HP AJ878A, AJ878A 320 User Manual

HP StorageWorks

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user
guide

Part number: 595173-001
Second edition: November 2009

Legal and notice information

© Copyright 2009 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

Confidential computer software. Valid license from HP required for possession, use or copying. Consistent with FAR 12.211
and 12.212, Commercial Computer Software, Computer Software Documentation, and Technical Data for Commercial Items
are licensed to the U.S. Government under vendor's standard commercial license.

The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set
forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as
constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

WARRANTY STATEMENT: To obtain a copy of the warranty for this product, see the warranty information website:

http://www.hp.com/go/storagewarranty

Microsoft, Windows, Windows XP, and Windows NT are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Contents

About this guide ................................................................................... 6

Intended audience ...................................................................................................................... 6

Document conventions and symbols ............................................................................................... 6

HP technical support ................................................................................................................... 7

Customer self repair .................................................................................................................... 7

Subscription service .................................................................................................................... 8

HP websites ............................................................................................................................... 8

Documentation feedback ............................................................................................................. 8

1 Introduction ....................................................................................... 9

Overview ................................................................................................................................... 9

Required operating environment ................................................................................................... 9

Operating systems ................................................................................................................ 9

Supported firmware revisions ................................................................................................. 9

Hardware ......................................................................................................................... 10

2 Hardware installation ....................................................................... 11

Installing the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator ............................................................................. 11

Verifying Hardware Installation ................................................................................................... 12

3 Linux environments ........................................................................... 15

Installation Requirements ............................................................................................................ 15

Downloading and installing the driver and utilities ........................................................................ 15

Installing using the HP installer script ..................................................................................... 16

Deploying the built packages ............................................................................................... 16

Loading the driver .............................................................................................................. 17

Adding a file system, formatting, and performing multi-disk configuration ......................................... 17

Using the Logical Volume Manager ............................................................................................. 17

Configuring RAID ..................................................................................................................... 18

RAID0/Striped ................................................................................................................... 18

RAID1/Mirrored ................................................................................................................ 18

Upgrading firmware .................................................................................................................. 18

Upgrading the driver ................................................................................................................. 19

Uninstalling the software ..................................................................................................... 19

Unmanaged Shutdown Issues ..................................................................................................... 20

Exploring IO Accelerator Linux Driver Loading .............................................................................. 20

Controlling driver loading .................................................................................................... 20

Using the init scripts ..................................................................................................... 20

Using the udev script .................................................................................................... 21

Disabling Auto Attach (udev) ......................................................................................... 21

Disabling Driver Completely .......................................................................................... 21

Using the IO Accelerator Init Script ....................................................................................... 21

Mounting Filesystems .................................................................................................... 22

Driver Unloads ............................................................................................................ 22

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 3

Special considerations when using LVM or MD ...................................................................... 22

Configuring MD for auto loading ......................................................................................... 22

Configuring LVM for auto loading ......................................................................................... 23

Linux installation of Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) ................................................. 23

Verifying the master agent daemon ...................................................................................... 23

Master Agent Configuration ................................................................................................. 24

Configure the HP IO Accelerator fio-snmp-agentx SNMP subagent: ........................................... 24

Starting/Restarting the SNMP Service ................................................................................... 25

Subagent Log File ............................................................................................................... 26

System Management Homepage (SMH) Support .................................................................... 26

Linux Installation Instructions .......................................................................................... 26

Troubleshooting SNMP ................................................................................................. 26

4 Windows Server environments ........................................................... 27

Uninstalling a previously-installed driver ....................................................................................... 27

Downloading and installing the driver and utilities ........................................................................ 27

Upgrading an existing card from 1.2.4 to 1.2.7 ..................................................................... 28

Downgrading a card (from 1.2.7 to 1.2.4) ............................................................................ 29

Using the IO Accelerator Utilities .......................................................................................... 29

Initializing the IO Accelerator .............................................................................................. 29

Identifying IO Accelerator devices ............................................................................................... 29

Formatting the IO Accelerator ..................................................................................................... 30

Adding a file system, formatting, and performing multi-disk configuration ......................................... 30

Upgrading firmware .................................................................................................................. 30

Upgrading the driver ................................................................................................................. 31

Windows installation of SNMP ................................................................................................... 31

Enabling System Management Homepage (SMH) for Windows ............................................... 32

5 HP IO Accelerator Management Tool ................................................. 33

Operating system support .......................................................................................................... 33

Windows .......................................................................................................................... 33

Linux ................................................................................................................................. 33

Software installation .................................................................................................................. 33

Linux ................................................................................................................................. 34

License Agreement ....................................................................................................... 34

IO Accelerator Management ...................................................................................................... 35

Device Report .................................................................................................................... 35

Performance Report ............................................................................................................ 35

IO Accelerator Management Tool Interface Options ................................................................ 36

Detached IO Accelerator after Install .................................................................................... 36

Navigating IO Accelerator Management Tool ........................................................................ 37

Device Tree .............................................................................................................................. 37

Drive Status ....................................................................................................................... 39

Device Report Panel .................................................................................................................. 41

Saving IO Accelerator Information ........................................................................................ 42

Performance Monitoring ............................................................................................................ 42

Operations .............................................................................................................................. 43

Update Firmware ............................................................................................................... 44

Firmware Already Updated .................................................................................................. 46

Attach Device .................................................................................................................... 46

Mixed Attached/Detached Devices ....................................................................................... 47

Detach Device ................................................................................................................... 47

Mixed Attached/Detached Devices ....................................................................................... 48

Low Level Format ................................................................................................................ 49

4

The IO Accelerator Management Tool Menu ................................................................................ 51

6 Utilities ........................................................................................... 53

fio-attach ................................................................................................................................. 53

fio-beacon ............................................................................................................................... 54

fio-detach ................................................................................................................................ 54

fio-format ................................................................................................................................. 54

fio-status .................................................................................................................................. 55

fio-pci-check (Linux only) ............................................................................................................ 55

fio-read-lebmap (Linux only) ....................................................................................................... 55

fio-update-iodrive ...................................................................................................................... 55

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 5

About this guide

This guide provides information about:

• Installing the IO Accelerator

• Downloading and installing the approved driver and utilities

• Maintaining the IO Accelerator

Abstract

The following IO Accelerator models are described in this document:

• HP StorageWorks 80GB IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class (80GB IO Accelerator)

• HP StorageWorks 160GB IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class (160GB IO Accelerator)

• HP StorageWorks 320GB IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class (320GB IO Accelerator)

Intended audience

This guide is intended for service administrators with knowledge of:

• HP BladeSystem c-Class installation and configuration

• Basic operating system commands and utilities

Document conventions and symbols

ElementConvention

Cross-reference links and e-mail addressesBlue text: Document conventions and symbols

Website addressesBlue, underlined text: http://www.hp.com

• Keys that are pressed

Bold text

Monospace text

Monospace, italic text

Monospace, bold text

• Text typed into a GUI element, such as a box

• GUI elements that are clicked or selected, such as menu

and list items, buttons, tabs, and check boxes

Text emphasisItalic text

• File and directory names

• System output

• Code

• Commands, their arguments, and argument values

• Code variables

• Command variables

Emphasized monospace text

About this guide6

WARNING!

Indicates that failure to follow directions could result in bodily harm or death.

CAUTION:

Indicates that failure to follow directions could result in damage to equipment or data.

IMPORTANT:

Provides clarifying information or specific instructions.

NOTE:

Provides additional information.

TIP:

Provides helpful hints and shortcuts.

HP technical support

For worldwide technical support information, see the HP support website:

http://www.hp.com/support

Before contacting HP, collect the following information:

• Product model names and numbers

• Technical support registration number (if applicable)

• Product serial numbers

• Error messages

• Operating system type and revision level

• Detailed questions

Customer self repair

HP customer self repair (CSR) programs allow you to repair your StorageWorks product. If a CSR
part needs replacing, HP ships the part directly to you so that you can install it at your convenience.
Some parts do not qualify for CSR. Your HP-authorized service provider will determine whether a
repair can be accomplished by CSR.

