XtremSW Cache User Guide 2.0.1

EMC® Xtrem Family
XtremSW Cache™
v2.0.1
User Guide
302-000-001
REV 02
Copyright © 2013 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA.
Published November, 2013
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2 EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1

CONTENTS
Preface
Part 1 XtremSW Cache Basics
Chapter 1 Introduction to Managing XtremSW Cache

Understanding XtremSW Cache...................................................... 19
XtremSW Cache management utilities............................................ 20
Management utility comparison............................................... 21
Chapter 2 Before You Begin

Supported devices and multi-pathing ............................................ 23
Multi-pathing and cache devices ............................................. 23
Supported source devices ....................................................... 25
VMware considerations ................................................................. 27
Configuring XtremSW Cache support for clusters............................ 30
Configuring support for RHEL Cluster Suite............................... 31
Configuring support for Microsoft Cluster Service..................... 34
Configuring support for Veritas Cluster Server .......................... 36
Configuring support for Oracle Real Application Cluster ........... 40
Configuring support for AIX PowerHA ....................................... 53
Part 2 Using the Command Line Interface (CLI)
Chapter 3 Getting Started—CLI

Identifying cache and source devices............................................. 59
Identifying devices in Windows................................................ 60
Identifying devices in Linux...................................................... 60
Identifying devices in AIX ......................................................... 60
Executing command line interface commands ............................... 61
Basic steps to begin caching with XtremSW Cache ......................... 63
Enabling a cache device and starting caching .......................... 63
Adding source devices to be accelerated ................................. 64
Example of first-time configuration ................................................ 65
Windows example ................................................................... 66
EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1 3

Contents
Linux example ......................................................................... 66

AIX example............................................................................. 67
Chapter 4 Managing XtremSW Cache—CLI

Managing the cache ...................................................................... 69
Adding or removing source devices.......................................... 70
Starting or stopping caching services on a cache device .......... 72
Starting or stopping the caching of a source device ................. 73
Displaying system statistics........................................................... 73
Managing flash devices ................................................................. 75
Partitioning a PCIe flash device ................................................ 76
Adding a cache device ............................................................. 77
Removing a cache device......................................................... 78
Editing cache device properties ............................................... 79
Maintaining flash devices .............................................................. 79
Moving source devices from one cache device to another ........ 80
Erasing data from an XtremSF cache device ............................. 81
Exporting XtremSW Cache configuration settings ..................... 82
Chapter 5 Advanced Management Topics—CLI

Support for Hyper-V ....................................................................... 85
Support for VMAX .......................................................................... 86
Read full track feature configuration ........................................ 88
Cacheable LUNs selection helper............................................. 88
Configuring data deduplication...................................................... 90
Setting the maximum I/O size........................................................ 95
Changing the page size.................................................................. 96
Configuring caching in VMware with the CLI ................................... 97
Supporting more than the default number of devices............. 100
Appendix A Command Reference—CLI

Executable commands................................................................. 104
Part 3 Using the VSI Plug-in for VMware

Before using the VSI plug-in......................................................... 123

Contents
Chapter 6 Getting Started—VSI Plug-In

About the VSI plug-in................................................................... 125
Before you begin ......................................................................... 125
First-time caching on a virtual machine ........................................ 136
Creating an XtremSW Cache device........................................ 137
Starting source device acceleration ....................................... 141
Chapter 7 Managing XtremSW Cache—VSI Plug-In

Managing XtremSW Cache pools.................................................. 143
Adding a flash device to the local cache pool......................... 144
Removing a flash device from the local cache pool ................ 145
Displaying XtremSW Cache pool statistics ............................. 146
Displaying cache pool information aggregated across a cluster.....
147
Managing XtremSW Cache devices............................................... 148
Disabling XtremSW Cache...................................................... 148
Modifying an XtremSW Cache device ..................................... 149
Removing devices.................................................................. 149
Displaying statistics............................................................... 150
Viewing XtremSF devices ............................................................. 155
Viewing virtual machines ............................................................. 156
Chapter 8 Advanced Configuration—VSI Plug-In

Configuring data deduplication.................................................... 159
Changing the maximum I/O size .................................................. 161
Changing the page size................................................................ 162
Part 4 Using the XtremSW Management Center
Chapter 9 Getting Started—XtremSW Management Center

Logging in.................................................................................... 165
The Dashboard ............................................................................ 166
Chapter 10 Monitoring and Managing Systems

Viewing and managing managed systems.................................... 169
Adding managed systems...................................................... 170
Viewing XtremSF cards................................................................. 179
Viewing alerts.............................................................................. 180
Viewing audit log messages......................................................... 181

Contents
Chapter 11 Managing Cache and Source Devices

Understanding the caching process ............................................. 183
Before you begin caching on a virtual machine ...................... 184
First-time caching ........................................................................ 185
Managing XtremSW Cache pools.................................................. 191
Populating an XtremSW Cache local pool ............................... 191
Removing a flash device from the local cache pool ................ 194
Managing cache devices.............................................................. 196
Managing source devices ............................................................ 196
Displaying statistics and performance details .............................. 196
Chapter 12 Configuring XtremSW Management Center Settings

Management settings .................................................................. 199
Managing users ........................................................................... 201
Editing LDAP settings............................................................. 205
vCenter settings........................................................................... 207
Viewing system log messages...................................................... 210
Appendix B Servicing the XtremSW Management Center

Accessing the service menu ......................................................... 211
Performing service activities ........................................................ 212
Collecting service information................................................ 212
Rebooting the XtremSW Management Center server............... 212
Changing the service password.............................................. 212
Disabling SSH access ............................................................ 213
Changing the log level ........................................................... 213
Setting the History cleanup policy.......................................... 213
Appendix C XtremSW Management Center REST API

Before you begin ......................................................................... 215
Monitoring XtremSF devices......................................................... 216
Monitoring XtremSW cache devices ............................................. 218
Data types and enumerations ...................................................... 232
Supported URI patterns ............................................................... 232

Contents
Part 5 Using the XtremSW Lite Client
Chapter 13 Getting Started—XtremSW Lite Client

Overview ..................................................................................... 237
Logging in.................................................................................... 237
Chapter 14 Configuring the XtremSW Lite Client

First-time configuration................................................................ 241
Adding a cache device ........................................................... 242
Adding source devices to acceleration ................................... 243
Managing cache devices.............................................................. 246
Managing source devices ............................................................ 252
Chapter 15 Viewing Statistics and System Information

