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February 10th, 2011 12:00

MD3200i Problem

I have a MD3200i with two R610 servers and two PC6224 Network Switches.

The problem I am having the two servers operate VERY slowly over ethernet.  There are four subnets for each card.

192.168.130.X/24

192.168.131.X/24

192.168.132.X/24

192.168.133.X/24

Both VMWare servers are connected using the Broadcom 5709 network adapters (not configured thru BIOS).  When I have high reads/writes, vmware says that the connect is lost, then immediately reset itself.  I have talk with VMWare and they said it's a problem with the MD3200i's.  They ran a program called "esxtop", then press d, and I had a extemly high iSCSI command delay. 

Anybody know what I could be doing wrong?

4 Operator

 • 

9.3K Posts

February 10th, 2011 18:00

Can you paste in the output of:

From the server (SSH):

- esxcfg-vswitch -l

- esxcfg-vmknic -l

- esxcli swiscsi nic list -d vmhba## (where ## is the instance number of the software iSCSI initiator (assuming that you're running the software iSCSI initiator)

From the 6224 switches:

- show running-config

1 Rookie

 • 

16 Posts

February 10th, 2011 19:00

~ # esxcfg-vswitch -l
Switch Name      Num Ports   Used Ports  Configured Ports  MTU     Uplinks
vSwitch0         128         12          128               1500    vmnic4

  PortGroup Name        VLAN ID  Used Ports  Uplinks
  Commission Network    0        9           vmnic4
  Management Network    0        1           vmnic4

Switch Name      Num Ports   Used Ports  Configured Ports  MTU     Uplinks
vSwitch2         128         9           128               1500    vmnic0,vmnic1,vmnic2,vmnic3

  PortGroup Name        VLAN ID  Used Ports  Uplinks
  iSCSI4                0        1           vmnic3
  iSCSI3                0        1           vmnic2
  iSCSI2                0        1           vmnic1
  iSCSI1                0        1           vmnic0

~ # esxcfg-vmknic -l
Interface  Port Group/DVPort   IP Family IP Address                              Netmask         Broadcast       MAC Address       MTU     TSO MSS   Enabled Type
vmk0       Management Network  IPv4      172.20.20.72                            255.255.254.0   172.20.21.255   f0:4d:a2:06:58:1c 1500    65535     true    STATIC
vmk0       Management Network  IPv6      fe80::f24d:a2ff:fe06:581c               64                              f0:4d:a2:06:58:1c 1500    65535     true    STATIC, PREFERRED
vmk2       iSCSI1              IPv4      192.168.130.13                          255.255.255.0   192.168.130.255 00:50:56:7d:b5:0d 1500    65535     true    STATIC
vmk2       iSCSI1              IPv6      fe80::250:56ff:fe7d:b50d                64                              00:50:56:7d:b5:0d 1500    65535     true    STATIC, PREFERRED
vmk3       iSCSI2              IPv4      192.168.131.13                          255.255.255.0   192.168.131.255 00:50:56:7e:0f:9b 1500    65535     true    STATIC
vmk3       iSCSI2              IPv6      fe80::250:56ff:fe7e:f9b                 64                              00:50:56:7e:0f:9b 1500    65535     true    STATIC, PREFERRED
vmk4       iSCSI3              IPv4      192.168.132.13                          255.255.255.0   192.168.132.255 00:50:56:70:03:ae 1500    65535     true    STATIC
vmk4       iSCSI3              IPv6      fe80::250:56ff:fe70:3ae                 64                              00:50:56:70:03:ae 1500    65535     true    STATIC, PREFERRED
vmk5       iSCSI4              IPv4      192.168.133.13                          255.255.255.0   192.168.133.255 00:50:56:79:08:a9 1500    65535     true    STATIC
vmk5       iSCSI4              IPv6      fe80::250:56ff:fe79:8a9                 64                              00:50:56:79:08:a9 1500    65535     true    STATIC, PREFERRED
~ #

vmware2-switch>enable

vmware2-switch#show running-config
!Current Configuration:
!System Description "Powerconnect 6224, 3.2.0.7, VxWorks 6.5"
!System Software Version 3.2.0.7
!Cut-through mode is configured as disabled
!
configure
vlan database
vlan 100,200-203
vlan routing 200 1
vlan routing 201 2
vlan routing 202 3
vlan routing 203 4
exit
hostname "vmware2-switch"
sntp unicast client enable
sntp server 172.20.20.12
clock summer-time recurring USA zone "CDT"
clock timezone -6 minutes 0 zone "CST"
stack
member 1 1
member 2 1

