HP AJ878A, AJ878A 320 User Manual

HP StorageWorks

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user
guide

Part number: 510461-001
First edition: March 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:

h

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

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

Contents

About this guide ................................................................................... 5

Intended audience ...................................................................................................................... 5

Document conventions and symbols ............................................................................................... 5

HP technical support ................................................................................................................... 6

Customer self repair .................................................................................................................... 6

Subscription service .................................................................................................................... 7

HP websites ............................................................................................................................... 7

Documentation feedback ............................................................................................................. 7

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

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

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

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

Hardware ........................................................................................................................... 9

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 ................................................................................................... 21

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

Mounting Filesystems .................................................................................................... 21

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

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

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

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 3

Configuring LVM for auto loading ......................................................................................... 22

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

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

Master Agent Configuration ................................................................................................. 23

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

Starting/Restarting the SNMP Service ................................................................................... 24

Subagent Log File ...............................................................................................................25

System Management Homepage (SMH) Support .................................................................... 25

Linux Installation Instructions .......................................................................................... 25

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

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

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

Using the IO Accelerator Utilities .......................................................................................... 27

Initializing the IO Accelerator .............................................................................................. 28

Identifying IO Accelerator devices ............................................................................................... 28

Formatting the IO Accelerator ..................................................................................................... 28

Adding a file system, formatting, and performing multi-disk configuration ......................................... 29

Upgrading firmware .................................................................................................................. 29

Upgrading the driver ................................................................................................................. 30

Windows installation of SNMP ................................................................................................... 30

Enabling System Management Homepage (SMH) for Windows ............................................... 31

5 ioManager for Windows .................................................................. 33

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

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

IO Accelerator management ................................................................................................ 34

Device tree pane ................................................................................................................34

Drive status ........................................................................................................................ 35

Detached IO Accelerator after install .................................................................................... 36

Management pane ................................................................................................................... 36

Saving IO Accelerator information ........................................................................................ 37

Operations Tab ..................................................................................................................38

Attach ........................................................................................................................ 39

Detach ....................................................................................................................... 41

6 Utilities ........................................................................................... 49

fio-attach ................................................................................................................................. 49

fio-beacon ............................................................................................................................... 50

fio-detach ................................................................................................................................ 50

fio-format ................................................................................................................................. 50

fio-status .................................................................................................................................. 51

fio-pci-check (Linux only) ............................................................................................................ 51

fio-read-lebmap (Linux only) ....................................................................................................... 51

fio-update-iodrive ...................................................................................................................... 51

4

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

ttp://www.hp.com

Bold text

Monospace text

Monospace, italic text

Monospace, bold text

Website addressesBlue, underlined text: h

• Keys that are pressed

• 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

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 5

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

About this guide6

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.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 7

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

• SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 (AMD64/EM64T)

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 (AMD64/EM64T)

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 (AMD64/EM64T)

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

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

IMPORTANT:

All operating systems must be 64-bit architecture.

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.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 9

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:

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-devel (for RHEL4 and RHEL5) and
kernel-source (for SLES) 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

Downloading and installing the driver and utilities

Two methods are available for installing the driver and utilities.

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

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 15

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 IO Accelerator_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

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

The other RPMs for the utilities and firmware will be located in the "IO Accelerator_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: 1.2.4

fct0 Attached as 'fioa' (block device)
HP StorageWorks 80GB IO Accelerator, Product Number:AJ876A SN:7638
Firmware v17350 'Released'
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 docu-
mentation 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 ioDrives 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 ioDrive 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

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.)

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.

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.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 21

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 ioDrives.) 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:

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 ]

Linux environments22

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:

/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]

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 23

# 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

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

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

This 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.

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

Linux environments24

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.

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"

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 25

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

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

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.

4. Reboot server after installation has completed.

Using the IO Accelerator Utilities

The following utilities are included in the download:

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 27

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.

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.

NOTE:

The following example uses commands to format the first controller (fio-detach /dev/fct13).
To format a different controller, be sure to enter its device name, such as fio-detach /dev/fct19

Windows Server environments28

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

2. Enter the following command to detach the IO Accelerator from the Operating System:

fio-detach /dev/fct13

3. Enter the following command to format the IO Accelerator:

fio-format /dev/fct13

The system display will look similar to the following:

C:\Users\Administrator> fio-format /dev/fct13
WARNING: formatting will destroy any existing data on the device!
Do you wish to continue [y/n]? y
data channel: geometry: 8192x256x47264 (25 pads, 1 planes, 4 banks)
Using 819 blocks of data channel at 7373 for metadata (819 (100%) good)
Creating a device of size 74.78GiB (80.29GB)

Formatting: [=====================] (100%) \
Format successful.