Viewing a managed system.......................................................... 255
Viewing current accelerated LUNs performance...................... 256
Viewing performance statistics .............................................. 257
Viewing source device raw counters....................................... 258
Viewing alerts.............................................................................. 259
Viewing log messages ................................................................. 260
Appendix D Troubleshooting
General issues............................................................................. 261
Adding a cache device ........................................................... 262
Adding GPT source devices in Microsoft Cluster Service
environment .......................................................................... 262
Partitioning source devices .................................................... 265
VMAX support........................................................................ 265
Card issues............................................................................ 265
Log files................................................................................. 273
“Please re-run start cache <cache_device> manually” error
message ............................................................................... 273
Slow response times in the CLI .............................................. 274
Cache counters (read hits and read IOs) may be incorrect ...... 274
Cache devices enter passthru mode unexpectedly ................. 274
Error messages ...................................................................... 274
VSI plug-in and VMware............................................................... 278
Installation issues ................................................................. 278
Enabling features................................................................... 278
Activating XtremSW Cache administration ............................. 279

Contents
Connecting to XtremSW Cache remote agent on a virtual machine

280
Certificate issues ................................................................... 281
Performance issues ............................................................... 282
Using the support tool ........................................................... 282
Log files................................................................................. 283
Remote monitoring issues ..................................................... 284
XtremSW Management Center...................................................... 285
Configuring IPv6 support for the XtremSW Management Center.....
285
Cannot locate a shared LUN .................................................. 286
Flash device cannot be added to local cache pool.................. 286
XtremSW Cache data from a Windows managed system does not
appear in Unisphere .............................................................. 286
Plug and play devices must be rebooted ................................ 287
Cache disks cannot be created .............................................. 287
XtremSW Cache tabs do not appear ....................................... 287
Statistics grid and graphs do not appear................................ 287
False IO errors may appear..................................................... 288

TABLES
Title Page
1 Supported source devices ............................................................................. 25

2 Node states ................................................................................................... 48
3 Display -all field description .......................................................................... 74
4 Deduplication memory usage ........................................................................ 92
5 Deduplication statistics ................................................................................. 93
6 Executable commands................................................................................. 104
7 Read full track commands............................................................................ 119
8 Key Statistics ............................................................................................... 152
9 Expert Statistics........................................................................................... 153
10 XtremSF Devices field description ................................................................ 155
11 Virtual Machines field description................................................................ 157
12 Managed Systems window—field description .............................................. 172
13 Filter states.................................................................................................. 173
14 Machine details—by machine type............................................................... 177
15 XtremSF window field description ................................................................ 180
16 Alerts window field description .................................................................... 181
17 Audit log messages field description ........................................................... 182
18 User Management field description ............................................................. 202
19 System log messages field description ........................................................ 210
20 Default log settings...................................................................................... 213
21 Default history cleanup settings................................................................... 213
22 LUNs (potential sources) tab fields—XtremSW Lite Client ............................. 245
23 Performance statistics description ............................................................... 257
24 Alerts window field description .................................................................... 259
25 System log messages field description ........................................................ 260
26 XtremSW Cache driver operational states..................................................... 266
27 Flash device health measures...................................................................... 267
28 Common run-time error message ................................................................. 274
29 Log error messages...................................................................................... 275
30 Log files....................................................................................................... 283

Tableses

FIGURES
Title Page
1 XtremSW Cache deployment in an Oracle RAC environment ........................... 43

2 Compatibility Mode options........................................................................... 44
3 Workflow States............................................................................................. 47
4 Output of the display -all command ............................................................... 74
5 LUN selector recommendation list ................................................................. 89
6 XtremSW authentication window ................................................................. 128
7 The Welcome dialog—VSI plug-in................................................................. 131
8 XtremSW management window.................................................................... 137
9 Statistics window—Key Statistics View tab................................................... 151
10 The XtremSW Management Center Dashboard ............................................. 167
11 Managed Systems window—blank............................................................... 170
12 Managed Systems window—populated........................................................ 172
13 Machine details view—physical server ......................................................... 176
14 XtremSF Cards window ................................................................................ 179
15 Alerts window—XtremSW Management Center ............................................. 180
16 Audit Logs window....................................................................................... 182
17 Management Settings window ..................................................................... 200
18 User Management window........................................................................... 202
19 vCenter Settings window.............................................................................. 207
20 System Logs window ................................................................................... 210
21 The XtremSW Lite Client Managed System window....................................... 238
22 XtremSW Lite Client Managed System window ............................................. 241
23 Add Cache dialog—XtremSW Lite Client. ...................................................... 242
24 LUNs (potential sources) tab—XtremSW Lite Client....................................... 244
25 Latest Performance Analysis ........................................................................ 256
26 Performance statistics ................................................................................. 257
27 Counters statistics—XtremSW Lite Client...................................................... 258
28 Log Window—XtremSW Lite Client................................................................ 260
29 VSI Feature Manager.................................................................................... 279

Figures

Preface
PREFACE
As part of an effort to improve its product lines, EMC periodically releases revisions of
its software and hardware. Therefore, some functions described in this document
might not be supported by all versions of the software or hardware currently in use.
The product release notes provide the most up-to-date information on product
features.
Contact your EMC technical support professional if a product does not function
properly or does not function as described in this document.
Note: This document was accurate at publication time. Ensure that you are using the
latest version of this document, and all related documents, by downloading the
current version from EMC Online Support (https://support.emc.com).
Purpose
This document describes how to use EMC XtremSW Cache.
Sections include:
◆ Part 1, “XtremSW Cache Basics,”describes basic concepts of operation and
XtremSW Cache management. Chapters include:
• Chapter 1, “Introduction to Managing XtremSW Cache”
• Chapter 2, “Before You Begin”
◆ Part 2, “Using the Command Line Interface (CLI),” describes how to manage
XtremSW Cache with the command line interface. Chapters include:
• Chapter 3, “Getting Started—CLI”
• Chapter 4, “Managing XtremSW Cache—CLI”
• Chapter 5, “Advanced Management Topics—CLI”
• Appendix A, “Command Reference—CLI”