For more information about CSR, contact your local service provider, or see the CSR website:

http://www.hp.com/go/selfrepair

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 7

Subscription service

HP recommends that you register your product at the Subscriber's Choice for Business website:

http://www.hp.com/go/e-updates

After registering, you will receive e-mail notification of product enhancements, new driver versions,
firmware updates, and other product resources.

HP websites

For additional information, see the following HP websites:

HP BladeSystem technical resources (white papers and support documents): http://www.hp.com/

go/bladesystem/documentation

HP BladeSystem components: http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/components/

c-class-components.html

HP support: http://www.hp.com/support

Documentation feedback

HP welcomes your feedback.

To make comments and suggestions about product documentation, please send a message to

[e-mail]. All submissions become the property of HP.

About this guide8

1 Introduction

Included:

• Overview

• Required operating environment

This document includes information on installing and maintaining your HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator
(also referenced as an IO Accelerator).

Overview

Designed around a revolutionary silicon-based storage architecture known as ioMemory, the HP
StorageWorks IO Accelerator is the world’s most advanced NAND flash storage device. With
performance comparable to DRAM and storage capacity on par with today’s hard disks, it improves
storage performance by orders of magnitude. The IO Accelerator dramatically increases performance
so that every server can contain internal storage that exceeds the I/O performance of an enterprise
SAN.

The IO Accelerator is the world’s first data accelerator designed specifically to improve the bandwidth
for I/O-bound applications. The IO Accelerator is a no-compromise solution for the toughest
computational challenges faced by data centers today, putting it in a league of its own.

Required operating environment

The HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator is supported for use in the following operating environments:

Operating systems

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (x86_64-bit only) SP2

• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (x86_64-bit only) SP1

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (AMD64/EM64T)

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (AMD64/EM64T)

• SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 (AMD64/EM64T)

• SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 (AMD64/EM64T)

IMPORTANT:

All operating systems must be 64-bit architecture.

Supported firmware revisions

The following shows the supported firmware revisions for each release.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 9

Hardware

The adapter is provided in a c-Class Type 1 Mezzanine card form factor. It can be installed in both
Type 1 and Type 2 mezzanine slots within the c-Class blade servers, allowing a total of 2 cards in a
half-height server blade, and 3 cards in a full-height server blade.

The amount of free RAM required by the driver depends on the size of the blocks used when writing
to the drive. The smaller the blocks, the more RAM required. Here are the guidelines for each 80GB
of storage:

Firmware RevisionRelease

173501.2.4

368671.2.7

RAM usage (Megabytes)Average Block Size(bytes)

4008,192

8004,096

1,5002,048

2,9001,024

5,600512

Introduction10

2 Hardware installation

Included:

• Installing the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator

• Verifying Hardware Installation

Installing the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator

WARNING!

To reduce the risk of personal injury from hot surfaces, allow drives and internal system components
to cool before touching them.

WARNING!

Reduce the risk of electric shock by removing all AC power from the system before installing or
replacing any non-hot-plug hardware option. Disconnect all power cords to completely remove power
from the server.

CAUTION:

Electrostatic discharge (ESD) can damage electronic components. Be sure that you are properly
grounded (earthed) before beginning any installation procedure.

1. Remove the desired server blade from the enclosure, and then remove the server blade access

panel.

a. Identify the proper server blade in the enclosure.

b. Back up all server blade data.

c. Stop all activity on the server and then power down the server blade.

d. Remove the server blade from the enclosure.

e. Lift the access panel latch, slide the access panel to the rear, and then remove the access

panel and set aside.

2. Remove any protective covering from the IO Accelerator.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 11

3. Install the IO Accelerator card as shown below.

The following illustration demonstrates installing the IO Accelerator on a full-height server blade.

The following illustration demonstrates installing the IO Accelerator on a half-height server blade.

4. Reinstall the server blade access panel and then reinstall the server blade in its operating position

in the server blade enclosure.

Verifying Hardware Installation

After powering up the server in the BladeSystem chassis, you can verify that the mezzanine card has
been installed correctly using the HP BladeSystem Onboard Administrator.

Refer to the Information tab of the Device Bay containing the server blade. The "Mezzanine Card
Information" section will show if the cards have been detected properly. For example

Hardware installation12

NOTE:

The HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator does not support boot capability. Because it is a storage device,
you may see it listed in the server BIOS Boot Controller Order setup screens. However, it is not currently
supported as a boot device.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 13

Hardware installation14

3 Linux environments

Included:

• Installation Requirements

• Downloading and installing the driver and utilities

• Adding a file system, formatting, and performing multi-disk configuration

• Using the Logical Volume Manager

• Configuring RAID

• Upgrading firmware

• Upgrading the driver

• Unmanaged Shutdown Issues

• Exploring IO Accelerator Linux Driver Loading

• Linux installation of Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)

Installation Requirements

The HP-provided Linux installers for the IO Accelerator do not contain binary driver modules. Instead,
they build the binary driver RPMs specific to the active Linux kernel by using a source RPM for the
driver and compiler/build tools. This allows for the use of customized kernels, but does place additional
requirements on the system used for initial installation (e.g. the 'build' system). After performing an
installation on the 'build' system, the binary driver RPM can then be deployed to other systems without
having to rebuild it.

The base modules required for the build system are summarized in the following table:

RequirementsDistro

RHEL4

RHEL5

These modules may have other dependencies that will be installed automatically assuming you are
using some type of package manager/installer. The kernel-level (for RHEL4 and RHEL5) and
kernel-source (for SLES10 & SLES11) modules must match the kernel version in use.

kernel (x86-64), kernel-devel (x86-64), rpm-build, rsync, redhat-lsb, gcc,
dialog

kernel (x86-64), kernel-devel (x86-64), rpm-build, rsync, redhat-lsb, gcc,
dialog

kernel-smp, kernel-source, rsync, lsb, gcc, dialogSLES10

kernel-smp, kernel-source, rsync, lsb, gcc, dialogSLES11

Downloading and installing the driver and utilities

Two methods are available for installing the driver and utilities.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 15

1. Load the USB drive shipped with the HP IO Accelerator unit

2. Download from http://www.hp.com/support; search for product named "HP StorageWorks IO

Accelerator"

Select the appropriate file(s) for your operating environment, and download the file(s).

Installing using the HP installer script

1. Download driver and utility package as described in Downloading and installing the driver and

utilities.

2. Ensure that the system you are installing to has the necessary Linux components installed:

3. Change the directory to where you placed the downloaded package and enter the following

command to begin installation (this example uses the 1.2.4 version on RHEL4):

bash iodrive-1.2.4_rhel4_installer.sh

If the dialog package is installed on your server, the installer script will present a menu to control the
installer. If the dialog package is not installed, you will see this message instead:

Performing standard install. For more advanced features of this installer
please install the dialog package.

With dialog installed, you will be able to choose whether or not to install the optional snmp and jni
packages.

NOTE:

• If you were able to install the driver proceed to Loading the driver.

• If you were unable to install please review the install.log in the iodrive_files sub-directory.

Deploying the built packages

If you need to deploy the driver to other systems (e.g. systems without a complete build environment),
you can find the newly compiled binary driver RPM in the following directories:

RHEL4 and RHEL5

/usr/src/redhat/RPMS/x86_64/iodrive-driver-{VERSION}.x86_64.rpm

SLES10 and SLES11

/usr/src/packages/RPMS/x86_64/iodrive-driver-{VERSION}.x86_64.rpm

The other RPMs for the utilities and firmware are located in the "iodrive_files" subdirectory where the
installer script ran:

iodrive-jni-{VERSION}.x86_64.rpm
iodrive-util-{VERSION}.x86_64.rpm
iodrive-firmware-{VERSION}.noarch.rpm
iodrive-snmp-{VERSION}.x86_64.rpm

Copy these 4 files and the binary driver RPM to the target system and install them using the RPM
package manager.

Linux environments16

Loading the driver

To load the driver, please complete the following instructions.

1. Enter the following command to load the driver.

modprobe fio-driver

NOTE:

• If the IO Accelerator firmware is too old, a warning can be seen in the /var/log/
messages file. For information on updating the firmware, see Upgrading firmware.

