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By admin, September 18, 2010 3:32 pm

Today PCCW come to my place to install PCCW 100Mbps FTTH Fiber Optics for FREE!

It did take the whole team of 4 staff 3 hours to finish the testing and QC, now I have two 100Mbps broadband at home, one is PCCW (Fiber), the other is HKBN (RJ-45) and both can reach upload/download at 100Mbps. During the setup, PCCW staff used WebUI login to HuaWei HG863 and I asked if there is any special tunning I can do to increase performance or add feature, the answer is Not Much.

Shortly after, I am going to use Netscreen 5GT dual-home feature to combined the two for load-balancing and failover.

根據跨國業界組織「光纖到戶協會」（Fiber-to-the-Home Council）於二○一○年二月發表的資料顯示，本港光纖到戶及光纖到樓服務的住戶滲透率（即使用兩類服務的住戶佔住戶總數的比例）為百分之三十三，全球排行第三，僅次於南韓和日本。部分亞洲其他地區有關的住戶滲透率如下：

　　　　地區　　　光纖到戶及光纖到樓的住戶滲透率
　　　　──　　　───────────────
　　　　南韓　　　　　百分之五十二
　　　　日本　　　　　百分之三十四
　　　　台灣　　　　　百分之二十四

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By admin, September 17, 2010 4:02 pm

I’ve spent almost 4 hours on-phone from mid-night to 4am in the morning trouble shooting with Dell Equallogic Consultants in US via WebEx today.

As we found the EQL I/O testing performance is low, only 1 path activated under 2 paths MPIO and disk latency is particular high during write for the newly configured array.

It was finally solved because we forgot the most fundamental concept after all that is Equallogic takes time to kick in the additional paths under MPIO!!! You need to wait say at least 5 mins to see the rest paths kick in.

The followings are my findings and mostly email exchange with Equallogic support. yes, it is long and boring to many, but it’s extremely useful for some who are seeking the same solutions for this problem, I wish someone put it on their blog previously, then I could sleep much better last night.

Timeline as in Descending Order:

- 2pm

We found a very interesting fact that the 2ND LINK WILL ONLY KICK IN AFTER THE 1ST LINK BEING SATURATED/OVERLOADED for a period of time, see 1.gif and 2.gif, So MPIO with Dell EqualLogic DSM (not using Microsoft Generic DSM) is actually working perfectly now and before!

1.gif showing both links are activated, I saw the 2nd link (EQL Mgt 2) suddenly kicked in (may be we opened more copy windows to iSCSI target) and it dropped out again and then come back again when needed.

2.gif shows the performance of the two active ports on EQL Iscsi target also increased by a lot. (From 45% to 80%)

So I can pretty sure the issue doesn’t exist right from the beginning, it just TAKES TIME FOR THE REST NICs (LINKs) to be activated gradually over the testing period and according to loading situation automatically. Previously, we only tested for less than 2 mins, in other words, we didn’t give enough time for MPIO intelligent logic to kick in additional paths for throughput or I/O.

- 12pm

See attached TR1036-MPIO_EQLX-DSM.pdf PS Series Best Practices
Configuring and Deploying the Dell EqualLogic™ Multipath I/O Device Specific Module (DSM) in a PS Series

MPIO DSM Load-Balance Policy

Microsoft MPIO DSM allows the initiator (server) to login multiple sessions to the same target (storage), and then aggregate that into a single device. Multiple target sessions can be established using different NICs to the target ports.

If one of the sessions fails, then another session continues to process I/O without interrupting the application.

Dell EqualLogic MPIO DSM supports following balancing policies.

• Fail Over Only: Data is sent in one path, while other paths are standby. This connection is used for routing data until it fails or times out. If the active connection fails, then one of the available paths is chosen until the former is available. This load balancing policy is the default configuration when MPIO DSM is disabled.

• Round Robin: All available paths are used to perform I/O in a rotating sequence (round robin sequence). There is no disruption in sending I/O even if any of the paths fails. Using this policy, all paths are used effectively.

• Least Queue Depth: I/O is sent to the path that has least queue length. The performance analyses for the above load balancing policies are presented in the following sections.