Preface
◆ Part 3, “Using the VSI Plug-in for VMware,” describes how to manage XtremSW
Cache with the VSI Plug-in for VMware. Chapters include:
• Chapter 6, “Getting Started—VSI Plug-In”
• Chapter 7, “Managing XtremSW Cache—VSI Plug-In”
• Chapter 8, “Advanced Configuration—VSI Plug-In”
◆ Part 4, “Using the XtremSW Management Center,” describes how to manage
XtremSW Cache with the XtremSW Cache Management Center. Chapters include:
• Chapter 9, “Getting Started—XtremSW Management Center”
• Chapter 10, “Monitoring and Managing Systems”
• Chapter 11, “Managing Cache and Source Devices”
• Chapter 12, “Configuring XtremSW Management Center Settings”
• Appendix B, “Servicing the XtremSW Management Center”
• Appendix C, “XtremSW Management Center REST API.”
◆ Part 5, “Using the XtremSW Lite Client,” describes how to manage XtremSW Cache
with the XtremSW Lite Client. Chapters include:
• Chapter 13, “Getting Started—XtremSW Lite Client”
• Chapter 14, “Configuring the XtremSW Lite Client”
• Chapter 15, “Viewing Statistics and System Information”
• Appendix D, “Troubleshooting”
Related documentation
The following EMC publications provide additional information:
◆ EMC XtremSW Cache Installation Guide
◆ EMC XtremSW Cache Release Notes
◆ EMC XtremSW Cache Quick Start
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Preface
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Preface

PART 1
XtremSW Cache Basics
The chapters in this part of the guide describe issues to consider before managing
XtremSW Cache. Chapters include:
◆ Chapter 1, “Introduction to Managing XtremSW Cache,” describes how XtremSW
Cache works, installation options, and system requirements.
◆ Chapter 2, “Before You Begin,”describes issues to consider before beginning to
manage XtremSW Cache.
Introduction to Managing XtremSW Cache
CHAPTER 1
EMC XtremSW Cache™ is a server flash caching solution that reduces latency and
increases throughput to dramatically improve application performance by leveraging
intelligent caching software and PCIe flash technology.
XtremSW Cache accelerates reads and protects data by using a write-through cache to
the networked storage to deliver persistent high availability, integrity, and disaster
recovery.
XtremSW Cache coupled with array-based EMC FAST software creates the most
efficient and intelligent I/O path from the application to the data store. The result is a
networked infrastructure that is dynamically optimized for performance, intelligence,
and protection for both physical and virtual environments.
This chapter describes how XtremSW Cache works, and the management utilities you
can take advantage of to maximize XtremSW Cache benefits. Topics include:
◆ Understanding XtremSW Cache ........................................................................ 19
◆ XtremSW Cache management utilities .............................................................. 20
Understanding XtremSW Cache

Understanding how XtremSW Cache works will enable you to best take advantage of
its benefits.
On a write request that should be cached, XtremSW Cache writes the data to the array,
and asynchronously writes it to the cache. The application is acknowledged when the
array completes.
On a read request, XtremSW Cache satisfies the request with cached data, or, when
the data is not present, retrieves the data from the array, writes it to the cache, and
then returns it to the application.
The trip to the array can be on the order of milliseconds, therefore the array limits how
fast the cache can work. As the number of writes increase, the XtremSW Cache
performance decreases.
Understanding XtremSW Cache 19

XtremSW Cache is most effective for workloads with 70% (or more) read-write ratio
with random I/O. By default, I/O up to 64KB (in Windows, 128KB) will be cached.
Note: XtremSW supports the following cluster environment solutions:

Active/passive: RHEL Cluster Suite, Microsoft Cluster Service, and Veritas Cluster
Server.
Active/active: Oracle Real Application Cluster.
Before installing in a cluster environment, refer to “Configuring XtremSW Cache
support for clusters” on page 30 to determine how to perform the installation for your
cluster environment.
XtremSW Cache is optimized to work with XtremSF cache cards, but it can work with
other cards as well. For a description of supported cards, see the “System
Requirements” section of the XtremSW Cache Installation Guide.
When using XtremSF cards, you benefit from the following enhancements:
◆ Card health monitoring
◆ Firmware management
◆ Log extract feature
◆ Software compatibility verification
XtremSW Cache management utilities

You can manage XtremSW Cache in the following ways:
◆ Command Line Interface (CLI)
The vfcmt CLI enables you to manage a single instance of XtremSW Cache, from
the machine itself. This option is available for Windows, Linux, ESX, and AIX.
Hint: The VSI plug-in ◆ VSI plug-in for VMware
is recommended for
VMware-only The VSI plug-in GUI enables you to manage XtremSW Cache on the ESX level as
environments. well as on Windows or Linux virtual machines. The VSI plug-in runs from within
the vSphere client.
◆ Management Center
The Management Center enables you to monitor multiple stand-alone servers and
VMware systems that are running XtremSW Cache, from a “single pane of glass.”

The Management Center, a vApp that runs on a dedicated virtual machine, can
manage Windows, Linux, and ESX servers. You connect to the vApp from any web
browser.
The Management Center is best for environments with multiple XtremSW Cache
installations, in both VMware and physical environments, where historical
information is important.
The Management Center can also integrate with EMC Unisphere Remote to
simplify monitoring and managing of caching and flash cards, directly from
Unisphere Remote.
◆ Lite Client
The Lite Client, a “Lite” version of the Management Center, manages a single
instance of XtremSW Cache. The Lite Client runs on a Windows machine, and
supports remote systems running on Windows and Linux physical servers.
The Lite Client is recommended for environments with one, or a few, physical
machines, and it can be used post-configuration for virtual machines and ESX
hosts, too. The Lite Client does not store history from session to session.
Management utility comparison

Use the following table to help you decide which management utilities best meet your
needs:
XtremSW Cache management utilities 21

You can use multiple management utilities in your environment. For example, you
could manage your physical machines with the CLI and your virtual machines with the
VSI plug-in and/or the Management Center.
Before using the management utilities, you must install the caching software and the
relevant management utilities. These tasks are described in the XtremSW Cache
Installation Guide.
This document is divided into separate parts, each of which describes the use of a
different management utility:
◆ Part 2, “Using the Command Line Interface (CLI),” describes how to manage
XtremSW Cache with the command line interface.
◆ Part 3, “Using the VSI Plug-in for VMware,” describes how to manage XtremSW
Cache with the VSI plug-in.
◆ Part 4, “Using the XtremSW Management Center,” describes how to manage
XtremSW Cache with the XtremSW Cache Management Center.
◆ Part 5, “Using the XtremSW Lite Client,” describes how to manage XtremSW Cache
with the XtremSW Lite Client.
Proceed to the part that describes the management utility you want to use.