• If the driver installation is successful, the driver will automatically load at the next system
boot.

2. To ensure that the device is present and attached, enter the following command:

fio-status

An example output which shows that the system sees the device is as follows;

Found 1 ioDrive in this system.
Fusion-io driver version: 1.2.7.5

fct0 Attached as 'fioa' (block device)
HP StorageWorks 80GB IO Accelerator, Product Number:AJ876A SN:7638
Firmware v36867
80 GBytes block device size, 99 GBytes physical device size capacity.
PCI:48:00.0, Slot Number: Unavailable
Vendor:1aed, Device:1003, Sub vendor:103c, Sub device:324d
Internal temperature: avg 37.4 degC, max 47.7 degC
Media status: Healthy. 99.46% blocks good.

Adding a file system, formatting, and performing multi-disk
configuration

If you want to use a standard file system (such as ext3), you can now create and format partitions
using standard disk management utilities. The options are:

• Use the mount command to mount resulting partitions and edit system startup configuration to

automatically mount them, just as you would with any other block device. See the mount docu­mentation for more information.

• Use mdadm command to add IO Accelerator partitions to a RAID configuration. See the mdadm

documentation for more information.

• Use the lvm command to include IO Accelerator partitions in logical volumes. See the lvm docu-

mentation for more information.

Using the Logical Volume Manager

The Logical Volume Manager (LVM) volume group management application handles mass storage
devices like the IO Accelerator if you add the IO Accelerator as a supported type:

• Locate and edit the /etc/lvm/lvm.conf configuration file.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 17

• Add an entry similar to the following to that file:

types = [ “fio”, 4 ]

The parameter “4” represents the maximum number of partitions supported by the drive. For the IO
Accelerator, this can be any number from 1 upwards. Do NOT set this parameter to 0.

Configuring RAID

You can configure two or more IO Accelerators into a RAID array using standard Linux procedures.

NOTE:

If you are using RAID1 mirroring and one device fails, be sure to run a fio-format on the replacement
device (not the existing good device) before rebuilding the RAID.

RAID0/Striped

Enter the command:

$ mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=0 --raid-devices=2 /dev/fioa /dev/fiob

to create a striped set where fioa and fiob are the two IO Accelerators you want to stripe. (Use
fio-status to view your specific names.)

RAID1/Mirrored

Enter the command:

$ mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=1 --raid-devices=2 /dev/fioa /dev/fiob

to create a mirrored set using the two IO Accelerators fioa and fiob. (Again, use fio-status to view
your specific names.)

Upgrading firmware

WARNING!

It is extremely important that the power not be turned off during a firmware upgrade, as this could
cause device failure. If one is not already in place, consider adding a UPS to the system prior to
performing a firmware upgrade.

Linux environments18

1. Enter the following command (as root) to update the firmware:

fio-update-iodrive /usr/share/fusionio/images/iodrive_xxxxx.fff

nl

(where xxxxx is the version of the firmware release)

Upgrading the firmware will take several minutes.

NOTE:

The utility detects if the driver is loaded and will not install the firmware. You will get the
error “Driver is not in a valid state to have firmware uploaded.” If this happens, unmount
the drive, run the following command to unload the driver, and then attempt the update
again:

rmmod fio-driver

2. When the update is complete, enter the following command to shut down the server:

shutdown -h now

IMPORTANT:

For the firmware upgrade to write to the device properly, you must shut the system all the
way down and bring it all the way back up, not just perform a restart.

The following image is an example of the screen display during a firmware update.

# fio-update-iodrive /usr/share/fusionio/images/iodrive_17350.fff

Device ID 0 (48:00.0) Updating device firmware from 15950 to 17350

WARNING: DO NOT TURN OFF POWER WHILE THE FIRMWARE UPDATE IS IN PROGRESS.

Please wait (this may take a while)

Progress

-------------------------

/ 0: 13%

Upgrading the driver

Uninstalling the software

IMPORTANT:

To upgrade the driver, you must uninstall the existing driver and install the new version.

1. Log into the system as root or use the su command to gain root access.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 19

2. Ensure that there are no filesystems or RAID volumes using the IO Accelerator, and then unload

the driver modules with this command:

modprobe -r fio-driver fio-port

This command may fail if you have not unmounted any filesystems or RAID volumes that are using
the IO Accelerator devices.

3. Run the following commands to uninstall the driver in this order:

rpm -e iodrive-snmp
rpm -e iodrive-jni
rpm -e iodrive-firmware
rpm -e iodrive-util
rpm -e iodrive-driver

4. Remove the IO Accelerator files left in the /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/x86_64/ directory on

RHEL, or the /usr/src/packages/RPMS/x86_64 directory on SLES

To install the new driver, see Downloading and installing the driver and utilities.

NOTE:

There are new instruction within each new release. Make sure you read the release notes and the
install instructions to ensure no loss of data.

Unmanaged Shutdown Issues

Unmanaged shutdowns due to power loss or other circumstances will force the IO Accelerator to
perform a consistency check during the reboot. This may take several minutes or more to complete
and is shown by a progress percentage during Windows startup.

Although data written to the IO Accelerator will not be lost due to unmanaged shutdowns, important
data structures may not have been properly committed to the drive. This consistency check repairs
these data structures.

Exploring IO Accelerator Linux Driver Loading

In newer Linux distributions, users can rely on the udev device manager to automatically find and
load drivers for their installed hardware at boot time. For older Linux distributions without this
functionality, users must rely on a boot time init script to load needed drivers. HP provides an init
script in /etc/init.d/iodrive to load the IO Accelerator driver in RHEL4 and SLES10 distributions.

Controlling driver loading

Using the init scripts

On systems that use scripts to load drivers, users can enable or disable an init script with the standard
init script utility: chkconfig. By default, the IO Accelerator init script loads the driver at boot time.

You can disable this loading of the IO Accelerator driver with the following command:

Linux environments20

$ chkconfig --del iodrive

To re-enable the driver loading in the init script, use the following command:

$ chkconfig --add iodrive

For further details on the init script see the section Using the IO Accelerator Init Script.

Using the udev script

On systems that rely on udev to load drivers, users need to modify an IO Accelerator file to prevent
udev from auto-loading the IO Accelerator driver at boot time. To do this, locate and edit the /etc/

modprobe.d/iodrive file which already has the line
# blacklist fio-driver

To disable loading, remove the # from the line and save the file.

With the blacklist command in place, reboot Linux. The IO Accelerator driver will not load.

To restore the auto-loading of the driver, replace the # to comment out the line.

Disabling Auto Attach (udev)

On systems using udev, you can disable auto attach by adding a line to your /etc/modprobe.d/

iodrive file:
options fio-driver auto_attach=0

Disabling Driver Completely

Users can disable the loading of the IO Accelerator driver at boot time—and thus prevent the
auto-attach process for diagnostic or troubleshooting purposes—on either udev or init script systems
with the following steps.

To disable driver loading and auto-attach:

1. Append the following parameter at the kernel command line of your boot loader:

iodrive=0

2. Continue with the Linux boot process.

The IO Accelerator driver now won’t load. (This means that the device won’t be available to users,
so proceed with the troubleshooting steps as needed.)

NOTE:

In order to load the driver again, this option must be removed from the kernel command line and you
must reboot your system.

Using the IO Accelerator Init Script

The IO Accelerator install process places the IO Accelerator init script in /etc/init.d/iodrive. In turn,
this script uses the setting options found in the IO Accelerator options file in /etc/sysconfig/iodrive.
The options file contains documentation for the various settings—two of which, Mounts and
Kill_Procs_On_Umount — warrant separate discussion.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 21

Mounting Filesystems

Because the IO Accelerator driver is not loaded by the standard means (in the initrd, or built kernel),
using the standard method for mounting filesystems (/etc/fstab) for filesystems on the IO Accelerator
does not work. To setup auto-mounting of a filesystem hosted on an IO Accelerator,

1. Add the filesystem mounting command to /etc/fstab as normal.

2. Add the 'noauto' option to /etc/fstab as in the two sample entries below.

/dev/fioa /mnt/fioa ext3 defaults,noauto 0 0
/dev/fiob1 /mnt/iodrive ext3 defaults,noauto 0 0

To have the init script mount these drives after the driver is loaded, and unmounted before the driver
is unloaded, add a list of mount points to the options file using the procedure documented there.