4. Enter the following command to reattach the IO Accelerator to the Operating System:

fio-attach /dev/fct13

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 Customer Support to solve a problem.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 29

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. Enter the following command to detach the IO Accelerator from the Operating System (and

prevent any activity during the upgrade):

fio-detach /dev/fct13

If two IO Accelerator cards are installed, enter the following command to detach the second
card:

fio-detach /dev/fct19

3. Enter the following command (for example) to load the firmware:

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

Windows Server environments30

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.

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.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 31

Windows Server environments32

5 ioManager for Windows

Included sections:

• Operating system support

• Software installation

• Management pane

•

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

Operating system support

The ioManager application runs on the following:

• Microsoft Windows 2003 Server

• Microsoft Windows 2008 Server

NOTE:

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

Software installation

The ioManager console application downloads as part of the HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator install
package from http://www.hp.com/support. The setup program places the ioManager shortcut in
Start/All Programs/HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator/ioManager.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 33

IO Accelerator management

The ioManager console provides a single point of management for all ioDrives installed on the
computer. The ioManager interface includes two panes:

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

• The Management pane runs administration tasks.

The Management pane includes two tabs:

• Information which displays details on each IO Accelerator

• Operations which provides tools for working with the devices

Device tree pane

The Device Tree shows a tree view of all installed ioDrives 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. (The number,
such as the “4” in fct4, is the PCI device ID assigned by Windows.

ioManager for Windows34

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: Drive is attached to the operating system and available to users.

Drive Detached: Drive is not available to the operating system or users. (Results from a Detach

operation.)

Operation in Progress: Message indicates which operation is executing, the percent complete, and
an estimated time for completing the operation.

Error Condition: Message provides troubleshooting information.

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 35

Detached IO Accelerator after install

An IO Accelerator may appear as detached right after installation and the first time you run ioManager.
This may indicate that the device has outdated firmware. To confirm this, highlight the device and
see if:

• only a limited amount of information appears in the Management Pane.

• When you attempt to use the Attach or Format operation, the error message appears saying Inval-

id”.

You can use the steps in the Update Firmware section to correct this.

Management pane

The Management pane includes two tabs:

• Information which displays details on each IO Accelerator

• Operations which provides tools for working with the devices

To view information on one or more ioDrives:

• Click on one of the ioDrives in the Device Tree.

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

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

The Information window will display details about each device:

• Serial Number

ioManager for Windows36

• IO Accelerator Driver version

• ioManager compatible with Driver Version

• Firmware version

• Manufacture date

• Maximum formattable size

• Current formatted size

• NAND (both the manufacturer and the type (SLC or MLC))

The Information dialog also displays the associated PCIe bus details:

• Address

• Vendor ID

• Device ID

In addition to the FPGA ID, the dialog also shows NAND details:

• Number of channels

• Geometry

• Error Correction

NOTE:

The Information Pane displays details on only a limited number of ioDrives depending on the size of
your screen. If you select to view all your installed ioDrives, their details may not all appear onscreen.
To view these additional devices, you will need to highlight these as a separate group in the tree to
view their details.

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 ioDrives in your Device Tree. Use the Shift or Ctrl keys to select which

drives you wish to view. The ioManager displays each drive’s information as you select it

2. Click on the Copy icon in the upper right of the Information Pane:

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 37

The ioManager will save the contents of the Information Pane to the Clipboard. You can then paste
this information as needed into a report or other document.

NOTE:

The Information Pane displays details onscreen of only a limited number of ioDrives (based on screen
real estate). However, the Copy function will include the details on all selected drives when you paste
this information into a document.

Operations Tab

To manage one or more ioDrives:

• Click on one of the ioDrives in the Device Tree

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

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

This tab provides options for working with the highlighted IO Accelerator(s).

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

works on detached devices.

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

ware. Detach only works on attached devices.

• Low Level Format—Performs one of several types of low-level formats. Formatting only works on

detached devices.

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

on detached devices.

ioManager for Windows38

Attach

The Attach 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 when you manually detach an IO Accelerator (such as to perform a
low-level format).