• EQL recommend to use Microsoft DSM with “Least Queue Depth” load balancing policy on Windows Server 2003/2003

• To fully utilize Microsoft’s MPIO capabilities, Dell EqualLogic provides MPIO DSM that is complementary to ASM for both high availability and performance.

- 11am

I found something very important on google.

Device Initialization Recall that MPIO allows for devices from different storage vendors to coexist, and be connected to the same Windows Server 2008 based or Windows Server 2003 based system. This means a single Windows server may have multiple DSM’s installed. When a new eligible device is detected via PnP, MPIO attempts to determine which DSM is appropriate to handle this particular device.

MPIO contacts each DSM, one device at a time. The first DSM to claim ownership of the device is associated with that device and the remaining DSMs are not allowed a chance to press claims for that already claimed device. There is no particular order in which the DSMs are contacted, one at a time. The only guarantee is that the Microsoft generic DSM is always contacted last. If the DSM does support the device, it then indicates whether the device is a new installation, or the same device previously installed but which is now visible through a new path.

Does this means if we see multiple DSM in MPIO, DELL Equallogic will be always used first or it’s priority is always higher than MS DSM?

- 10am

Some update I found: Even I added back with mpclaim -r -i -d “MSFT2005iSCSIBusType_0×9″

MPIO is still showing Dell Equallogic is the DSM instead of Microsoft, how can I force MPIO to select Microsoft instead of Dell Equallogic as desired? That exactly explained why there is ONLY ONE PATH (or NIC) working at the same time, but not load balancing across two NICs.

I even did a real time test, by Disabling a NIC, then all traffic automatically shifted to the 2nd NIC (or path) and vice versa. So seemed Windows Server 2008 R2 doesn’t understand Dell Equallogic DSM for MPIO. In other words, if Dell Equallogic is the DSM, then only one path is available.

I also find out from Google, that Windows Server 2008 DOES NOT add “MSFT2005iSCSIBusType_0×9″ automatically like in Windows Server 2003, we need to add it manually from MPIO GUI or CLI.

See the output.

C:\Users\Administrator>mpclaim -s -d

For more information about a particular disk, use ‘mpclaim -s -d #’ where # is
he MPIO disk number.

MPIO Disk System Disk LB Policy DSM Name
——————————————————————————-
MPIO Disk0 Disk 2 RR Dell EqualLogic DSM

C:\Users\Administrator>mpclaim -s -d 0

MPIO Disk0: 02 Paths, Round Robin, ALUA Not Supported
Controlling DSM: Dell EqualLogic DSM
SN: 6090A078C06B1219D3C8D49CF188CD5B
Supported Load Balance Policies: FOO RR LQD

Path ID State SCSI Address Weight
—————————————————————————
0000000077070001 Active/Optimized 007|000|001|000 0
0000000077070000 Active/Optimized 007|000|000|000 0

C:\Users\Administrator>mpclaim -r -i -d “MSFT2005iSCSIBusType_0×9″

So the KEY question is how can we FORCE MPIO DSM TO USE Microsoft instead of Dell Equallogic?

- 9am

1. Removed MPIO from W2K8 Feature, reboot, then remove HIT, reboot, and re-installed again, reboot, under MPIO, still no MSFT2005iSCSIBusType_0×9.

2. This time, I changed the NIC’s Flow Control to TX & RX and reading performance of EQL also increased to 99%.

I do think we need to enable Flow Control RX as well, as we saw yesterday, only writing to EQL is working at 99%, but reading from EQL is at 20%, so this proved it’s required.

3. Also, disk latency for read is very small (39ms compares to 350ms for write) when we saturated the link using multiple 16GB files, however, writing to EQL and overloading the link still gives us over 300ms disk latency. Those high number of Re-transmit % all went down from 5-6% to 1-2%.

4. No more MPIO initiator dropping out problem even without MSFT2005iSCSIBusType_0×9 in place, it may not be necessary after all?
As I installed HIT twice, MSFT2005iSCSIBusType_0×9 is not there as always, I suspect manually adding it can actually cause more problem? Or shall I remove MPIO from W2K8 Feature and just install it again manually to see if MSFT2005iSCSIBusType_0×9 pops up?