For the filesystem mounts shown in the example above, the line in the options file would look like:

MOUNTS="/mnt/fioa /mnt/iodrive"

Driver Unloads

Special consideration must be taken during driver unload time. By default, the init script will search
for any processes holding open a mounted filesystem and kill them, thus allowing the filesystem to
then be unmounted. This behavior is controlled by the option KILL_PROCS_ON_UMOUNT in the
options file. If these processes are not killed, the filesystem will not be able to be unmounted. This
may keep the driver from unloading cleanly, causing a significant delay on the subsequent boot.

Special considerations when using LVM or MD

For all distributions, the recommended method for using LVM and MD devices is to disable udev-based
auto loading of the driver and use the init script instead.

To disable udev auto loading, edit the /etc/modprobe.d/iodrive file and remove the “#” to
uncomment the line:

# blacklist fio-driver

So that it looks like:

blacklist fio-driver

Because the init script is not used by default on all distributions, manually enable the init script and
then verify the configuration.

$ chkconfig --add iodrive
$ chkconfig --list iodrive
iodrive 0:off 1:on 2:on 3:on 4:on 5:on 6:off

Configuring MD for auto loading

You need to create a mdadm.conf file for an md array using the IO Accelerator for assembly on boot
and then be mounted. A sample /etc/mdadm.conf file might be:

DEVICE /dev/fio*
ARRAY /dev/md0 level=raid1 num-devices=2 devices=/dev/fioa,/dev/fiob

(Use fio-status to view the names of your IO Accelerators.) Next, edit /etc/sysconfig/iodrive and add
the MD devices to the 'MD_ARRAYS' variable. For example, to add the md0 array specified in the
mdadm.conf above, modify the MD_ARRAYS variable to read:

Linux environments22

MD_ARRAYS="/dev/md0"

When you create a filesystem on this array, you must use the hooks in the init script to do the mounting
or unmounting of the filesystem during startup and shutdown.

Configuring LVM for auto loading

To configure auto-loading using LVM, add the IO Accelerator as a supported type in the LVM
configuration file (if you have not already done so):

1. Locate and edit the /etc/lvm/lvm.conf configuration file.

2. Add an entry similar to the following to that file:

types = [ "fio", 4 ]

The parameter “4” represents the maximum number of partitions supported by the drive. For the IO
Accelerator, this can be any number from 1 upwards. Do NOT set this parameter to 0.

Continue to setup LVM as desired. Add each of the volume groups with an IO Accelerator in it to the
LVM_VGS variable in /etc/sysconfig/iodrive. For example, a system using two volume groups, vg0
and vg1, would use the following LVM_VGS variable:

LVM_VGS="/dev/vg0 /dev/vg1"

Any filesystems you create on these volumes must use the hooks in the init script to do the mounting
or unmounting of the filesystem during startup and shutdown. (Refer to the Mounting Filesystems section
of this guide for details.)

Linux installation of Simple Network Management Protocol
(SNMP)

The HP IO Accelerator SNMP subagent, fio-snmp-agentx, requires a functional SNMP master
agent that supports the AgentX protocol. The Linux Net-SMNP master agent is recommended.

NOTE:

HP's agent support pack must be installed on the system to pick up the master SNMP agent.

NOTE:

The fio-snmp-agentx has been tested and verified with Net-SNMP, which is the SNMP agent
provided with most Linux distributions.

Verifying the master agent daemon

The fio-snmp-agentx, provided with the HP IO Accelerator software and utility package, requires
the HP master agent to be running first.

To confirm the master agent is installed and running,

ps –ef | grep SNMP

The snmpd process should be running:

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 23

/usr/sbin/snmpd -Lsd –Lf /dev/null –p /var/run/snmpd.pid

Master Agent Configuration

The Net-SNMP master agent daemon can be configured to set network communications parameters,
security, and other options. This is accomplished by editing the snmpd.conf text file. The location
of this file is system-dependent, often in /etc/snmp or /usr/share/snmp.

A simple snmpd configuration file might include the following:

…

# set standard SNMP variables
Syslocation “Data room, third rack”
Syscontact [e-mail]

# required to enable the AgentX protocol
master agentx
agentxsocket tcp:localhost:705

# set the port that the agent listens on (defaults to 161)
agentaddress 161
# simple access control (some form of access control is required)
rocommunity public
rwcommunity private

Configure the HP IO Accelerator fio-snmp-agentx SNMP subagent:

NOTE:

The port number 705 must not be already in use. If already populated, select another available port
and ensure the subagent configuration file has the same port number used.

Create a fio-snmp-agent.conf file in the directory of the master agent snmpd.conf file
(/etc/snmp).

Edit the fio-snmp-agentx.conf file and add the following:

# required to enable the AgentX protocol
agentxsocket tcp:localhost:705

# enable traps
# set to 1, true or yes to enable 0, false or no to disable (default: false)
traps_enabled true

# update_delay
# delay between agent polling requests in milliseconds (default:250)
update_delay 250

# mib_select
# set to cpq for CPQIODRV-MIB (This must be set to run HP Agents)
mib_select cpq

These settings must match the AgentX network parameters in the snmpd.conf file for the master agent.
For further AgentX configuration information, please consult the man pages or visit http://

www.net-snmp.org.

Linux environments24

NOTE:

Ensure the port number above, e.g. 705 is not being used.

Starting/Restarting the SNMP Service

Once installed and configured the snmp daemon must be restarted for the new parameters to take
place.

NOTE:

The snmpd startup script can be found in /etc/init.d or /etc/rc.d/init.d.

Stop the service: service snmpd stop
Restart the service: service snmpd start

Once the SNMP master agent is started, you can start the subagent by running;

/usr/bin/fio-snmp-agentx

NOTE:

The subagent command, fio-snmp-agentx, must be restarted after every reboot or a script can
be added to /etc/init.d/ to start up the subagent on reboots.

To confirm fio-snmp-agentx SNMP subagent is installed and running,
ps –ef | grep fio

To confirm both the agent and subagent are running:

ps –ef | grep snmp

The HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator SNMP subagent is now ready to monitor your device.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 25

Subagent Log File

The HP IO Accelerator subagent can maintain a log file regarding its own activities. This file is separate
from the MIB, cpqIODrv.mib, as it includes entries on the subagent’s communications with the master
agent including any errors or intermittent issues.

To have the subagent maintain this log file, include the –l parameter and a path to the log file as part
of the command in running the subagent.

For example, the command:

fio-snmp-agentx /etc/snmp/fio-snmp-agentx.conf –l /usr/snmp/subagent.log

would keep the subagent log file in the file subagent.log in the directory /usr/snmp.

System Management Homepage (SMH) Support

The HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator is supported by the System Management homepage. SMH
support is provided for by installing the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator templates.

• Please insert the USB drive or go to www.hp.com.

Linux Installation Instructions

1. Download the SMH templates tar file, e.g. hp-io-accel-smh-templates-8.20.tar on

the server where you want to install the SMH templates.

2. Extract the contents of the file, hp-io-accel-smh-templates-8.20.tar, to a local directory

by running following command: tar -xvf hp-io-accel-smh-templates-8.20.tar

3. Change to the directory "hp-io-accel-smh-templates-8.20"

4. Execute install.sh script by running the following command: ./install.sh

Troubleshooting SNMP

If the IO Accelerator isn't viewable on the System Management Homepage, the port selected may
already be in use.

To verify:

1. Once the SNMPD service is restarted, verify that SNMP is running by the command ps –ef

|grep snmp. The SNMP daemon snmpd should be running. If it is not running, start the SNMP

service.

2. View the system log messages verifying if any service failed.

NOTE:

In most instances, all system errors get logged in /var/log/messages.

3. Run the command find /var/log/m* | xargs grep 705 where 705 is the port number.

This command may give the error message related to socket Error: Couldn't open a
master agentx socket to listen on (tcp:localhost:705): Unknown host
(tcp:localhost:705) (Permission denied).