Before You Begin
CHAPTER 2
Before You Begin
This chapter describes basics to consider before you begin to install and manage
XtremSW Cache. Topics include:
◆ Supported devices and multi-pathing............................................................... 23
◆ VMware considerations .................................................................................... 27
◆ Configuring XtremSW Cache support for clusters .............................................. 30
Note: This chapter is identical to the chapter with the same name in the XtremSW
Cache Installation Guide.
Supported devices and multi-pathing

This section describes the native and multi-path source devices that are supported
and how to configure cache devices when multi-pathing software is used.
You cannot use a system boot disk as a source disk.
Multi-pathing and cache devices

This section describes the effects of multi-pathing on XtremSW Cache devices. Cache
devices do not need to be managed by multi-pathing.
PowerPath and LVM

If PowerPath is installed for RHEL and the root file system is mounted on a Linux LVM,
ensure that the filter rule in the /etc/lvm/lvm.conf file reads as follows before
installing the XtremSW Cache rpm and the associated device drivers rpm.
filter = [ "a/.*/" ]
Supported devices and multi-pathing 23

Before You Begin

The previous filter rule is the default filter rule for Linux.
When using PowerPath and LVM together, you should use the PowerPath filter. This
will avoid duplicate PVIDs. For more information, refer to the PowerPath Installation
and Administration guide.
Configuring Oracle RAC with LVM on Linux

To configure Oracle RAC with LVM on Linux, see “Configuring Oracle RAC with LVM on
Linux” on page 52.
MPIO for XtremSF300S

To prevent MPIO from affecting the flash device, it is recommended to add the device
to the MPIO blacklist.
To add a device to the blacklist, perform the following steps:
1. Determine if the device is managed by multipathd by executing the following
command: multipath -ll
Output similar to the following, and commensurate with the installed devices,
appears when a device is managed by multipathd:
</snip>
mpath0 (3600508e07e726177dbb86c641d48950c) dm-0
CISCO,MLSI400S
size=373G features='0' hwhandler='0' wp=rw
`-+- policy='round-robin 0' prio=1 status=active
`- 3:1:0:0 sdal 66:80 active ready running
<\snip>
2. Note the WWID of the cache device. In the above listing, the device WWID is
360000970000192601699533030393330.
3. Add the device to the blacklist by adding the following entry to
/etc/multipath.conf:
blacklist {wwid 360000970000192601699533030393330}
4. Apply the change to a running kernel by executing the following command:

Before You Begin
multipath -F
5. To verify the change, run the following command: multipath -v2
The flash device should not appear in the output.
MPIO for XtremSF350S and XtremSF700M

To prevent MPIO from affecting the flash device, you must add the device to the MPI
blacklist.
To add a device to the blacklist, edit /etc/multipath.conf as follows:
blacklist {
devnode “rssda”
}
Supported source devices

You cannot use system boot disks as a source disk.
If XtremSW Cache is used in a multi-path environment, you must use multi-path
devices, and not the native devices.
The following table lists the supported source devices in the Linux environment:
Table 1 Supported source devices
Device name
should start
Device type with Device full path Examples
Native multi-path mpath /dev/mpath/device_ • /dev/mpath/mpath1

name
Native sd /dev/sd{[a-z&0-9]} • /dev/sda

• /dev/sdb
Supported devices and multi-pathing 25

Before You Begin
Table 1 Supported source devices
Device name
should start
Device type with Device full path Examples
EMC PP emcpower /dev/emcpower{[a-z&0-9] • /dev/emcpowera

• /dev/emcpowerb
Veritas DMP dev • /dev/vx/dmp/device_ • /dev/vx/dmp/disk0a1

name
• /dev/vx/dsk/device_ • /dev/vx/dsk/dg_2/flash
name _ext3_rh57
LVM mapper /dev/mapper/device_ • /dev/mapper/vg0-lvol0

name
In the Windows environment, these device restrictions do not apply.
Note: You can accelerate LVM logical devices, or the physical devices that these LVM
are based on. You cannot accelerate both physical and logical devices.

Before You Begin
VMware considerations
This section describes issues to consider in your XtremSW Cache implementation in
the VMware environment.
Understanding live migration

This section describes how live migration is enabled. XtremSW Cache software is
installed on the virtual machines and on the ESX host, as illustrated in the following
figure:
XtremSW-enabled virtual machines
RDM
The driver redirects IO

to the flash device
To enable live migration, the flash device must appear to the source and target ESX
hosts as a shared resource. This is accomplished using a multipath plug-in (MPP) over
RDM.
On each virtual machine, a virtual SCSI device is created with a fixed ID. This ID will be
identical over all ESX hosts on the cluster. The virtual machine accesses the flash
device using an RDM disk over that SCSI device.
Now that the ESX hosts share the same SCSI ID, the migration can succeed.
Writes to cache flow through the RDM disk to the MPP on the ESX and from there
straight to the flash device.
VMware considerations 27
Before You Begin
The following figure illustrates how the migration is enabled:
After migration, the cache starts cold.
Recovering from snapshot

Due to the persistence of cached data, in some recovery situations, data on the
source device could become out of sync with the cached data.
To restore a LUN from a snapshot, you must first manually stop the caching, then
perform the recovery operation, and then manually start the caching again.
Enabling use of disks for DAS

You can use a flash card for DAS or for caching, but not for both (split-card).
When you add cards to the local cache pool, all cards from the same group are added,
according to the following table:
XtremSF device name Previous model number Member of group
XtremSF550 PCIEHHM-550V Group A
XtremSF2200 PCIEHHM-2200V
XtremSF300S PCIEHHS-3XXL2 Group B

Before You Begin
XtremSF device name Previous model number Member of group
XtremSF700 PCIEHHM-700M Group C
XtremSF1400 PCIEHHM-1400M
XtremSF350S PCIEHHS-3XXM2
XtremSF700S PCIEHHS-7XXM
Therefore, to use any card for DAS, no other cards from that group can be added as
caching, or the DAS-intended card will be used for caching, too.
The following examples illustrate this principle:
◆ An ESX host on which XtremSF550 and XtremSF2200 are installed. Both cards are
from the same group, thus both cards must be used for caching or both cards
must be used for DAS.
◆ An ESX host on which XtremSF550 and XtremSF700 are installed. The cards are
from different groups, thus the cards can be used in any combination of caching
and DAS with no limitations.
Support for XtremSW Cache in the VMware HA/DRS/SRM Environment

VMware provides the following tools to be used with ESX clusters:
◆ High Availability (HA)
In the event of server failure, HA automatically restarts affected virtual machines
on other host machines in the cluster.
◆ Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)
DRS balances computing workloads with available resources in a virtualized
environment.
◆ Site Recovery Manager (SRM)
SRM enables simple replication of applications to a secondary site.
XtremSW Cache exposes the flash card used for caching as a logically shared virtual
device. This virtual device is available on all ESX hosts on which XtremSW Cache is
installed. Thus, XtremSW Cache supports live virtual machine migration (vMotion),
HA, DRS, and SRM. You can continue to use these technologies exactly as they are
used without the presence of XtremSW Cache.
VMware considerations 29
Before You Begin
Configuring XtremSW Cache support for clusters

In computer cluster environments, a group of computers, or nodes, work together to
provide high availability, load balancing, or high performance computing solutions.
From an end user's perspective, a computer cluster appears and behaves as a single
virtual server. Clustering software and quorum disks control the nodes in a computer
cluster, and attempt to ensure service availability and high performance by
monitoring and managing the software services, file systems, and network status. In
case of failure, services and resources can be failed over to other network nodes.