The Device Tree shows attached IO Accelerator(s) as having a complete link between the computer
and the device:

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. ioManager asks you to confirm the attachment:

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 39

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

3. Click Attach Now to confirm the operation.

Attach will connect the device. The Attach operation’s progress bar will appear in the Device
Tree. The bar’s color varies:

• Blue indicates the operation is in progress.

• Green indicates that the operation is complete.

• Red indicates an error occurred during the Attach. Refer to the message to identify the error
The progress bar also shows the percentage done:

When the Attach operation finishes, the message appears:

NOTE:

The progress bar automatically disappears a few seconds after completion.

If the Attach operation fails, the progress bar turns red and an error message appears:

Mixed attached/detached devices

Attach will show a list of the drives and their status:

ioManager for Windows40

Detach

When you click on Attach Now, ioManager will proceed to connect only the detached devices.

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

The Device Tree shows attached IO Accelerator(s) as having an incomplete link between the computer
and the device:

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

Attached devices appear with a complete link:

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 41

2. Click Detach. The ioManager console will ask you to confirm this:

3. Click Detach Now.

(If the selected device is already detached, the Detach Now button will grey-out.)

Detach will disconnect the device. The Detach operation’s progress bar will appear in the Device
Tree. This bar’s color varies:

• Blue indicates the operation is in progress,

• Green indicates that the operation is complete

• Red indicates an error occurred during the Detach. Refer to the message to identify the error.

The progress bar also shows the percentage done:

When the Detach operation finishes, the message appears:

NOTE:

The progress bar automatically disappears a few seconds after completion.

If the Detach operation fails, the progress bar turns red and an error message appears:

ioManager for Windows42

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 for performance reasons.

• Are instructed to do so by HP Customer Support.

NOTE:

The ioManager 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
ioManager low-level format to create an operating system-specific volume on the device.

To format an IO Accelerator:

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

2. Click Format.

3. Select which type of format you wish to perform

Format options:

• 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 50% of capacity.

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

cost of approximately 70% of capacity.

4. ClickNext. The ioManager program will list your selected device(s) to format as well as the ap-

proximate capacity after formatting for each device:

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 43

5. Click Format Now to perform the format.

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.

The selected drive(s) will display a blue progress bar as the format occurs showing both the percentage
as well as the estimated time remaining to complete the format:

When the format completes, the progress bar turns green:

Click the X next to the progress bar to close the message.

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

ioManager for Windows44

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

• The Windows System Event Log reports a problem due to out-of-date firmware or

• if instructed to do so by HP Customer Support.

NOTE:

In most cases, if you upgrade the IO Accelerator firmware you will need to upgrade the IO
Accelerator driver as well. Most support issues arise from mis-matched firmware and drivers.

IMPORTANT:

You should first detach the selected IO Accelerator(s) from the system to ensure a clean firmware
update.

WARNING!

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.

NOTE:

Upgrading the firmware may take some time. Monitor the progress using ioManager.

IMPORTANT:

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

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 45

WARNING!

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. (For this same reason, ioManager disables
the Cancel button during the update process.) 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.

1. The Windows Setup program places the included firmware in \Program Files\HP StorageWorks

IO Accelerator\Firmware . (You can also download the IO Accelerator firmware upgrade file
from http://www.hp.com/support and place it in a convenient directory.)

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

3. If you have not done so, click Detach to detach the device from the operating system. The Device

Tree will show the link as detached:

4. Click Update Firmware in the Operations Pane.

5. Select the IO Accelerator firmware file using the dialog. (The file naming convention is

iodrive_NNNNN.fff (where NNNNN is the version of the firmware).

6. Click Update Now:

ioManager for Windows46

The selected drive(s) will display a blue progress bar as the update occurs showing both the percentage
as well as the estimated time remaining to complete the update:

When the firmware update completes, the progress bar turns green:

Click the X next to the progress bar to close the message.

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

IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class user guide 47

The ioManager program checks to see if the selected firmware update is required for the selected
device. If the update and the current firmware are the same, ioManager will display this by showing
the firmware update and installed version numbers and the equal sign:

The ioManager program will grey-out the Update Now button as this update is not required. Click
Cancel to exit the Update process.

ioManager for Windows48

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 49

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 block device name (fctx) where x indicates the device number
(0, 1, 2, etc). For example: fct0

Utilities50

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 ioDrives.

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 51

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.

Utilities52