4. Find another available port, for example, assume 7052 is a free port. Use the command netstat

–a | grep 7052. If it returns nothing, edit both the agent file snmpd.conf and the subagent
file fio-snmp-agentx.conf to use this free port.

Linux environments26

4 Windows Server environments

Included sections:

• Uninstalling a previously-installed driver

• Downloading and installing the driver and utilities

• Identifying IO Accelerator devices

• Formatting the IO Accelerator

• Adding a file system, formatting, and performing multi-disk configuration

• Upgrading firmware

• Upgrading the driver

• Windows installation of SNMP

Uninstalling a previously-installed driver

Before installing a new driver, you must first uninstall the previous version.

1. Go to Start menu

2. Open the Control Panel

3. Select Add or Remove Programs

4. Highlight the package/program

NOTE:

Both the IO Manager and HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator Software need to be uninstalled.

5. Select Remove

6. Restart the server and log in as a user with Administrative privileges.

Downloading and installing the driver and utilities

1. Download the current driver and support packages from the HP Support website: http://

www.hp.com/support.

2. Navigate to the directory where you downloaded the driver installation packages.

3. Double-click on the installer to begin installation.

NOTE:

As part of the installation, if not previously completed, the Visual Studio C Runtime will be
installed.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 27

4. Reboot server after installation has completed.

Upgrading an existing card from 1.2.4 to 1.2.7

WARNING!

Failure to follow this procedure may make the card inoperable.

Windows Upgrade (to upgrade existing cards to 1.2.7 from 1.2.4):

1. Ensure hardware is installed and available.

2. Download and copy the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator 1.2.7 self-extracting package to the

system.

3. If data is on the IO Accelerator drives, backup, then take the drives offline through the Windows

Disk Administrator/Manager.

4. Remove ioManager 1.2.4 software through the Windows Control Panel (uninstall programs).

5. Reboot the system.

NOTE:

The 1.2.7 installer will prompt user to remove previous versions of software and reboot prior to
installation of 1.2.7

6. Install the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator 1.2.7 software.

NOTE:

This will also extract the firmware image used to update the IO Accelerator card.

7. Reboot

NOTE:

HP IO Accelerator Management Tool 1.2.7 won't detect the card until the system is rebooted,
rendering it unable to update the firmware prior to rebooting.

8. Use HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator Management Tool to flash upgrade the IO Accelerator

card's firmware. (HP IO Manager 1.2.7 will detect cards with previous 17350 firmware).

9. Once firmware has been upgraded, the user will be prompted to shutdown. Please shutdown

the system.

NOTE:

Changes to IO Accelerator drive firmware will not take effect until a shutdown is complete. One can
re-attach the IO Accelerator drive without rebooting, but new firmware doesn't appear in the HP
StorageWorks IO Accelerator Management Tool until a power cycle has taken place.

Windows Server environments28

Downgrading a card (from 1.2.7 to 1.2.4)

It is not recommended to downgrade the firmware or driver.

Using the IO Accelerator Utilities

The following utilities are included in the download:

DescriptionUtility filename

fio-attach.exe

fio-detach.exe

fio-format.exe

fio-update-iodrive.exe

fio-status.exe

To use these utilities, do the following:

1. Navigate to C:\Program Files\HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator\Utils

2. Run the utilities from this directory.

Initializing the IO Accelerator

The IO Accelerator is automatically discovered by the system, but must be initialized before use.

1. From the Start menu, select the Server Manager.

2. Select the Disk Management plug-in located under the Storage category. The IO Accelerator

should be displayed as a new disk.

• If the firmware is up-to-date, you will be able to initialize, format, partition, and create volumes
on the drive. Proceed to the next step.

• If the drive is not displayed, the firmware is out-of-date and the driver has elected to hide the
disk drive from the operating system. See Upgrading firmware for instructions.

• If the drive is displayed, but you are unable to initialize it, you need to do a low-level format.
See Formatting the IO Accelerator for instructions.

3. Right-click the Disk icon in the lower panel of the Disk Management plug-in to see the properties

of the drive and to initialize the drive.

Utility to attach the IO Accelerator to the Operating System.

Utility to detach the IO Accelerator from the Operating System.

Utility to perform a low-level format of the IO Accelerator.

Utility to update firmware on the IO Accelerator.

Utility to display status of IO Accelerator status.

Identifying IO Accelerator devices

Some of the utilities (such as fio-format) require a device name to specify which IO Accelerator is to
be accessed. You can use either the fio-status utility or the IO manager application to discover the
device names to use with the utilities.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 29

Formatting the IO Accelerator

In some instances, you may need or want to perform a low-level format initialization of the IO
Accelerator. The following steps show how to detach it from the Operating System, format it, and
then reattach it to the Operating System.

1. Log on as an Administrator and open a command prompt window.

2. Use the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator Management Tool to detach the drive.

3. Format the IO Accelerator using the IO Accelerator Management Tool.

4. Attach the IO Accelerator using the IO Accelerator Management Tool.

The IO Accelerator should now be available in Disk Manager. (See Initializing the IO Accelerator.)

Adding a file system, formatting, and performing multi-disk
configuration

If you want to use a standard file system (such as NTFS), you can now create and format partitions
using standard disk management utilities.

For example, to initialize the IO Accelerator:

1. From the Start Menu, choose Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management, and

then from the Storage branch of the tree, choose Disk Management.

2. Find the IO Accelerator in the list of storage devices, then right-click it and choose Initialize Disk.

3. After the device is initialized, you can add partitions or volumes (see the Disk Management

documentation for more details).

You can create dynamic volumes, which can be used in multi-disk RAID configurations (spanned,
striped, mirrored, or RAID 5). See the Disk Management documentation for more details.

Upgrading firmware

NOTE:

You should upgrade the firmware only if the driver load is unsuccessful because of an out-of-date
firmware or if instructed to do so by Hewlett-Packard Customer Support to solve a problem.

WARNING!

It is extremely important that the power not be turned off during a firmware upgrade, as this could
cause device failure. If one is not already in place, consider adding a UPS to the system prior to
performing a firmware upgrade.

1. Log on as an Administrator and open a command prompt window.

2. Detach the IO Accelerator using the HP IO Accelerator Management Tool.

If two IO Accelerator cards are installed, ensure both are detached by selecting both of them in
the HP IO Manager.

Windows Server environments30

3. Update the firmware using the HP IO Manager. Alternatively, you may update the IO Accelerator

from the command line by entering the following command:

fio-update-iodrive C:\Progam Files\HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator\
Firmware\iodrive_17350.fff

NOTE:

Upgrading the firmware will take 5–10 minutes for each IO Accelerator being updated.

4. Shut down the server.

IMPORTANT:

For the firmware upgrade to write to the device properly, you must shut the system all the
way down (to a powered off state) and bring it all the way back up, not just perform a
restart.

Upgrading the driver

1. Uninstall the driver and utilities (see Uninstalling a previously-installed driver).

2. Install the new driver and utilities (see Downloading and installing the driver and utilities).

NOTE:

The upgrade instructions provided with the new code defines what you need to do with
each release. Make sure you read the release notes as well as the install instructions to
ensure no loss of data.

Windows installation of SNMP

The HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator supports monitoring using SNMP. The Windows install script
includes the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator SNMP extension agent. This HP StorageWorks IO
Accelerator agent requires the Windows SNMP service be active on the computer (see your Windows
documentation for details). The Windows install package is available by two methods:

1. Provided with the USB drive with the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator product or via the web

at www.hp.com/support.

NOTE:

Updates will be provided via the web

2. Once automatic installation is complete stop and restart the Windows SNMP service.

3. You can now monitor your HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator using SNMP.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 31

NOTE:

Verify using tasklist whether SNMP extension agents for HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator are loaded:

tasklist -fi "services eq SNMP" /M

The above command output should contain fio-snmp-win.dll

Enabling System Management Homepage (SMH) for Windows

Download the current System Management Homepage templates from either:

1. the USB drive shipped with the product or

2. from HP support, http://www.hp.com/support

Once the method is determined:

1. Download the templates file, HP_IO_Accel_SMH_templates-8.20.zip, to a local directory

on the server where you want to install these SMH templates.

