VSC doesn't find controllers

[SCHLEGELM]

Hello,

i installed VSC4.1 on a clean Windows 2008R2 Server, registered it with our vCenter 5.1 and activated it on the Client.

The Controllers are recognized at the 'Monitoring and Host Configuration'

So far so good, but when i try to migrate a misaligned machine, this error appears:

How can this be solved?

[maness]

Here are a couple of things to try:

1. Under Monitoring and Host Configuration, try clicking "Update" and then retry the migration in Optimization and Migration.
2. If that doesn't work, delete the following files and restart the Virtual Storage Console service:
   • VSC_INSTALL_DIR\info.x
   • VSC_INSTALL_DIR\info.xout
   • VSC_INSTALL_DIR\etc\controllerConfigurations.dat

[SCHLEGELM]

Thanks for your reply!

I tried both but it didn't help, i still get the warning that there are no controllers found. I'm sure it worked with 4.0 and before...

[dburkland]

Are you running VSC 4.1P1 or just 4.1?

[SCHLEGELM]

I tried both - both with a fresh install - none worked

[SCHLEGELM]

I found some Errors inside the logs that there is no iscsi-license found. Could that be the cause? We're using NFS only

[maness]

I don't think this is necessary the root cause of the issue you are seeing, but unless you have a PVR, "NFS optimization" (migrating to an NFS datastore to functionally align a VM) isn't enabled. Since you're NFS only, there wouldn't be any VMFS datastores available.

It seems like controller discovery used by Optimization and Migration could be filtering out controllers. Try this to get more logging information:

1. In VSC_INSTALL_DIR\etc\caster\log4j.properties, modify these properties

log4j.appender.casterConsole.Threshold=DEBUG

log4j.appender.casterLog.Threshold=DEBUG

log4j.logger.com.netapp.caster=DEBUG, casterLog, casterConsole

log4j.logger.com.netapp.kamino=DEBUG, casterLog, casterConsole

2. Restart the Virtual Storage Console

3. Retry the migration. You should get the same error message, but VSC_INSTALL_DIR\log\caster.log should provide more information about why the storage controllers are being filtered.

[SCHLEGELM]

Seems like VSC tries to get a list of capable controllers. As you said, NFS-to-NFS online migration is still not supported with this version, so there is no (capable) controller found.

The Logs show something like this:

2013-02-14 08:23:51,038 (WrapperSimpleAppMain) DEBUG [ControllerManagerInstance] - Retrieving controllers from the storage configuration...

2013-02-14 08:23:51,209 (WrapperSimpleAppMain) DEBUG [ControllerManagerInstance] - Shared subplugin configuration returned 2 controller configurations

2013-02-14 08:23:51,209 (WrapperSimpleAppMain) DEBUG [ControllerManagerInstance] - {0151745138-0=0151745138-0(addr=10.80.0.12:443, user=root), 0151728774-0=0151728774-0(addr=10.80.0.10:443, user=root)}

2013-02-14 08:23:51,209 (pool-6-thread-1) DEBUG [ControllerManagerInstance] - getNtapControllers(): adding connection NtapConnectionInfo[connectIpAddress=10.80.0.12, connectUserName=root, connectPort=443, connectSSL=true]

2013-02-14 08:23:51,225 (pool-6-thread-2) DEBUG [ControllerManagerInstance] - getNtapControllers(): adding connection NtapConnectionInfo[connectIpAddress=10.80.0.10, connectUserName=root, connectPort=443, connectSSL=true]

2013-02-14 08:23:52,426 (pool-6-thread-2) INFO  [ControllerUtil] - initializeFiler: NtapFiler[id=0151728774-0, name=rflenasa, connectIpAddress=10.80.0.10] Controller supports the VAAI primitatives

2013-02-14 08:23:52,442 (pool-6-thread-1) INFO  [ControllerUtil] - initializeFiler: NtapFiler[id=0151745138-0, name=rflenasb, connectIpAddress=10.80.0.12] Controller supports the VAAI primitatives

