Setup Windows iSCSI for use with Everpure Cloud Dedicated

Microsoft's Multipath I/O (MPIO) feature in Windows Server provides redundancy and load balancing for connections to storage devices. To protect against a single point of failure, follow this procedure to allow multiple paths from the application host to the Everpure Cloud Dedicated instance. You only need to perform this procedure once on your Windows application host. As per our Best Practices, we recommend changing the default Microsoft MPIO configuration to the following values:

Setting up multipathing with Microsoft MPIO

1. Log onto the Windows host.
2. To check if Microsoft MPIO is installed on the system, open an elevated PowerShell terminal (Run as administrator) and run:

   
   PS C:\> Get-WindowsFeature -Name 'Multipath-IO'
   Display Name                                            Name         Install State
   ------------                                            ----         -------------
   [ ] Multipath I/O                                       Multipath-IO Available

3. If it shows the install state as ‘ Available’, follow the next steps to install Microsoft MPIO. If it shows as ' Installed', move on to step 7.

4. In the same PowerShell terminal, run:

   
   PS C:\> Add-WindowsFeature -Name 'Multipath-IO'
   Success Restart Needed Exit Code      Feature Result
   ------- -------------- ---------      --------------
   True    Yes       SuccessRest...     {Multipath I/O}
   WARNING: You must restart this server to finish the installation process.
   

5. Reboot the Windows host.

6. When the Windows host boots back up, verify that Microsoft MPIO is installed.

   
   PS C:\> Get-WindowsFeature -Name 'Multipath-IO'
   Display Name                                            Name         Install State
   ------------                                            ----         -------------
   [X] Multipath I/O                                       Multipath-IO Installed
   

7. In the same PowerShell terminal, run the following command to start the iSCSI service.

   
   PS C:\> Start-Service -Name msiscsi
   

8. Set the iSCSI service to start on boot, run:

   
   PS C:\> Set-Service -Name msiscsi -StartupType Automatic
   

9. Add Pure FlashArray as an MPIO vendor. In the same PowerShell terminal, run:

   
   PS C:\> New-MSDSMSupportedHw -VendorId PURE -ProductId FlashArray
   VendorId ProductId
   --------       ---------
   PURE        FlashArray
   

10. Enable iSCSI support by Microsoft MPIO. In the same PowerShell terminal, run:

    
    PS C:\> Enable-MSDSMAutomaticClaim -BusType iSCSI
    VendorId ProductId
    -------- ---------
    MSFT2005 iSCSIBusType_0x9
    False
    

11. Set default MPIO path policy to Lowest Queue Depth.

    PS C:\> Set-MSDSMGlobalDefaultLoadBalancePolicy -Policy LQD
    

12. Set MPIO Timer Values. In the same PowerShell terminal, run:

    PS C:\> Set-MPIOSetting -NewPathRecoveryInterval 20 -CustomPathRecovery Enabled -NewPDORemovePeriod 120 -NewPathVerificationState Enabled
    

13. Both NewDiskTimeout and LinkDownTime parameters must be set by editing Windows registry settings.For NewDiskTimeout, open Windows Registry Editor (regedt32) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Disk and select it. Find the entry named TimeOutValue and change the value (double click or right-click -> Modify) to 240 (decimal). Click OK to save.

    

14. For LinkDownTime, open Windows Registry Editor (regedt32) and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet and select it. Next select Edit on the Title Bar and then Find. Input the text "iscsi" without quotes.

    

    The first search hit should be the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator. Select the subkey Parameters under the number, find the entry named LinkDownTime and change the value (double click or right-click -> Modify) to 180 (decimal). Click OK to save.

    

15. It's required to reboot the Windows host to apply all settings.

MPIO setup is now complete.

Mounting a volume on Windows iSCSI host

To complete the following steps, you need the IP addresses of both Everpure Cloud Dedicated controller iSCSI interfaces. See Viewing Network Interface to obtain the iSCSI IP addresses. Keep the iSCSI IP addresses handy.