2. Extract the contents of HP_IO_Accel_SMH_templates-8.20.zip to a Local directory

3. Change to directory "hp-io-accel-smh-templates-8.20".

4. Execute the "install.bat" by double clicking on it, to install the SMH templates for HP StorageWorks

IO Accelerator.

NOTE:

The above procedure may vary with new releases. See the respective release notes for install
instructions.

Windows Server environments32

5 HP IO Accelerator Management Tool

Included sections:

• Operating system support

• Software installation

• IO Accelerator Management

• Device Tree

• Device Report Panel

• Performance Monitoring

• Operations

• The IO Accelerator Management Tool Menu

Operating system support

The following is the IO Accelerator Management Tool administrator’s console for IO Accelerators.
The following content shows you how to use the IO Accelerator Management Tool to maintain your
IO Accelerator at peak performance and troubleshoot any issues with the device.

The IO Accelerator Management Tool runs on both Windows and Linux platforms.

Windows

The IO Accelerator Management Tool application runs on the following:

• Microsoft Windows XP Professional 64-Bit (with SP2 or higher)

• Microsoft Windows 2003 Server 64-Bit (with SP2 or higher)

• Microsoft Windows 2008 Server 64-Bit, all versions (with SP1 or higher)

• Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit, all versions

NOTE:

All operating systems must be 64-bit architecture to support the IO Accelerator

Linux

The IO Accelerator Management Tool application supports the following distributions:

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 & 5

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server SLES10 & SLES11

Software installation

The IO Accelerator Management Tool console application downloads as part of either the:

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 33

Linux

• Windows Setup package or

• Linux HP IO Accelerator Management Tool .RPMs.

The IO Accelerator Management Tool console application downloads as part of the HP StorageWorks
IO Accelerator install package from http://www.hp.com/support.

The IO Accelerator Windows Setup program creates a Start menu section for the IO Accelerator
Management Tool and can create a shortcut on your desktop as part of the installation.

The Linux version of the IO Accelerator Management Tool is part of the packages downloaded with
the IO Accelerator driver software. You can also install this separately:

1. Select your Linux distribution from http://www.hp.com/support

2. Download the IO Accelerator Management Tool and supporting Java JRE packages:

hp_io_accelerator_management_tool-gui-2.1.0.37621-1.1.noarch.rpm
hp_io_accelerator_management_tool-jre-2.1.0.37621-1.1.x86_64.rpm

NOTE:

The actual filenames may vary.

3. Enter the command:

$ sudo rpm –Uvh hp_io_accelerator_management_tool*.rpm

NOTE:

All commands require administrator privileges. Log in as “root” or use sudo to run the install.

This installs the application hp_io_accelerator_management_tool in /usr/bin alongside the command
line utilities.

License Agreement

NOTE:

Running the IO Accelerator Management Tool requires administrator privileges. Log in as “root” or
use sudo to run the utility.

1. The first time you run the IO Accelerator Management Tool, it will display the End User License

Agreement (EULA).

2. Click Accept to accept this agreement and continue to run the IO Accelerator Management Tool.

NOTE:

If you choose Decline, IO Accelerator Management Tool will close.

HP IO Accelerator Management Tool34

IO Accelerator Management

The IO Accelerator Management Application console provides a single point of management for all
IO Accelerators installed on the computer. There are two tabs: Device Report and Performance as
shown below.

Device Report

The IO Accelerator Management Tool interface includes two sections;

• The Device Tree on the left displays a list of the installed devices on the computer.

• The Device Report panel on the right displays details on one or more selected devices.

Performance Report

When you click on the Performance tab, IO Accelerator Management Tool draws a real-time graph
of selected attached devices' throughput. You can view Read and Write vs Time, which measures
throughput in megabytes per second, or you can separate the data into two graphs, Read (MB/sec)
vs Time, and Write (MB/sec) vs Time. The lower left corner of each window shows how long the data
has been captured, in minutes and seconds. You can re-size the window to gather more data.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 35

IO Accelerator Management Tool Interface Options

The IO Accelerator Management Tool interface, as shown below, also includes four options, available
in both Device Report view and Performance view, at the top for managing the IO Accelerator(s).

• Update Firmware—Upgrades the firmware on the selected device(s).

• Low Level Format—Performs a low-level format to change the logical size of the selected device(s).

• Attach Device—Attaches an IO Accelerator so that the operating system can interact with it. Attach

Device only works on a detached device.

• Detach Device—Detaches an IO Accelerator so you can perform a low-level format or upgrade

the firmware. Detach Device only works on an attached device

NOTE:

A low-level format is NOT the same as an OS file system format, and should generally be performed
only when recommended by Hewlett-Packard Customer Support, as the device should already come
pre-formatted.

Detached IO Accelerator after Install

An IO Accelerator may appear detached right after installation and the first time you run IO Accelerator
Management Tool.

HP IO Accelerator Management Tool36

Check to see if the Device Report panel shows that the device has outdated firmware. If this is the
case, you can then go to the Update Firmware section in this guide to update the firmware.

Navigating IO Accelerator Management Tool

You can navigate the IO Accelerator Management Tool using familiar keyboard controls:

• The Tab key moves the focus between onscreen components.

• The Enter key activates a selection.

• The Scroll keys (Up Arrow, Down Arrow, PgUp, PgDn, Ctrl-Home, Ctrl-End, etc.) control the Device

Report panel scrolling.

• The Esc key closes dialog boxes.

• The Ctrl-A key combination will select all the available items in a list (such as all the IO Accelerators

in the Device Tree).

Device Tree

The Device Tree displays a tree view of all installed IO Accelerator devices on this computer. The
computer is identified with its:

• Server Name

• IP Address

• Operating System and version (if known)

Each installed IO Accelerator is identified by name on a separate branch of the tree. (In Windows,
the number in the name, such as the “4” in fct4, is the PCIe bus where you installed the device. You
can also confirm this bus number using Device Manager. In Linux, the number represents the order in
which you installed the devices—fct0 for the first device, fct1 for the second, etc.)

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 37

NOTE:

You can also find out more information about each drive by hovering over it with the mouse pointer
in the Device Tree. (Windows only.)

Right clicking on the Tool Tip brings up a context menu, as shown below.

HP IO Accelerator Management Tool38

Drive Status

The tree also shows the status of each drive—attached, detached, which operation is in progress, or
if an error condition exists.

• Drive Normal: When a drive is attached to the operating system and available to users, it appears

as Status: Attached. When a IO Accelerator is attached, Device Tree shows the device's mount
point, just below the device name. If the drive is mounted to multiple file system mount points, only
the first one is shown in the Device Tree.

NOTE:

The other mount points and detailed file system information can be seen by mousing over the
device and waiting for the Tool Tip to appear. All of this information shows up in the Tool Tip
(unless there is an error on the device, in which case that is displayed instead). (Tool Tip works
in Windows only.)

• Drive Detached: When a drive is not available to the operating system or users, it appears as

Status: Detached. (This results from a Detach Device operation, or if the drive is not functioning,
or if the firmware is out of date.)

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 39

• Operation in Progress: The device shows an activity icon. A message in the Device Report panel

indicates which operation is executing, the percent complete, and an estimated time for completing
the operation.

• Error Conditions: When conditions require attention, IO Accelerator Management Tool will indicate

warnings and errors in the Device Tree. Warnings are indicated by a yellow triangle with an ex­clamation point, while errors are indicated by a red stop sign with an exclamation point. A message
in the Device Report panel provides troubleshooting information for selected devices.

HP IO Accelerator Management Tool40

Device Report Panel

The Device Report panel, displays details on each IO Accelerator ioDimm module installed in this
computer. To view information on one or more IO Accelerators:

• Click on one of the IO Accelerators in the Device Tree.

• Hold the left mouse button down to select several devices in a row.

• Use Ctrl-Click left mouse button to select two or more separate devices.

The Device Report panel will display details about each device (individual devices may vary in what
fields they report due to hardware differences):

• Driver Version—This indicates the IO Accelerator driver software version.

• Device Name—The number indicates the device’s Serial Number.

• Status—Shows the status of the device. Normal is Attached. Other status messages include de-

tached, scanning data, stopped, or in an error condition.