2013-02-14 08:23:52,941 (pool-6-thread-2) ERROR [ZAPI_LOGGER] - Sent 11 (and received error) to 10.80.0.10<iscsi-service-status/>

2013-02-14 08:23:52,941 (pool-6-thread-2) ERROR [ZAPI_LOGGER] - NaException netapp.manage.NaAPIFailedException: Api iscsi-service-status either requires license for iscsi or requires the option licensed_feature.iscsi.enable to be turned on (errno=13008)

2013-02-14 08:23:52,941 (pool-6-thread-2) WARN  [ControllerUtil] - invokeZAPI(0): failed NtapFiler[id=0151728774-0, name=rflenasa, connectIpAddress=10.80.0.10] API failed. Api iscsi-service-status either requires license for iscsi or requires the option licensed_feature.iscsi.enable to be turned on (errno=13008) (called from com.netapp.offtap.ControllerUtil.initializeFiler(...) on line 883)

2013-02-14 08:23:52,941 (pool-6-thread-2) ERROR [ControllerUtil] - initializeFiler: NtapFiler[id=0151728774-0, name=rflenasa, connectIpAddress=10.80.0.10] failed to get the iscsi service status.

netapp.manage.NaAPIFailedException: Api iscsi-service-status either requires license for iscsi or requires the option licensed_feature.iscsi.enable to be turned on (errno=13008)

...

2013-02-14 08:23:52,957 (pool-6-thread-1) ERROR [ZAPI_LOGGER] - Sent 12 (and received error) to 10.80.0.12<iscsi-service-status/>

2013-02-14 08:23:52,957 (pool-6-thread-1) ERROR [ZAPI_LOGGER] - NaException netapp.manage.NaAPIFailedException: Api iscsi-service-status either requires license for iscsi or requires the option licensed_feature.iscsi.enable to be turned on (errno=13008)

2013-02-14 08:23:52,957 (pool-6-thread-1) WARN  [ControllerUtil] - invokeZAPI(0): failed NtapFiler[id=0151745138-0, name=rflenasb, connectIpAddress=10.80.0.12] API failed. Api iscsi-service-status either requires license for iscsi or requires the option licensed_feature.iscsi.enable to be turned on (errno=13008) (called from com.netapp.offtap.ControllerUtil.initializeFiler(...) on line 883)

2013-02-14 08:23:52,957 (pool-6-thread-1) ERROR [ControllerUtil] - initializeFiler: NtapFiler[id=0151745138-0, name=rflenasb, connectIpAddress=10.80.0.12] failed to get the iscsi service status.

netapp.manage.NaAPIFailedException: Api iscsi-service-status either requires license for iscsi or requires the option licensed_feature.iscsi.enable to be turned on (errno=13008)

...

2013-02-14 08:23:53,144 (pool-6-thread-2) INFO  [ControllerUtil] - initializeFiler: NtapFiler[id=0151728774-0, name=rflenasa, connectIpAddress=10.80.0.10] nfs is licensed and enabled.

2013-02-14 08:23:53,175 (pool-6-thread-1) INFO  [ControllerUtil] - initializeFiler: NtapFiler[id=0151745138-0, name=rflenasb, connectIpAddress=10.80.0.12] nfs is licensed and enabled.

2013-02-14 08:23:55,343 (pool-6-thread-2) ERROR [ZAPI_LOGGER] - Sent 67 (and received error) to 10.80.0.10<fcp-get-cfmode/>

2013-02-14 08:23:55,343 (pool-6-thread-2) ERROR [ZAPI_LOGGER] - NaException netapp.manage.NaAPIFailedException: Api fcp-get-cfmode either requires license for fcp or requires the option licensed_feature.fcp.enable to be turned on (errno=13008)