When XtremSW Cache is used in a cluster, quorum disks should not be defined as
source devices.
When an application within a cluster is being accelerated using XtremSW Cache, the
data is written to the XtremSW Cache device as well as to a shared LUN. In the case of
a failover, the application could be moved to a different node and will continue to
write to the shared LUN, but will not write to the cache device of the previously active
node.
When the application fails back to the original node, the application will retrieve data
from the cache device, but now, this device could contain stale data.
Some environments (RHEL Cluster Suite, Veritas Cluster Server, and AIX PowerHA)
require configuration of the supplied XtremSW Cache Clustering script, to ensure that
stale data is never retrieved. The scripts use Cluster Management events that relate to
an application service start/stop transition to trigger a mechanism that purges the
cache. Other environments, such as Microsoft Cluster Service and Oracle Real
Application Clusters, do not require script configuration.
Cluster support is currently provided for clusters configured to operate in
active/standby mode, where XtremSW Cache is installed and operating on the single,
active node and on any combination of the standby nodes. In addition, Oracle Real
Application Clusters (RAC) is supported.
In Microsoft Cluster Server environments, XtremSW Cache supports multi-application
cluster configurations. In other environments, only one application in a cluster can
use XtremSW Cache. To use XtremSW Cache for several applications, you must
configure these applications as separate resources in a single application, so that
they fail over between hosts as a single unit.

Before You Begin
The XtremSW Cache cluster support files are located in the

VFCache_Cluster_Support.zip file in the XtremSW Cache installation folder
on the host, by default, c:\Program Files\EMC, or Linux, under
/usr/share/emc/.
Note: Before adding cache or source devices in a cluster environment, ensure that you
have configured cluster support, as described in the following sections.
This section describes the following cluster configurations:

◆ “Configuring support for RHEL Cluster Suite” on page 31
◆ “Configuring support for Microsoft Cluster Service” on page 34
◆ “Configuring support for Veritas Cluster Server” on page 36
◆ “Configuring support for Oracle Real Application Cluster” on page 40
◆ “Configuring support for AIX PowerHA” on page 53
Configuring support for RHEL Cluster Suite

This section describes how to configure cluster support for the RHEL Cluster Suite.
Configuring cluster support requires the following steps:
◆ “Copying the XtremSW Cache_State_Control.sh script file” on page 31
◆ “Editing the cluster.conf configuration file” on page 32
◆ “Updating the configuration file across all nodes” on page 33
◆ “Configuring XtremSW Cache” on page 33
Copying the XtremSW Cache_State_Control.sh script file

1. Extract the vfcache_State_Control.sh script file from
VFCache_Cluster_Support.zip to the /etc/emcsfc/ directory.
2. Make the script executable by issuing the following command:
chmod 555 /etc/emcsfc/vfcache_State_Control.sh
3. Repeat the previous steps on all nodes, regardless of whether XtremSW Cache is
installed on that node.
Configuring XtremSW Cache support for clusters 31

Before You Begin
Note: When the vfcache_State_Control.sh script is launched on a node upon

which XtremSW Cache is not present, a successful return code is posted.
Editing the cluster.conf configuration file

To run the scripts on failover/failback, you must make the following changes to the
cluster.conf file. The changes need to be made on one node only.
◆ Increase the config_version parameter by one.
◆ Add the vfcache_State_Control.sh script as a resource and define the
following dependencies:
• In /etc/cluster/cluster.conf, locate the application that uses an
XtremSW Cache service.
• Add the vfcache_State_Control.sh script as a resource to the
corresponding service resource group.
• Define the vfcache_State_Control.sh script as one that depends on
the XtremSW Cache-accelerated source device.
Theses changes are illustrated in the following sample configuration file.
The vfcache_State_Control.sh script is a part of the rhSharedStorage1
service resource group.

Before You Begin
Increase
config_version by 1
Application that uses

XtremSW Cache
service
Add script as a
resource
Add script
dependency on
storage device
Updating the configuration file across all nodes

After updating /etc/cluster/cluster.conf, you must synchronize the
changed version across all nodes in the cluster.
To synchronize the configuration, from the node upon which the changes were made,
run the following command:
ccs_tool update /etc/cluster/cluster.conf
Note: If your version of ccs_tool does not support the update option, manually copy
the file to all cluster nodes and then restart the cluster.
Upon successful update, a success message appears.
Configuring XtremSW Cache

The XtremSW Cache resource should now be active on, at most, one of the nodes (the
active node). There are cases when there will be no active node, for example, if the
entire cluster or the resource group containing the XtremSW Cache resource is
inactive. In these cases, all nodes should be considered passive.

Before You Begin
After successful completion of the cluster configuration, perform the following steps,
on each passive node, before configuring the active nodes:
1. Configure cache devices and source devices on the passive nodes, using the
vfcmt add command.
2. On each passive node, run vfcmt set -clustermode passive.
This command releases the source devices so that an active node can acquire
them.
3. Repeat the previous steps for all passive nodes in the cluster.
4. After completing the previous steps, if there is an active node in the cluster,
configure its cache devices and source devices, using the vfcmt add command.
Note: Any time you add cache devices to a passive node, you must run the vfcmt set
-clustermode passive command on that node before adding any source devices to
that cache device.
To verify proper XtremSW Cache configuration within the cluster, you can run the vfcmt
display -all command. On each passive node, the state of each source device should
be PASSIVE. On the active node, the state of each source device should remain as
originally configured (for example, STARTED, PT-RD or PT-WR).
Logging
Script logs are written to /var/log/messages.
Configuring support for Microsoft Cluster Service

This section describes XtremSW Cache requirements and use with Microsoft Cluster
Service.
The required scripts are automatically installed during XtremSW Cache installation.
Cluster resources will be automatically defined when you define a source device.
The following prerequisites are required for Microsoft Cluster Service:
◆ Windows PowerShell must be installed on the cluster nodes. PowerShell is
usually installed by default during typical Windows installation.
◆ You must define applications and shared disks with dependencies before you add
or start a source device. Resources will appear automatically in the MSCS window
after sources have been defined.

