Powerpath can not find any path in Windows 2008

When the connection is set up correctly, Powerpath doesn't need any configuration; it picks up the paths automatically and uses them for failover.

What is your (iSCSI) network setup?

- 1 dedicated NIC to a switch/vlan with a single link to each SP on a single subnet

or

- 2 dedicated NICs to 2 different switches/vlans with a single link to each SP from each switch/vlan on 2 different subnets

or

- 2 dedicated NICs direct-attached (patch/cross-over cable) to the 2 different storage processor iSCSI ports on 2 different subnets?

Note: iSCSI traffic needs to be on a different subnet and network than your regular network/subnet.

My connection is "1 dedicated NIC to a switch/vlan with a single link to each SP on a single subnet"

the switch has two connections. Each connection is connected to one SP. Both connections are in the same subnet. And the subnet is on a different subnet than my regular network.

When I run Navisphere on Windows 2008, the functions of "Configure iSCSI connections on the server (Microsoft initiators only)" is greyed out.

 So i have to setup path on Initiator.

I am going to go throug the same process on Windows 2003 and see  the difference.

update to this case:

I installed Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator Version 2.08 on my Windows 2003 SP2.

Again the initiator found targets with no problem.

However when I install the Powerpath 5.2, it reported warning that the MPIO came in this package is 1.21. The MPIO running on my server is 1.22

I searched internet and there is a release note of Powerpath 5.2 saying that Powerpath 5.2 SP1 supports MPIO framework 1.22. However I can not find the download for Powerpath 5.2 SP1. On the powerlink site there is no download for the 5.2 SP1.

What is the correct version of Powerpath that I have to install?  I am assuming that on Windows 2008 the MPIO framwork has to be newer than 1.21. Is it possible that my problem is caused by the imcompatibilty of Powerpath 5,2 and MPIO framework 1.22?

Windows 2003 x64 couldn't see the iSCSI initiator on one of the older versions of the Navisphere Server utility. Windows 2008 x64 seems to have the same problem with the current version of the Navisphere Server utility. You'll have to manually connect in the iSCSI initiator.

To do this, go to the discovery tab and add 1 of the iSCSI IP addresses that the server can connect to (ping).

Now go to the targets tab and you should see 2 targets. Select one, click "log on", check both checkboxes and click ok. Now do the same for the other path. If you see 4 targets, verify which ones you can connect to (a0, a1, b0 and/or b1), and log on to those only.

Now run the server utility to register the server with the storage array. After that you can assign LUNs/virtual disks to the server.

As for the Powerpath and MPIO framework 1.22, for Windows 2003 you could just download Powerpath 4.5.2 and use that. I'm not sure this version is compatible with Windows 2008 though (I am pretty sure it's not, but you'd want to check the Powerpath release notes and/or Powerpath support matrix). Powerpath 4.5.x (and older) doesn't use the Microsoft MPIO framework, so it's unaffected by that.

Thanks for the reply.

I followed exactly what you said. I saw 4 target. But my server is only connected to the second SP so I connected to b0 and b1.

In my iSCSI initiator I see two targets. After running Navishere server utility registering, I got one server showed up on the

Navisphere Express Web management page. with B-0 and B-1 active.

I assigned one virtual disk to my server. But on the server I saw two new disks what are exactly the same. I can access either one of them and further test confirmed that they are the same disk.

i am assuming that if  I use Powerpath, the powerpath will be able to tell that they are the same disk and the server will only see one disk. however I am still having trouble to make Powerpath to work. Have you ever had this problem? I am using Windows Server 2008 64 bit and this problem should be a very common case. If Powerpath 5.2 does not work with MPIO 1.22, then why the release note says this version works on Windows 2008 server ? If there is a SP1 that fixed this problem, then why is it not avaliable for download?

I am realy frustrated with this device. Any help is greatly appreciated.

You'll want to change your connections to 1 connection to SPA and one to SPB. This way if SPB dies, you'll still be able to see your disk through SPA.

Powerpath masks the multiple paths to make it look like a single disk for Windows. It also handles moving the IO to a different path if a path goes down (e.g. SPB goes down).

Did you upgrade the iSCSI initiator (with the 1.22 MPIO framework) on 2008? If so, see if you can roll it back (system restore to before this way done is an option if you have this enabled).

Which build of Powerpath 5.2 are you trying to install/use? The latest I know of is 5.2 SP1. I see it available for download on Powerlink and the release notes say it includes the 1.22 framework, so it should be compatible with that.

No i did not upgrade iSCSI initiator on 2008. How do I check the version of iSCSI on 2008?

The build number is: 5.2 (build 146). Is this 5,2 SP1? I saw the release note of 5.2 SP1, but I can not find the download link. The latest on I can download from Powerlink is (build 146). Can you send me the link if there are newer versions? 

update:

I tested teh same iscsi initiator and powerpath 5.2 on a Window 2003 Server. It works fine!

The difference is that on Windows 2003, iscsi treat the disk as a single device. there for the two targets are just different path to a single device. On Windows 2008, the system treat the device as two different devices from different path.

The problem remains the same as my first post. How does Windows recognize devices? Is it because Navishpere server utility can identify the same device?

Please help.

Thanks

I was told only powerpath 5.5 will work properly with windows 2008. I had a simular issue using a fiber card and it did fix my issue. remove 5.2 reboot install 5.5 reboot.