Extra Notes:

MPIO CLI Comands

mpclaim -r -i -d “MSFT2005iSCSIBusType_0×9″
(Note: HIT installation on Windows Server 2008 R2 DID NOT add this to MPIO)

mpclaim -s -d

mpclaim -s -d device_name

mpclaim.exe –v C:\Config.txt

C:\Users\Administrator>mpclaim -s -d

For more information about a particular disk, use ‘mpclaim -s -d #’ where # is
he MPIO disk number.

MPIO Disk System Disk LB Policy DSM Name
——————————————————————————-
MPIO Disk0 Disk 2 RR Dell EqualLogic DSM

C:\Users\Administrator>mpclaim -s -d 0

MPIO Disk0: 02 Paths, Round Robin, ALUA Not Supported
Controlling DSM: Dell EqualLogic DSM
SN: 6090A078C06B1219D3C8D49CF188CD5B
Supported Load Balance Policies: FOO RR LQD

Path ID State SCSI Address Weight
—————————————————————————
0000000077070001 Active/Optimized 007|000|001|000 0
0000000077070000 Active/Optimized 007|000|000|000 0

C:\Users\Administrator>mpclaim -r -i -d “MSFT2005iSCSIBusType_0×9″

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By admin, September 16, 2010 7:17 pm

For the whole month, my mind is full of VMWare, ESX 4.1, Equallogic, MPIO, SANHQ, iSCSI, VMKernel, Broadcom BACS, Jumbo Frame, IOPS, LAG, VLAN, TOE, RSS, LSO, Thin Provisioning, Veeam, Vizioncore, Windows Server 2008 R2, etc.

It’s definitely like taking an extremely fast track in getting my enterprise storage degree, and after all, it worths every penny of struggling, many long nights, endless calling to Pro-Support in Hong Kong and US EQL supports.

Equallogic and ESX 4.1 iSCSI Setup Crack Sheet to save you typing many commands.

1. Configure iSCSI vSwitch using GUI first and assigned multiple NICs onto the vSwitch, in my case, it’s 4 NICs.
2. Create multiple VMKernel on this vSwitch, in my case, there are 4 VMKernel (named iSCSI 1 to iSCSI 4)
3. Removed the extra NICs from individual VMKernel by unselecting 3 of those NICs and do this for each VMKernel.
4. # Enable Jumbo Frame on iSCSI vSwitch using CLI
   esxcfg-vswitch -m 9000 vSwitch4
   esxcfg-vswitch -l to verify MTU=9000
5. # Enable Jumbo Frame on each VMKernel using CLI
   esxcfg-vmknic -m 9000 iSCSI1 – iSCSI4
   esxcfg-vmknic -l to verify MTU=9000* I also enabled Jumbo Frame for VMotion as well as FT network.
6. Go to GUI, enable software iSCSI and note down the vmhba #, in my case, it’s vmhba47.
7. # Bind VMKernel to iSCSI Adpater using CLI
   esxcli swiscsi nic add -n vmk2 -d vmhba47
   esxcli swiscsi nic list -d vmhba47 to verify if all 4 NICs are binded with vmhba47
8. Do a rescan of the Storage, you will see EQL volume now. Please make sure you checked “Allow Simultaneous Connection…” under EQL volume property, or multiple ESX connection to the same volume won’t work.
9. To verify from EQL, go to group manager, then click that volume, now you see there are 8 connections with 8 different IP Addresses (ie, 2 ESX hosts, with 4 NICs each)
10. To verify from ESX host side, go to storage, right click Manage Path, you will see there are 4 IP Addresses from EQL.

Just got a reply from Equallogic support team regarding my customized configuration.

The document on the web site is the supported method of setting Jumbo Frames on the switch. This is the method that we have tested and confirmed to work.

Of course, as with many things, there is typically a method of doing this through the GUI as well. The method you are following appears to work in my tests as well, but we cannot confirm if it is a viable operation as it has not been tested through our QA process.

