Using Mpio; Overview; Supported Versions Of Microsoft® Windows® Server - HP StorageWorks P4000 User Manual

1 Using MPIO

Overview

You have the following options for setting up MPIO with the SAN/iQ software:
• Using the HP StorageWorks P4000 DSM, which provides the following (see
DSM for MPIO, page 8):
• Lower latency because of the direct path to each data page in a volume.
• Better write performance.
• Load always evenly distributed.
• Recommended for clusters with three or more storage systems where select servers need the
lower latency and additional throughput afforded by a session to every storage system.
• Using the Microsoft DSM, which provides the following (see
• Comes with Microsoft MPIO.
• Uses fewer iSCSI connections.
• Supports mixed access to SAN/iQ volumes from both Windows servers and VMWare ESX
servers.
• Provides the basic needs of MPIO, I/O path high availability, and load balancing for most
servers, without installing a custom driver.
• With VMWare ESX, using the native ESX MPIO. For more information, see
h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA3-0261ENW.
Supported versions of Microsoft® Windows® Server
The SAN/iQ software with MPIO supports the following versions of Microsoft Windows Server.
• Windows Server 2003
• Windows Server 2008
• Windows Server 2008 Server Core
• Windows Server 2008 R2
• Windows Server 2008 R2 Server Core
NOTE:
To help avoid issues with active/passive MPIO configurations (both the P4000 DSM for MPIO and
Microsoft DSM) and disk timeout errors when the iSCSI initiator detect a failure and reconnects, you
may want to change the EnableNOPOut registry setting to 1 as described in the Microsoft iSCSI
Initiator Driver Timers section of the Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator Version 2.X Users Guide .
Using Microsoft
P4000 Windows Solution Pack user guide
Using the HP P4000
DSM, page 12):
http://
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