a show stopper to my stuff.

BR,

Rushi.

[RUSHINS46]

Hi Everyone

I have done pretty much everything to test the beta except that VASA is not loading in vsphere client upon configurtaration. I have now ESX 6.0 , Vcenter and netApp clustered data ontp 8.21 , VSC and VASA appliance deployed and configured , i can even run commands on VASA web interface,  however VASA still throwing errors upon logging to VSPHERE after registered in VSC.

Can someone guide me what is required to fix this issue, it is the last step to test VVOL.

i have loaded vsphere for about 20 times after configuring VASA but this error still show up.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Error: Unable to load resource module from /vp_ui/locales/VendorProviderUI-en_US.swf

An internal error has occurred - Unable to load resource module from /vp_ui/locales/VendorProviderUI-en_US.swf.

Reloading the client is recommended, so as to clear any problems left by this error.

Click Yes to reload the vSphere Web Client?

--------------------------------

BR,
Rushi.

[RUSHINS46]

HI

Ok , the VASA issue is fixed after rebooting ESX, VCENTER and and VASA.

BR,

Rushi.

[nsrushi46]

Hi Nick,

I have to come back on this. Now everything configured, installed. I have registed clustered data ontop 8.21 system with VSC storage provider as well?

I've started creating data store and i was able to see VVOL option, however after selecting the VVOL option i don't see any containers in the list of Backing storage containers ?

Question: Do i have create the containers before selecting VVOL or VVOL will create the containers ?

Can you provide what was missing ?

BR,

Rushi.

[dhollowa]

Rushi,

Using the CLI or System Manager, create one or more volumes on your controller that you would like to use in the container.  You will also need to enable NDMP copy on the each of SVMs that you would like to use for VVOLs.  After the volumes have been created then add the controller to MHC using administrator credentials.  Depending on the size of your cluster this could take several minutes,  While discovery is running, create a Storage Capability Profile that matches the attributes of the volumes you created earlier (ie. Deduplication).  After you have created one or more SCPs, then right click on a 6.0 host and select the Provision VVOL Datastore work flow.

This workflow will create the container then map it as a VVOL datastore on vCenter.

[forgosh]

NDMP needs to be enabled? Is that documented somewhere? I'll enable it and let you know.

Sent from my iPhone

[peterl]

Sorry, it's not documented, but it will be.  Sorry for the oversight.

To enable, first you have to disable node scope mode:

eadrax::> system services ndmp node-scope-mode off

NDMP node-scope-mode is disabled.

Then, set ndmp as an allowed protocol and enable it on the Vserver

eadrax::> vserver modify -vserver vmw_fcp -allowed-protocols fcp,ndmp

eadrax::> vserver services ndmp on -vserver vmw_fcp

We're looking at both automating this step (and a few others) and documenting.  Remember, this is beta!

[forgosh]

Making the NDMP change allows me to see the SVMs now! Thanks for everyones support!

I’m now able to get to the finish button but am now getting another error.

Also, one UI question. Why do we lock the vCenter interface when our plugins are doing something? Why not just update the running tasks?

[peterl]

That happened to me too, the first time I tried to create a vvol datastore.  Still trying to figure it out.  The datastore I created when I got that error isn't visible anywhere.  When I go back in to provision another vvol datastore, the volumes I used for the first one aren't available.  I created more volumes, and it worked the second time.

I'll work with eng, since I have the same sitcheeation, and report back.

Peter

[forgosh]

Yep. I get the failure dialog then if I try to use the same name again it says it's already in use and if I use a new name, the volumes from before are not there.

[forgosh]

So now I've created a VVOL and I even added another flexvol to it. However when I try to create a VM it fails. Gotta love Beta testing!!

[forgosh]

Ok! After some troubleshooting last night I was able to successfully create a VVOL container and provision VMs to it. The problems were:

• NDMP must be turned on in vserver mode
  • NDMP is used by VASA/VSC to copy blocks at the storage layer rather than at the host layer when the blocks need to be moved between volumes
• The export policies need to be set to use the default export policy as that is what VSC always uses.
• The SVM root volume style needs to be set to Unix for the ESXi hosts to be able to write to the exported filesystem
  • This is a new requirement that does not affect traditional NFS datastores.

None of these changes was disruptive to anything else being done on the cluster or SVM.

[dhollowa]

Seth,

Try restarting the sps process on the vCenter appliance.

service vmware-sps restart

To verify the sps process is responding correctly, go to the Storage Providers tab under vCenter and attempt to re-sync the Vendor Provider.  If the sync fails than the sps service may need to be restarted.

[nsrushi46]

hi Peter,

Thank you, i did according to your steps of NDMO on my Cluster netApp system 821 system however after doing it in VCENTER i still don't see the option of creating VVOL after the screen VVOL option> . i have also restarted services "vmware-sps" but no luck . I am going to wait for couple of mins (may be an 30 mins) since you said it will take some time to show up.

Keep you posted,

BR,

Rushi.

---------------------------

eadrax::> system services ndmp node-scope-mode off

NDMP node-scope-mode is disabled.

Then, set ndmp as an allowed protocol and enable it on the Vserver

eadrax::> vserver modify -vserver vmw_fcp -allowed-protocols fcp,ndmp

eadrax::> vserver services ndmp on -vserver vmw_fcp

eadrax::> system services ndmp node-scope-mode off

NDMP node-scope-mode is disabled.

Then, set ndmp as an allowed protocol and enable it on the Vserver

eadrax::> vserver modify -vserver vmw_fcp -allowed-protocols fcp,ndmp

eadrax::> vserver services ndmp on -vserver vmw_fcp

-------

BR,

Rushi.

[dhollowa]

Rushi,

How did you create the VVOL datastore?  via the vCenter work flow or through the NetApp VP UI?  If you use the NetApp VP UI then it will create the container, set your export policies, and mount the container as a VVOL Datastore.  To create a VVOL datastore via the vCenter workflow then it will only display the containers being advertised by the Vendor Provider.

[nsrushi46]

Hi Hollowa,

I was trying to create VVOL through VCENTER integrated screen as attached, however in your screen i see VASA Provider for cluster screen is not visible to me ? where did you get this and how to configure ? was it part of VASA appliance that was already configured ? my VASA appliance installed and configured on VCENTER inside VSC but i dont' see this screen.

BR,

Rushi.

[dhollowa]

Rushi,

The VASA UI is an extension which is registered with vCenter when you register the VP via VSC. Do you reboot your vCenter after registering the VP?

Is so, then you may need to unregister and re-register the VP via VSC. Please see the VSC 5.0 documentation for the VP registration process.

If registering does do work, please let me know and we can try another work around.

Sent from my iPhone

[nsrushi46]

Hi

I've install all components(ESX 6., VCENTER 6, VASA plugin, VSC)  and started using how to create a vVol, but after selecting option VVOL i don't see any containers from Storage.

It's failing every step not sure if t's because  ontap cluster 821 simulator and beta  esxi 6.?

And the last problem what i found that  after a restart of vsphere web client services the vasa options are ok however VSC wasn't starting at all.

Let me know if you a have a straight forward document with all steps required with (ESX6, VCENTER 6, VASA, VSC, NetApp simulator cluster data ontap 821), as it will be easy to test, however without having any straight process it is very difficult.

BR,

RUshi.

[dhollowa]

Try appending port 9443 to the vCenter URL.

In the NetApp readme file under Important Notes:

• Append port 9443 to the IP address when connecting to the vSphere Web Client
  • https://<IP-Address>:9443/vsphere-client/

[josegerez]

Will 7-mode support vVols in the future?