• Serial Number

• Firmware version

• Manufacture date

• Max Capacity—indicates this IO Accelerator’s largest size for user data.

• Formatted Capacity—indicates this IO Accelerator’s current size.

The dialog also shows the associated PCIe bus details:

• Address

• Vendor ID

• Device ID

• Slot Number

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 41

Saving IO Accelerator Information

You can save the selected IO Accelerator(s) information using the Copy feature. To do this:

1. Highlight one or more IO Accelerators in your Device Tree. Use the Shift or Ctrl keys to select

which drives you wish to view. The IO Accelerator Management Tool displays each drive’s in­formation in the Device Report panel as you select it.

2. Click in the Device Report panel to change the focus to that list.

3. Click Ctrl-A to select all the device information. (Or highlight text with the mouse cursor to choose

a smaller piece of data.)

4. Click Ctrl-C to copy the information.

The IO Accelerator Management Tool will save the contents of the Device Report panel to the Clipboard.
You can then paste this information as needed into a report or other document.

Performance Monitoring

When you click on the Performance tab, IO Accelerator Management Tool draws a real-time graph
of the read and write performance of selected attached devices. Read and Write vs Time measures
throughput in megabytes per second. The lower left corner of each window shows how long the data
has been captured, in minutes and seconds. You can resize the window to gather more data.

When you open the Performance tab, it shows a combined view of read and write performance. To
view the read and write data in separate windows, click on the Separate View icon on the upper
right corner of the Performance window.

HP IO Accelerator Management Tool42

To switch back to Combined View, click on the Combined View icon at the upper right of the
Performance window.

To select devices you want to monitor, click on their images in the left panel. If performance data is
not available for a device, the IO Accelerator Management Tool will indicate that it isn't available
with a black circle.

Operations

The IO Accelerator Management Tool menu bar, provides options for working with the highlighted
IO Accelerator(s).

• Update Firmware—Upgrades the firmware on the selected device(s).

• Low Level Format—Performs a low-level format to change the logical size of the device.

• Attach Device—Attaches an IO Accelerator so that the operating system can interact with it. Attach

only works on detached devices.

• Detach Device—Detaches an IO Accelerator so you can perform a low-level format or upgrade

the firmware. Detach only works on attached devices.

To manage one or more IO Accelerators:

• Click on one of the IO Accelerators in the Device Tree.

• Hold the left mouse button down to select several devices at once.

• Use Ctrl-Clickleft mouse button to select two or more separate devices.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 43

Update Firmware

The Update Firmware operation lets you upgrade the IO Accelerator’s firmware. You should upgrade
the firmware if:

• The IO Accelerator Management Tool presents a warning icon stating that the firmware is out of

date.

• The Windows System Event Log or Linux system log (typically in /var/log/messages) reports a

problem due to out-of-date firmware.

• The IO Accelerator stops working.

• You are instructed to do so by Hewlett-Packard Customer Support.

NOTE:

In most cases, if you upgrade the IO Accelerator firmware you must upgrade the IO Accelerator driver
as well. Most support issues arise from mismatched firmware and drivers.

Upgrading the firmware may take some time. Monitor the progress using the IO Accelerator
Management Tool.

CAUTION:

Back up the data on your IO Accelerator(s) prior to performing the upgrade.

WARNING!

It is extremely important that the power not be turned off during a firmware upgrade, as this could
cause device failure. If one is not already in place, consider adding a UPS to the system prior to
performing a firmware upgrade.

Interrupting an update while it is in progress can result in permanent damage to the device. Never
use the Windows Task Manager to stop the update or kill the process in Linux. (For this same reason,
the IO Accelerator Management Tool ignores all exit requests.) If the operation fails, it is critical that
you restart this operation and complete it successfully before a reboot occurs to prevent damage to
the device.

IMPORTANT:

To properly complete the firmware upgrade to the device, you will need to perform a cold or warm
boot of your system. The IO Accelerator Management Tool will advise you which, giving one of the
following messages:

• "The firmware on the selected devices was successfully updated. Reboot your computer for the

update to take effect."

• "The firmware on the selected devices was successfully updated. Shut down your computer and

restart for the update to take effect."

To perform a firmware upgrade:

HP IO Accelerator Management Tool44

1. Download the IO Accelerator firmware upgrade file from http://support.hp.com and place it

in a convenient directory.

2. Highlight the device(s) you want to upgrade in the Device Tree.

3. Click Update Firmware in the menu bar.

4. Select the IO Accelerator firmware file using the dialog. (The file naming convention is IO Accel-

erator_version.fff (where version is the numerical version of the firmware). The default location
for this file is in Program Files\HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator\Firmware (Windows) or in
/usr/share/fusionio/images (Linux).

5. Use the Browse button to navigate to the location of this file. The IO Accelerator Management

Tool will show the default directories, so unless you have installed the firmware in a non-standard
location, the Select Firmware File dialog will open to the correct location. Once you have selected
a file from a given folder, that folder will be saved as the default place for the file chooser to
open next time you do a firmware update.

6. The selected file will now appear in the confirmation dialog.

7. Click Next to proceed.

8. Click Update.

The selected drive(s) will display a blue progress bar in the Device Report panel as the update
occurs. This bar shows both the percentage as well as the estimated time remaining to complete
the update.

When the update completes, the IO Accelerator Management Tool will display a dialog requesting
you to reboot to complete the process.

9. Click OK.

10. Completely power down and restart the computer to ensure a full reset of the system and install-

ation of the firmware.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 45

Firmware Already Updated

The IO Accelerator Management Tool program checks to see if the firmware update version is required
for the selected device. If the update and the current firmware are the same, IO Accelerator
Management Tool will notify you.

The dialog shows the same firmware version number in the dialog as well as the message that the
selected device is “already up to date." The IO Accelerator Management Tool program will also
gray-out the Update button, as this change is not required.

If you want to cancel the update, click the X at the upper right of the dialog to exit.

If you want to select a different firmware update file, click Back to return to the file selection dialog.

Attach Device

The Attach Device operation creates a link so the IO Accelerator interacts with the operating system.
In most cases, the operating system driver automatically attaches the installed IO Accelerator(s) at
boot time, so you only need to use Attach Device when you manually detach an IO Accelerator (such
as to perform a low-level format).

To attach a detached IO Accelerator and allow the operating system to interact with the device:

1. Select one or more detached IO Accelerator(s) in the tree. They appear with the open link.

2. Click Attach Device in the menu bar. The IO Accelerator Management Tool asks you to confirm

the attachment.

HP IO Accelerator Management Tool46

NOTE:

If the selected drive is already attached, the Attach button will gray-out.

3. Click Attach to confirm the operation.

Attach Device will connect the device. The Attach Device operation’s progress bar will also appear

in the Device Report panel indicating the percentage completed,

When the Attach operation finishes, the message appears:

Which indicates that the device is now attached and available to the OS.

If the Attach Device operation fails, an error message appears.

Mixed Attached/Detached Devices

If you select a set of IO Accelerators to attach, some of which are attached and some are detached,
the Confirm Attach dialog will display a list of the drives and their status.

When you click on Attach, the IO Accelerator Management Tool will proceed to connect only the
detached devices (those marked “Ready”).

Detach Device

Detach Device disconnects your IO Accelerator from the operating system. Once detached, the device
will not be accessible to users or applications. (You will need to use Attach Device to make it

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 47

accessible.) You should only need to detach an IO Accelerator to perform a low-level format or a
firmware upgrade.

To perform a detach:

1. Select one or more IO Accelerator(s) from the Device Tree. (You can only detach attached devices.)

2. Click Detach. The IO Accelerator Management Tool console will ask you to confirm this.

3. Click Detach.

NOTE:

If the selected device is already detached, the Detach button will gray-out.

For each device as it detaches. When the Detach Device operation finishes, the message appears:

Use Attach to restore the operating system access to the IO Accelerator.

Mixed Attached/Detached Devices

If you select a set of IO Accelerators to detach, some of which are attached and some are detached,
the Confirm Detach dialog will display a list of the drives and their status.