Before You Begin
display -all command. On each passive node, the state of the relevant source device
should be PASSIVE. On the active node, the state of all cache devices should be
STARTED.
Note: If a new source device is added to a passive node, it is automatically set to

PASSIVE mode.
Application mode
By default, from XtremSW Cache v2.0, multiple applications in a cluster can use
XtremSW Cache, whereby when there is a failover, only the source devices related to
the failed application went into passthru mode. This is known as application-group
mode.
From v2.0.1, you can revert source devices to single-application mode, in which when
there is a failover, all source devices go into passive mode.
Reverting to single-application mode
To enable single-application mode, perform the following:
1. From any node in the cluster, perform the following:

a. Delete all source devices.
b. Create a file vfcManualSingleApp.def in
C:\ProgramData\EMC\VFC\system
Note: Ensure that the file type is DEF, not TXT or something else.
c. If, during the installation of XtremSW Cache v1.5.x, you performed the steps
described in “Configuring support for Microsoft Cluster Service,” including:
extracting the cluster script, creating the resource, and defining
dependencies, then skip to the next step. Otherwise, perform those steps
now.
d. Create source devices.
2. Repeat the previous steps on every node in which XtremSW Cache is installed in
this cluster.

Before You Begin
Note: You do not need to create a resource on every node, as the first resource
was created as a shared resource.
Disabling single-application mode in Microsoft Windows Cluster Service
To return to the default 2.0.X application-group mode, perform the following:
1. Delete all source devices.

2. Delete the resource.
3. Delete the vfcManualSingleApp.def file (created in previous procedure).
4. Add source devices.
To add GPT source devices, see “Troubleshooting” in the XtremSW Cache User Guide.
Configuring support for Veritas Cluster Server

This section describes how to configure cluster support for the Veritas Cluster Server.
◆ “Extracting the cluster support scripts” on page 36
◆ “Creating the EMC_XtremSW Cache resource in your application group” on
page 37
◆ “Defining dependencies” on page 38
Extracting the cluster support scripts

This section describes how to extract the cluster control scripts.
For Linux
VFCache_Cluster_Support.zip to the /etc/emcsfc/ directory.
chmod 555 /etc/emcsfc/vfcache_State_Control.sh
3. Repeat the previous steps on all nodes where XtremSW Cache is installed.

Before You Begin
4. On all cluster nodes, regardless of whether XtremSW Cache is installed, perform

the following:
a. Extract the contents of the EMC_VFCache directory from
VFCache_Cluster_Support.zip into <VCS_HOME>/bin. This should
create the <VCS_HOME>/bin/EMC_vfcache directory.
b. Copy <VCS_HOME>/bin/Script51Agent to
<VCS_HOME>/bin/EMC_VFCache/EMC_VFCacheAgent. If the file exists,
you should replace it.
5. Apply the chmod command to all the files in the
<VCS_HOME>/bin/EMC_vfcache directory to ensure that they are accessible
and executable by the user running the VCS application.
For Windows
1. Extract vfcache_State_Control.vbs script file from
VFCache_Cluster_Support.zip to the XtremSW Cache installation folder
(by default, C:\Program Files\EMC\VFC).
2. Repeat the previous step on all nodes where XtremSW Cache is installed.
3. On all cluster nodes, regardless of whether XtremSW Cache is installed, perform
the following:
a. Extract the contents of the EMC_vfcache folder from
VFCache_Cluster_Support.zip into <VCS_HOME>\bin. This should
create the <VCS_HOME>\bin\EMC_vfcache folder.
b. Copy <VCS_HOME>\bin\Default50Agent.dll to
<VCS_HOME>\bin\EMC_vfcache\EMC_vfcache.dll. If the file exists,
you should replace it.
4. Ensure that all the files you extracted in the previous steps are accessible and
executable by the user running the VCS application.
Creating the EMC_XtremSW Cache resource in your application group

This section describes how to create the EMC_XtremSW Cache resource in the
application group that uses XtremSW Cache.
To create the resource, perform the following steps:
1. Define the EMC_XtremSW Cache resource type by executing the following
commands:

Before You Begin
• hatype -add EMC_vfcache

• hatype -modify EMC_vfcache SourceFile
VCS_Home/bin/EMC_vfcache/EMC_vfcache.cf
where VCS_Home is the Veritas cluster installation folder
2. Start the agent for the new resource type by executing the following command:
haagent -start EMC_vfcache -sys system
where system is the node upon which the agent is running
3. Create an EMC_XtremSW Cache resource in your application group by executing
the following command:
hares -add emc_vfcache_resource EMC_vfcache test_group
where test_group is the name of the application group
4. Enable the agent to manage the resource by executing the following command:
hares -modify emc_vfcache_resource Enabled 1
5. Bring the resource online by executing the following command (on the node
where the application group is currently online):
hares -online resource -sys system
where system is the name of the node
Defining dependencies
This section describes how to add the following dependencies to the XtremSW Cache
resource created in the previous step:
◆ The XtremSW Cache resource should depend on the shared LUN or LUNs.
◆ The application should depend on the XtremSW Cache resource.
To create dependencies, perform the following steps:
1. Create the XtremSW Cache resource dependency by executing the following
command:
hares -link emc_vfcache_resource storage_resource
where storage_resource is the name of your storage resource
2. Create the application dependency by executing the following command:

Before You Begin
hares -link application_resource emc_vfcache_resource

where application_resource is the name of your application resource
3. Save the configuration changes by executing the following command:
haconf –makerw |-dump |-dump -makero
Note: This command will work for synchronized nodes only.

After successful completion of the cluster configuration, perform the following steps:
1. For each passive node, perform the following:
a. Configure cache devices and source devices, using the vfcmt add command.
b. Run the following command:
vfcmt set -clustermode passive
This command releases all source devices and enables their acquisition by an
active node.
c. Repeat the previous steps for each passive node.
2. If there is an active node in the cluster, you can now configure its cache devices
and source devices, using the vfcmt add command.
Note: Any time you add cache devices to a passive node in the future, you must run
the vfcmt set -clustermode passive command on that node before adding any source
devices to that cache device.
display -all command. On each passive node, the state of all cache devices should be
PT-RW. On the active node, the state of all cache devices should be STARTED.