--More-- or (q)uit
                    

exit
ip address 172.20.20.74 255.255.254.0
ip default-gateway 172.20.20.1
ip name-server 172.20.20.12
ip name-server 172.20.20.9
logging file debug
logging buffered debug
ip routing
interface vlan 200
name "iSCSI0"
routing
ip address 192.168.130.1 255.255.255.0
exit
interface vlan 201
name "iSCSI1"
routing
ip address 192.168.131.1 255.255.255.0
exit
interface vlan 202
name "iSCSI2"
routing

--More-- or (q)uit
                    

ip address 192.168.132.1 255.255.255.0
exit
interface vlan 203
name "iSCSI3"
routing
ip address 192.168.133.1 255.255.255.0
exit
username "admin" password ************* level 15 encrypted
!
interface ethernet 1/g5
description 'MD3200i Array 2 RC0 P0'
spanning-tree disable
switchport access vlan 200
exit
!
interface ethernet 1/g6
description 'MD3200i Array 2 RC0 P1'
spanning-tree disable
switchport access vlan 201
exit
!
interface ethernet 1/g7
description 'MD3200i Array 2 RC0 P2'
spanning-tree disable
switchport access vlan 202
exit
!
interface ethernet 1/g8
description 'MD3200i Array 2 RC0 P3'
spanning-tree disable
switchport access vlan 203
exit
!
interface ethernet 1/g11
description 'VMSERVER2 iSCSI0'
spanning-tree disable
switchport access vlan 200
exit
!
interface ethernet 1/g12
description 'VMSERVER2 iSCSI1'
spanning-tree disable
switchport access vlan 201
exit
!
interface ethernet 1/g15
description 'Symantec BackupExec Server'
spanning-tree disable
switchport access vlan 202
exit
!
interface ethernet 1/g19
description 'APC-ATS Switch'
exit
!
interface ethernet 1/g24
description 'Uplink'
switchport mode general
switchport general allowed vlan add 100 tagged
exit
!
interface ethernet 2/g5
description 'MD3200i Array 2 RC1 P0'
spanning-tree disable
switchport access vlan 200
exit
!
interface ethernet 2/g6
description 'MD3200i Array 2 RC1 P1'
spanning-tree disable
switchport access vlan 201
exit
!
interface ethernet 2/g7
description 'MD3200i Array 2 RC1 P2'
spanning-tree disable
switchport access vlan 202
exit
!
interface ethernet 2/g8
description 'MD3200i Array 2 RC1 P3'
spanning-tree disable
switchport access vlan 203
exit
!
interface ethernet 2/g11
description 'VMSERVER2 iSCSI2'
spanning-tree disable
switchport access vlan 202
exit
!
interface ethernet 2/g12
description 'VMSERVER2 iSCSI3'
spanning-tree disable
switchport access vlan 203
exit
!
interface ethernet 2/g19
switchport access vlan 100
exit
snmp-server community public ro
snmp-server host 172.20.20.2 public informs
exit

vmware2-switch#exit

vmware2-switch>quit

 

4 Operator

 • 

9.3K Posts

February 11th, 2011 10:00

Are you trying to use the Broadcom hardware iSCSI offload? You didn't include the "esxcli swiscsi nic list -d vmhba##" output for the software iscsi initiator instance.

 

Per these 2 links, it seems that some testing shows that hardware iSCSI (on Broadcom 1Gbit NICs) without jumbo frames is significantly slower than software iSCSI with jumbo frames:

- http://www.delltechcenter.com/thread/4100544/vSphere+4.1+upgrade

- http://www.vmadmin.co.uk/vmware/35-esxserver/252-esxihwswiscsijumbo

 

I'd suggest the following changes:

On the switches:

- for each iSCSI port, use the following settings: "mtu 9216", "spanning-tree portfast", "storm-control broadcast", "storm-control multicast"

On the servers:

- rebuild your iSCSI setup using the software initiator with jumbo frames. You can use http://www.delltechcenter.com/page/VMware+ESX+4.0+and+PowerVault+MD3000i to find the commands to do this.

 

After that, you'll want to see how your setup ends up running.

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