When you click on Detach, the IO Accelerator Management Tool will proceed to disconnect only the
attached devices (those marked “Ready”).

HP IO Accelerator Management Tool48

Low Level Format

Your IO Accelerator comes pre-formatted, so generally it’s not necessary to use this option. However,
you would use it if you:

• Need to re-format the drive to change its logical size to enhance write performance.

• Are instructed to do so by Hewlett-Packard Customer Support.

NOTE:

The IO Accelerator Management Tool performs a low-level format that is different from a format
performed by an operating system using standard disk management utilities. You do not need to
perform a IO Accelerator Management Tool low-level format to create an operating system-specific
volume on the device.

CAUTION:

Formatting an IO Accelerator will destroy any data still on the device. If you have not backed up data
to another device, choose Cancel to abort the format.

To format an IO Accelerator:

1. Select one or more IO Accelerator(s) from the Device Tree.

2. Click Low Level Format.

3. Select which type of format you wish to perform.

• Maximum Capacity—Creates the maximum possible capacity for user data on the device.

This is the standard format found on a new IO Accelerator.

• Improved Write Performance—Formats the device for increased write performance at the cost

of approximately 30% of capacity.

• Maximum Write Performance—Formats the device for maximum write performance at the

cost of approximately 50% of capacity.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 49

4. Choose an option and click Next. The IO Accelerator Management Tool program will list your

selected device(s) to format as well as the approximate capacity after formatting for each device.

5. Click Format to perform the format.

At this point, the IO Accelerator Management Tool will automatically detach the selected device(s).
It will then display a blue progress bar, in the Device Report panel showing both the percentage of
as well as the estimated time remaining to complete the format.

HP IO Accelerator Management Tool50

When the format completes, the IO Accelerator Management Tool will automatically reattach the
newly-formatted IO Accelerator(s) for use by the operating system.

The IO Accelerator Management Tool Menu

The IO Accelerator Management Tool menu appears when you click on the icon in the upper-left
corner. This menu offers three options.

• Enable/Disable Bare Mode: This toggles the IO Accelerator Management Tool interface between

fullgraphics and limited-graphics for use with remote consoles. The IO Accelerator Management
Tool console retains the last setting upon closing.

• About IO Accelerator Management Tool: Displays the version splash screen.

• Exit: Closes the IO Accelerator Management Tool.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 51

HP IO Accelerator Management Tool52

6 Utilities

Included sections:

• fio-attach

• fio-beacon

• fio-detach

• fio-format

• fio-status

• fio-pci-check (Linux only)

• fio-read-lebmap (Linux only)

• fio-update-iodrive

These command-line utilities provide a number of useful ways to access, test, and manipulate the HP
StorageWorks IO Accelerator.

NOTE:

–h and –v options are available for all of the utilities. Unless specified otherwise, the –h option is for
help, and the –v option is for version information.

fio-attach

Attaches a block device node to a pre-formatted HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator. This utility creates
a block device in /dev, named “fiox” (where x is a, b, c, etc. in Linux or a disk device in Windows),
which can be used raw, partitioned or filled with a filesystem.

Before you use this utility, the board must have already been formatted using the fio-format utility (the
IO Accelerator board comes pre-formatted, so generally it’s not necessary to use this utility unless you
need to reformat the drive for performance reasons; also note that the fio-format utility performs a
low-level format that is not the same as doing a format on a file system using standard disk management
utilities). After that, fio-attach makes the file system available to the OS.

NOTE:

In most cases, the driver automatically attaches the device on load, so fio-attach does not need to be
invoked. If a manual format has been done, or if the auto_attach=0 parameter is given to the kernel
module at load time, then you need to run fio-attach to create the block device.

fio-attach <device-node> –q
<device-node>

Device node for the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator board (/dev/fctx), where x indicates the board
number (0, 1, 2, etc). For example: /dev/fct0-q Quiet option. Disables progress status.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 53

fio-beacon

This utility turns on all three LEDs of the specified IO Accelerator for identification.

NOTE:

This utility is not applicable for the mezzanine format of the IO Accelerator, which has no externally
visible LEDs.

fio-detach

Detaches the board from the OS to facilitate troubleshooting. fio-detach removes the “fiox” block
device of a particular IO Accelerator.

CAUTION:

Before using this utility, ensure that the device to be detached is not currently mounted or otherwise
in use.

fio-detach <device node> -q
<device-node>

Device node for the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator board (/dev/fctx), where x indicates the board
number (0, 1, 2, etc). For example: /dev/fct0

-q Quiet option. Disables progress status.

fio-format

Performs a low-level format of the IO Accelerator. This format is distinct from a format performed by
the operating system. The utility displays a progress bar and percentage as it completes the format.

NOTE:

The IO Accelerator ships pre-formatted, so normally you will not need to run fio-format except to
change the logical size of the device.

CAUTION:

Use this utility with care, as it deletes all user information on the IO Accelerator.

fio-format <ioDrive-device> [-q, -s <device-size>, -u, -h, -v]

where <ioDrive-device> is the control device name (fctx) where x indicates the device number
(0, 1, 2, etc). For example: fct0

Utilities54

fio-status

Provides detailed information about the specified or all installed IO Accelerator(s)—either fctx or fiox
devices. The fio-status command must run with root privileges and requires that the driver be loaded.
If it finds no device, it displays an index number instead.

fio-status [-c, —a, —h, —v] <dev>

where <dev> is name of the device. If you don’t specify a name, fio-status displays information on
all installed IO Accelerators.

fio-pci-check (Linux only)

Checks for errors on the PCI bus tree, specifically for IO Accelerators. This utility displays the current
PCI link status of each IO Accelerator. It also prints the standard PCI Express error information and
resets that state. It is perfectly normal to see a few errors (perhaps as many as five) when fio-pci-check
is initially run. Subsequent runs should reveal only one or two errors after several hours of operation.

NOTE:

This utility should show 1000 MB/sec of bandwidth available to each installed IO Accelerator. If it
shows less than 1000, you should verify your hardware installation to make sure the mezzanine card
is seated properly.

fio-pci-check [-d <value>, -f, -i, -r, -v, -h]

-I Print the device serial number (only valid when the driver is NOT loaded).

fio-read-lebmap (Linux only)

Dumps the current LEB map for an IO Accelerator and writes the map to standard output.

fio-read-lebmap [-d <value>, -f, -i, -r, -v, -h]
<device-node>

Device node for the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator board (/dev/fctx), where x indicates the board
number (0, 1, 2, etc). For example: /dev/fct0

fio-update-iodrive

Updates the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator firmware. This utility scans the PCI-Express bus for all
HP StorageWorks IO Accelerators and updates them all sequentially.

Under Linux only, if you have more than one IO Accelerator device, and want to upgrade the firmware
for only one device, you can use the -s option along with the PCI-Express bus address to identify the
card to be updated.

To ensure a clean firmware update, you should detach the device from the system (using fio-detach).
In Linux, you should also unload the driver (use the command rmmod fio-driver).

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 55

WARNING!

It is extremely important that the power not be turned off during a firmware upgrade, as this could
cause device failure. If one is not already in place, consider adding a UPS to the system prior to
performing a firmware upgrade.

TIP:

Upgrading the firmware may take 5-10 minutes per device being upgraded.

NOTE:

You must do a system shutdown, followed by a cold boot, after this utility finishes in order for the
firmware upgrade to properly complete.

fio-update-iodrive [-f, -l, -p, -s, -h, -v] <fff file>

Filename (with full path) of the firmware file. Under Linux, this is typically in the

<fff file>

/usr/share/fusionio/images/ directory. On Windows, it can usually be found in
C:\Program Files\HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator\Firmware\.

Force upgrade (used primarily to downgrade to an earlier firmware version)-f

CAUTION:

Use the -f option with care, as it could damage your board.

Pretend: show what updates would be done (the firmware is not modified)-p

List firmware available in the archive-l

-s

Update devices in selected slots, using ‘*’ as a wildcard for boards. The slots are in the
following format: [[[[<domain>]:]<bus>]:][<slot>][.[<func>]]

CAUTION:

Use the -s option with care; updating a device in the wrong slot could damage it.

Utilities56