Before You Begin
Verifying proper application of the cluster support solution

To verify proper application of the cluster support solution, use the vfcmt display
-all command to ensure that:
◆ XtremSW Cache disks, in nodes where the XtremSW Cache resource is offline, are
in passthru mode
◆ XtremSW Cache disks, in nodes where the XtremSW Cache resource is online, are
not in passthru mode
Configuring support for Oracle Real Application Cluster

This section describes how to configure support for Oracle Real Application Clusters
(RAC). Topics include:
◆ “General overview, requirements, and troubleshooting” on page 40
◆ “Adding XtremSW Cache to the Oracle RAC resource list” on page 44
◆ “Cluster-wide and local CLI commands” on page 49
◆ “Configuring cache and source devices in Oracle RAC clusters” on page 49
◆ “Configuring Oracle RAC with ASMlib on Linux” on page 50
◆ “Configuring Oracle RAC with LVM on Linux” on page 52
◆ “Removing XtremSW Cache components” on page 52
General overview, requirements, and troubleshooting

At installation time, XtremSW Cache automatically recognizes the presence of Oracle
RAC, and switches operation to clustering mode.
XtremSW Cache support for Oracle RAC enables active-active shared storage in an
Oracle environment, using a distributed cache coherency algorithm. Distributed cache
is similar, in many respects, to a Grid file system. To insure data integrity, all write
updates are propagated to all nodes in the cluster. When a certain block of
information is overwritten in shared storage and on a cache device, the other cache
devices in the cluster are instructed to invalidate their cached copy of the block.
All working Oracle RAC nodes must have XtremSW Cache installed in order for the
distributed Cache feature to come online. To maintain data integrity, if a problem is
detected on one of the nodes, caching is suspended on all nodes. Depending on the

Before You Begin
cause of the problem, caching may restart once the problem is solved, or you may
need to restart it manually. The first read is always read directly from storage. Data is
not passed between XtremSW Cache on the various nodes via interconnect.
For example, if there is no access to one of the nodes during a time-out period, or if
there are no resources available for some other reason, XtremSW Cache will switch to
PT-RW mode, and will remain in that mode for at least 60 seconds. This state can
affect a single node or all nodes. After 60 seconds, and once access to other nodes is
attained, XtremSW Cache operation will return to PT-Normal (started) mode.
In cases when XtremSW Cache is not installed on a node, that node only (the
corresponding sources (LUNs) being accelerated by XtremSW Cache) is prevented
from being an active member of the RAC cluster. SCSI-3 persistent reservation blocks
IO to nodes that are not part of the Dcache IO update relay interconnect network. In
this way, data integrity is maintained across the cluster.
Note: The storage array must support SCSI-3 persistent reservation, and the option
must be set to active. If you do not set the option to active, blocking of additional
sources may occur. Refer to your storage array documentation for instructions about
configuring SCSI-3 persistent reservation.
EMC recommends using XtremSW Cache with Oracle RAC to cache LUNs that hold data
files. It is not recommended to cache redo logs, archives, temporary and Clusterware
files.
XtremSW Cache supports the following environments:
◆ Oracle 11g on Windows, RHEL, or OEL (running the operating system versions
supported by XtremSW Cache, as described in the XtremSW Cache Installation
Guide.)
◆ Oracle Clusterware 11g
◆ Up to eight nodes per cluster
◆ VMware with source devices using RDM (Raw Device Mapping)
The following requirements are necessary for Oracle RAC support:
◆ Oracle RAC must be installed on all nodes before XtremSW Cache is installed (if
XtremSW Cache was installed prior to Oracle, uninstall XtremSW Cache and
reinstall it).
◆ A supported flash device must be installed in every node.

Before You Begin
◆ XtremSW Cache software must be installed on every node.

◆ Minimum of one Ethernet interconnect.
◆ All the nodes in the cluster can discover every cached LUN.
◆ The storage array must support SCSI-3 Persistent Reservation. Ensure that this
feature is enabled, otherwise you will not be able to add a source device.
Source devices are only assigned automatically to the first cache device. The
administrator must decide which source devices require caching. The vfcmt add
-source_dev and vfcmt remove -source_dev commands are executed on one node
only, and the source device is automatically added to the cache device on all the
nodes in the cluster.
IMPORTANT
Do not add source devices with the following assignments:
- Quorum devices
- Redo logs
- TempDB
- Archives

Before You Begin
The following figure depicts how XtremSW Cache is deployed in an Oracle RAC
environment.
Figure 1 XtremSW Cache deployment in an Oracle RAC environment
Limitations:
• In cases when EMC PowerPath is deployed, acceleration of LUNs managed by
PowerPath, and masked by UDEV, may not work in all scenarios. A workaround
for this limitation is to use PowerPath persistent names.
• Multiple Oracle RAC clusters on the same interconnect network or sub-network
are not supported. Do not install XtremSW Cache in such environments.
• In cases where SCSI-3 support is required in Linux guest virtual machine
environments, each virtual machine must be installed on a separate ESX host,
and must be configured as Pass-Through RDM / Physical Compatibility Mode
(as shown in Figure 2).
• When the command vfcmt add source is used cluster-wide, the source is not
added using SCSI ID, but it is recognized using SCSI ID.

Before You Begin
• In cases where multiple virtual machines reside on the same ESX host, they
must be configured as Pass-Through RDM / Virtual Compatibility Mode (as
shown in Figure 2).
Figure 2 Compatibility Mode options
Troubleshooting:
When a vfcmt stop command is executed, the operation might only succeed on some
of the cluster nodes. On those nodes, caching will be stopped. On nodes where the
operation failed, the source will be in pass-through mode (PT-RW). Try to perform the
stop operation again. If it still is not successful, a node restart will set the source to
Stopped (in other words, this situation does not persist system restarts).
Note: There is no danger posed to user data in this scenario.
Adding XtremSW Cache to the Oracle RAC resource list

This section describes how to create an Oracle resource, and the required resource
dependencies, to support the use of XtremSW Cache in an Oracle RAC environment.

Before You Begin

You must perform the steps in this section after installing XtremSW Cache, and before
adding cache devices. Oracle Clusterware should already be running.
During the installation of XtremSW Cache, a script is copied to the default installation
directory:
• On Linux systems: /etc/emcsfc/
• On Windows systems: C:\Program Files\EMC\VFC\
After installing XtremSW Cache, you must run this script to create the resource and its
dependencies.
To run the script, perform the following:
1. Create the resource:
• On Linux, type the command:
/etc/emcsfc/oraxswc.sh set
• On Windows, navigate to the location: C:\Program Files\EMC\VFC\ and
then type the command:
oraxswc.cmd set
Note: I If the file extension is cnd instead of cmd, rename the file by typing:
ren "C:\Program Files\EMC\VFC\oraxswc.cnd" oraxswc.cmd
A message similar to the following will be displayed:

Creating resource emc.xswc
Setting resource ora.LISTENER.lsnr dependant on emc.xswc
NAME=emc.xswc
TYPE=local_resource
TARGET=OFFLINE, OFFLINE
STATE=OFFLINE, OFFLINE
ora.LISTENER.lsnr:START_DEPENDENCIES=hard(type:ora.cluster_vip_
net1.type,emc.xswc)
pullup(type:ora.cluster_vip_net1.type,emc.xswc)
OK.