My suggestion would be to utilize the tested method. You may also want to check with VMware directly as it is possible that the GUI method you are utilizing simply calls the CLI commands we provide, but we cannot confirm that for certain (we do not have access to their code).

(Name Removed)

Enterprise Technical Support Consultant
Dell EqualLogic, Inc.

Finally, test ping your destination with a large message and specify don’t fragment.

• Linux VMs:         ping –M do –s 8000 <ip address or destination>
• Windows VMs:    ping –f –l 8000 <ip address or destination>
• ESX(i):                vmkping –d –s 8000 <ip address or destination>

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By admin, August 27, 2010 12:09 pm

Finally I’ve got time to inspect each individual part thoroughly and the following is my findings. 

1. Dell Powerdge iSCSI Offload Key for LOM NICs. Strange funny little stuff that makes a hell lot of difference for some people. Broadcom charges this for extra on their 5709 NICs (5709C not 5709S), the same apply to HP Pro-liant NICs.According to one of the EQL engineer we talked to, it is still best NOT TO use 5709C as ISOE HBA in ESX4.1 as it will lost Jumbo Frame feature and some other nice features will be gone if HAB mode is used with EQL boxes.

   

2. DDR3 Low Voltage ECC+Buffer R-DIMM 8GB by Samsung: It’s nice to have that 20% saving, but when you add 2DPC, your nice 20% power saving (ie, 1.35V) will be disabled automatically (ie, raise to 1.5V instead), good part is you still have that 1333Mhz bandwidth with 2DPC. DDR3L 1.35V will only apply when it’s in 1DPC mode.What about 3DPC? Old story applies, it’s 800Mhz, tested it and proved it and if populate with 3DPC and fully filled that 18 DIMMs (ie, 144GB), it will take twice the time to verify and boot the server, so it’s better not to as you lost 40% bandwidth is very important for ESX.

   

   Dell’s on-line documentation has no where indicates my findings and my findings completes what I found at HP’s resources previously. Btw, why does DDR3L still need that aluminum cap for heat dissipation if it’s voltage is really that low?

   More about Samsung’s DDR3 Low-Voltage Ram

3. Broadcom NetXtreme II 5709 Gigabit NIC w TOE & iSCSI Offload, Quad Port, Copper, PCIe-4: Nice to have two of this besides the embedded quad NICs, so total you will have 12 NICs within one server. The chipset is still BCM5709CC0KPBG, there is no iSCSI key found on the NIC, guess it’s been embedded already as well.
   
   

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By admin, August 18, 2010 9:17 pm

Jim Carrey近年罕有的登峰造極之作﹐淚中帶笑﹐苦中帶甜﹐絕對值得一看﹗

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By admin, August 17, 2010 12:50 pm

Jackie Evancho, 10 years old sings ‘O mio babbino caro’ from Musical ‘Gianni Schicchi’

Paul Potts, mobile sales man sings Nessun Dorma

Susan Boyle, housewife sings ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ from Musical ‘Les Miserables

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By admin, August 9, 2010 11:21 pm

The new Virtual Data Center project has been keeping me really busy, the followings are some of my findings.

