PowerHA for AIX

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  • 1.  Heartbeat over SAN supported FCoE adapter

    Posted Thu May 23, 2013 04:46 PM

    Originally posted by: JimHT


    We are setting up a test lab with two nodes,  AIX 6100-08-02, PowerHA 7.1.1 SP05, VIOS2222 to test PowerHA across two sites.

    At one site, the pair of VIOS servers has standard FC adapters, CCIN 577D.

    At the other site, the pair of VIOS servers has FCoE adapters, feature code 5708.

    The PowerHA manuals and RedBooks and web sites state that to use heartbeat over SAN, the FC adapters must have the "target mode" attribute set to "yes".  The standard FC adapters have this attribute set correctly.

    The FCoE adapters do not have a "target mode" attribute.

    The IBM documentation states that the FCoE adapters are supported by PowerHA 7.1, but are silent on the question of using FCoE adapters for Heartbeat over SAN.

    Has anyone used FCoE adapters for Heartbeat over SAN?

     



  • 2.  Re: Heartbeat over SAN supported FCoE adapter

    Posted Fri May 24, 2013 01:04 PM

    Originally posted by: Delgado


    no tme, no san-based heartbeat.



  • 3.  Re: Heartbeat over SAN supported FCoE adapter

    Posted Fri May 24, 2013 01:49 PM

    Originally posted by: JimHT


    That does make sense, and thank you for taking the time to reply to this query.

    One could slightly redefine the question to ask if the technical design of the FCoE adapter includes TME as a built-in attribute.  The literature about our FCoE (feature code 5708) adapter is sketchy.

    We are looking for an answer that is supported by specific references, such as an IBM document that says "yes" or "no".  If we have to acquire other FC adapters, such as the match to our existing standard FC adapters (CCIN 577D), then so be it.  Our architects and finance people are going to want substantial documentation before they agree to swap out the FCoE adapters for standard FC adapters.

    - Jim



  • 4.  Re: Heartbeat over SAN supported FCoE adapter

    Posted Mon May 27, 2013 10:28 AM

    Originally posted by: JimHT


    We did some testing over the weekend, and verified that the FCoE adapters do NOT work for heartbeat over SAN.

    It appears that the cluster heartbeat disks need a HBA that is able to set target mode to enabled. Even with Paul setting up the new zoning for the hba's to see the cluster heartbeat disk, the config of the heartbeat disk just hung.

    The results of our testing  answers this question in the negative: 

    Our FCoE-5708 adapters attached to our VIOS server  do NOT support heartbeat over SAN for our VIO Client LPARs..

     



  • 5.  RE: Re: Heartbeat over SAN supported FCoE adapter

    Posted Fri July 28, 2023 10:53 AM

    From AIX documentation (https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/aix/7.2?topic=aware-setting-up-cluster-san-communication)

    SAN communication is supported on Fibre Channel adapters that support the target mode enabled (TME) attribute. The following adapters support SAN communication:

    • 4 GB Single-Port Fibre Channel PCI-X 2.0 DDR Adapter (FC 1905; CCIN 1910)
    • 4 GB Single-Port Fibre Channel PCI-X 2.0 DDR Adapter (FC 5758; CCIN 280D)
    • 4 GB Single-Port Fibre Channel PCI-X Adapter (FC 5773; CCIN 5773)
    • 4 GB Dual-Port Fibre Channel PCI-X Adapter (FC 5774; CCIN 5774)
    • 4 Gb Dual-Port Fibre Channel PCI-X 2.0 DDR Adapter (FC 1910; CCIN 1910)
    • 4 Gb Dual-Port Fibre Channel PCI-X 2.0 DDR Adapter (FC 5759; CCIN 5759)
    • 4-Port 8 Gb PCIe2 FH Fibre Channel Adapter (FC 5729)
    • 8 Gb PCI Express Dual Port Fibre Channel Adapter (FC 5735; CCIN 577D)
    • 8 Gb PCI Express Dual Port Fibre Channel Adapter 1Xe Blade (FC 2B3A; CCIN 2607)
    • 3 Gb Dual-Port SAS Adapter PCI-X DDR External (FC 5900 and 5912; CCIN 572A)


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    DOMINIK ROMANOWSKI
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    Original Message