2013-02-14 08:23:55,343 (pool-6-thread-2) WARN  [ControllerUtil] - invokeZAPI(11): failed NtapFiler[id=0151728774-0, name=rflenasa, connectIpAddress=10.80.0.10] API failed. Api fcp-get-cfmode either requires license for fcp or requires the option licensed_feature.fcp.enable to be turned on (errno=13008) (called from com.netapp.offtap.ControllerUtil.populateClusterInfo(...) on line 2076)

2013-02-14 08:23:55,343 (pool-6-thread-2) ERROR [ControllerUtil] - populateClusterInfo: NtapFiler[id=0151728774-0, name=rflenasa, connectIpAddress=10.80.0.10] Failed to get cluster info. Api fcp-get-cfmode either requires license for fcp or requires the option licensed_feature.fcp.enable to be turned on (errno=13008)

2013-02-14 08:23:55,343 (pool-6-thread-1) ERROR [ZAPI_LOGGER] - Sent 68 (and received error) to 10.80.0.12<fcp-get-cfmode/>

2013-02-14 08:23:55,343 (pool-6-thread-1) ERROR [ZAPI_LOGGER] - NaException netapp.manage.NaAPIFailedException: Api fcp-get-cfmode either requires license for fcp or requires the option licensed_feature.fcp.enable to be turned on (errno=13008)

2013-02-14 08:23:55,343 (pool-6-thread-1) WARN  [ControllerUtil] - invokeZAPI(2): failed NtapFiler[id=0151745138-0, name=rflenasb, connectIpAddress=10.80.0.12] API failed. Api fcp-get-cfmode either requires license for fcp or requires the option licensed_feature.fcp.enable to be turned on (errno=13008) (called from com.netapp.offtap.ControllerUtil.populateClusterInfo(...) on line 2076)

2013-02-14 08:23:55,343 (pool-6-thread-1) ERROR [ControllerUtil] - populateClusterInfo: NtapFiler[id=0151745138-0, name=rflenasb, connectIpAddress=10.80.0.12] Failed to get cluster info. Api fcp-get-cfmode either requires license for fcp or requires the option licensed_feature.fcp.enable to be turned on (errno=13008)

...

2013-02-14 08:29:59,098 (1661422175@qtp-1883349295-4) DEBUG [ServerServiceImpl] - 0 controllers returned.

I guess i have to wait for the 'NFS optimization'-enabled version...

Thanks for your help

[maness]

If you have storage controllers running Data ONTAP 8.1.1 or later, you can get a PVR to enable the NFS optimization functionality. Even in future releases, NFS optimization will only be available on storage controllers running Data ONTAP 8.1.1 or later. If a VM is already "actually aligned", you should be able to migrate it to an existing or new NFS datastore even without "NFS optimization" enabled since that wouldn't require and functional alignment configuration on the storage controller.

[SCHLEGELM]

How do i get this PVR-Version you are talking about? We're on ONTAP 8.1.2 and we are very interested in online-migration of misaligned VMs.

[kboyle · Accepted solution]

Although O&M for NFS is supported in VSC 4.1, this feature is currently only available via PVR due to some of the known caveats related to VMs aligned using O&M for NFS.   The PVR process is simple and quick … please contact Nitin Nagpal at Nitin.Nagpal@netapp.com if you are interested in test-driving this new VSC 4.1 feature.

High-level Overview of O&M for NFS

This announcement was just posted on the Community and is repeated here for thread completion:

O&M for NFS utilizes a non-disruptive process to fix the misalignment in the underlying datastore/volume containing the VMDK (and does not make any changes to the VMDK itself) by creating a new volume that is aligned with the guest OS.  The detection of misaligned VMs, creation of the new aligned volume with an OS-specific offset, and migration of misaligned VMs in the original datastore to the new aligned volume are fully automated through the VSC4.1 O&M for NFS feature.

O&M for NFS provides the following benefits:

1. Improved read/write performance and a reduced number of disk IOs
2. Non-disruptive migration of the VMs into optimized datastores using VMware Storage vMotion (i.e. guests OSes do not need to be offlined to complete the migration process)
3. Potentially reduced IO latency
4. Increased VM density per volume with additional available IO bandwidth