• Learn that R810/M910 with 4 sockets will only use 1 memory controller instead of two, memory bandwidth will be cut by half, that sucks! Strange enough, when R810 populates with 2 sockets only, it will use both memory controllers and gain access to all 32 DIMMS. So R810/R910 is still best for 2 sockets server, that why we switch to R710 instead after read the benchmarking, it’s a waste of money to go for R810.
• DDR3L low voltage (1.35V), we populate with 2 DPC (8GB x 12 DIMMS), guess what? Voltage will shoot to normal 1.5V! and no one at Dell pre-sales or pro-support can answer us this, I found out this fact from HP’s resources, ridiculous! Anyway, it’s still running at 1333Mhz, that’s a bless.
• Equallogic PS6000XV 15K should be a monster, we will only be worried about adding front-end (like R710/R720/R730) and adding back-end PS6000XV/PS7000XV etc. in the future, that’s main selling point for this solution, scalable beyond imagination, this really is the whole motivation we selected EQL boxes.
• With the release of vSphere 4.1, VAAI, iSCSI Off-load fully support on Broadcom 5709 but no Jumbo Frame, what the heck! EQL vStorage off-load improvement, Multipath plugin (EQL finally solved the big problem)
• One box of PS6000XV is good enough for 4Gbps, absolutely no need to go for 10Gbps for the time being except you are aiming for that 200M/s increase (yes, it can only reach 650M/s at max, there is no way reaching 1000M/s in reality. We were also told by paying about 1/4 of the box, you can always upgrade to 10Gbps version of PS6010XV in the future, but for our environment, IOPS is way demanding than thoughput, so 4Gbps is more than enough, just get a PowerConnect 5448 with 48 ports, we should have lots of space to grow from here.
• There is a special iSCSI Key need to be purchased in order to have TOE+iSCSI Off-load on R710, this is the same on HP Proliant servers.
• Found HP Proliant’s server resources are much more professional than Dells’, but Dell’s stuff are a lot cheaper (1/3 at least), so we just have to live with that.
• In ESX 4 or above, Thick provisioning is always recommended for performance concerned VM applications, it’s a lot faster.
• Talked to two of the local IDC who’s going to start a cloud business, but their core technical team doesn’t seem to know what they are really doing, seemed they have a long way to go comparing with US counterparts.
• Again, virtualization is the future and you need a good SAN to support it!
• Talk to your inside sales manager, show your sincerity, you will be rewarded and get unbelievable discount at quarter end!
• Dell’s EQL expert is really helpful and resourceful, thank you so much! You are really the super-hero, kick-ass type!

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By admin, August 6, 2010 5:54 pm

All I can say is What a Film! Make sure you stay till the end that’s where the real ass-kicking coming in.

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By admin, July 14, 2010 11:32 am

Recently, I acquired a rare piece of collector’s item and almost complete my POG collections except the mid and mid-plus versions. It is the very first generation of POG, the one with 1 stripe, head size 110 (though a bit bigger than other POG 110 4 stripes and heavier). This version came out around 1978 and Made in USA. This version of POG was used by many big names back in the 80s, super stars like Andre Agassi, Gabriela Sabatini and of course my favouite, Michael Chang.

Searching through the net, I discovered there are actually two different versions of POG with 1 stripe, see the followings:

POG with 1 stripe – very 1st version, no side deco (ie, blank on both side)

POG with 1 stripe - the 2nd version, note Prince Logo and side deco

Some more information I found on Tennis-Warehouse Forum

POG 1 = Tear dropped shaped head single line with no grommets/no bumper and no printing on top or side or racket (possibly just sticker) except for Prince/graphite- circa 1978

POG 2 = Tear dropped shaped head, single line with grommets/no bumper no printing on top or side or racket (possibly just sticker) except for Prince/graphite- circa 1980?

POG 3 = Normal shaped head, single line with grommets and bumper, printing on side is “graphite series 110″ top has no printing front is Prince/Graphite. Printed stringing weight is 70-80 – Circa 1983

POG 3.5 = Same as 3 but side says “graphite 110″, String weight 60-75
Circa ?

POG 4 = Norm head, 4 line with grommets/bumper, printing on side is “graphite 110″, top is “110″ , side sticker says “series 110″ front is Prince/Prince- , Printed stringing weight is 60-75 – Circa 1987

POG 4.5 = Same as POG 4 but top is printed “oversize”, side is “graphite oversize” , front is Prince/Prince, printed stringing weight is 50-60 -
Circa > 1987 (any ideas?)

POG 5 = Straight shaft-Not sure of OS had straight shaft?

POG 6 = Tour

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By admin, July 14, 2010 11:08 am

今天又見陶傑好文

西班牙贏得世界盃，香港有何「啟示」？有。看看本地的樓盤廣告，名字越來越誇，最新的一個，叫「帝峰．皇殿」，其他還有皇廷、御花園、君臨天下、皇府山、御林皇府。中國人在潛意識裏極度迷戀帝皇，但民居敢僭稱什麼帝峰、皇殿，若在三百年前，北京知道了，必定滿門抄斬。