Before You Begin
2. Type the following command:

• Linux
/oracle/app/11.2.0/grid/bin/crsctl start res emc.xswc
• Windows
crsctl start res emc.xswc
Resource configuration is complete.
Note: Before removing XtremSW Cache, be sure to remove the resource, as described
in “Removing XtremSW Cache components” on page 52.
XtremSW Cache Node States

The following flow summarizes the sequence of events when XtremSW Cache is
started on an Oracle RAC cluster:
1. XtremSW Cache reads the current node configuration from the Oracle RAC grid.
2. Connection and synchronization
• Interconnection between XtremSW Cache on the nodes is established.
• Synchronization of data is performed between XtremSW Cache on the various
nodes. This is accomplished using metadata, not the actual data itself.
3. Distributed Cache startup
• 60 second time-out period
– The time-out period ensures that synchronization is complete and that
data integrity is ensured.
4. Caching begins

Before You Begin
This event flow is depicted in the following figure:
Figure 3 Workflow States
Error states in the cluster cause caching to be suspended, and XtremSW Cache enters
PT_RW mode. When the problem is solved, and communication between all nodes is
restored, XtremSW Cache returns to normal caching operation (Started state), after a
60 second time-out period. The following events will suspend caching:
◆ No communication with one of the other nodes in the cluster
◆ Memory allocation problems

Before You Begin
The following table lists possible node states that can be displayed by the XtremSW
Cache:
Table 2 Node states
State Comment
Off Cannot work due to internal errors
Operational The configuration is identical on all active

cluster nodes; the distributed cache (the
XtremSW Cache driver) is initialized and ready to
operate
Not operational XtremSW Cache cannot operate properly due to

problems in the cluster environment
Waiting for the Oracle RAC grid Oracle RAC grid infrastructure is not operating,
services and XtremSW Cache cannot operate until the
grid services are running
Querying the cluster configuration Oracle RAC grid infrastructure is operating, and
XtremSW Cache is checking the status of the
nodes in the cluster
Connecting to other nodes Information about the cluster and its nodes has
been collected successfully, and XtremSW
Cache is attempting to connect to the nodes
Connected to other nodes Connections have been established to all active

nodes
Communicating with other nodes XtremSW Cache is checking whether all

connected nodes can communicate with each
other
Synchronizing with other nodes XtremSW Cache is comparing the configuration

on the various nodes. In cases of mismatches,
the latest XtremSW Cache configuration is
propagated to the relevant nodes.
Synchronized with other nodes; The configuration is identical on all active

distributed cache is not initialized nodes, but distributed cache initialization has
failed
Synchronized with other nodes; The configuration is identical on all active

configuring distributed cache nodes, and distributed cache initialization is in
progress
Unmapped state name XtremSW Cache internal error

Before You Begin
Cluster-wide and local CLI commands

When operating in the Oracle RAC environment, the following vfcmt commands affect
all nodes in the cluster, even though they are run from only one node:
◆ vfcmt start <source | all>
starts all source devices
◆ vfcmt stop <source | all>
stops all source devices
◆ vfcmt add source
◆ vfcmt delete source
◆ vfcmt display (shows list of nodes, etc)
The following commands work only on the local node:
◆ vfcmt migrate (only works on sources that are stopped)
◆ vfcmt reservation -clear_reservation (Clears cluster fencing reservation on
storage. This command is not a cluster-wide CLI command per se, because it
works on storage. It is a useful command for troubleshooting scenarios.)
Configuring cache and source devices in Oracle RAC clusters

To configure cache and source devices:
1. Install XtremSW Cache on each node.
2. Allow at least one minute after installing on the last node to enable completion of
synchronization, then run the vfcmt display -all command to verify that each
cache node state is Operational.
Example:
[root@oracls3n1 ~]# vfcmt display -all
Node 'oracls3n1 (local node)':
Node State: Operational
...
Node 'oracls3n2':
...
Node 'oracls3n3':
...

Before You Begin
3. Add cache devices to the nodes using the vfcmt add -cache_dev
<device> command.
4. Run the vfcmt display -all command to verify that:
• each cache node state is Operational
• each cache device on each node is Started
Example:
[root@oracls3n1 ~]# vfcmt display -all
Node 'oracls3n1 (local node)':
Cache: sdc Hnd: 1 State: Started

Policy: write-thru Algorithm: set-assoc:0/lru/8KB
Size(GB): 32.21 Pages/Used(K): 3932.2/3794.8
Dedup: disable Dedup Gain: 0 MaxIO: 64
RDhits: 60.49 WRhits: 11.80 RDIOs: 60.41
Exceeds MaxIO: 0.00
...
Node 'oracls3n2':
Cache: sdc Hnd: 1 State: Started

...
Node 'oracls3n3':
...
5. Configure the source device on one node only, using the vfcmt add
-source_dev <device> command.
Configuring Oracle RAC with ASMlib on Linux

If XtremSW Cache is installed in an Oracle RAC environment running on RHEL 5.x or
RHEL 6.x with ASMlib, you must edit the oracleasm file located on your host
machine, before you install. These parameters control the devices that will be
included or excluded from scans. Some typical scenarios that require editing of the
oracleasm file are:
◆ Do not make the PCIe flash card part of ASMlib. Including it will prevent XtremSW
Cache from gaining exclusive permissions to use the card.
◆ Native Linux multipathing

Before You Begin
◆ Use of PowerPath solutions

• Do not use PowerPath together with native Linux devices (/dev/sd*). Doing so
may cause data integrity issues on I/O performed on both PowerPath and sd*.
To edit the oracleasm file, refer to the examples shown in the following steps:
1. Before installing the PCIe flash device, locate the file
/etc/sysconfig/oracleasm on your host machine, and open it in a text
editor.
Note: The following step should be performed on Multipath and non-Multipath

configurations.
2. Edit the field ORACLEASM_SCANEXCLUDE="" , where <rssda> in the example

below represents the name of the PCIe flash device:
ORACLEASM_SCANEXCLUDE="rssda sda"
This field determines which devices to exclude when using the command
/etc/init.d/oracleasm scandisks
In this example, the flash device rssda will be excluded, and sda, which is
used by the system disk, will be excluded. If you install additional flash
devices, ensure that you add them to this list.
3. Edit the field ORACLEASM_SCANORDER="" using one of the following methods.
The field determines which devices will be scanned, and the order in which the
devices will be scanned.
• For Native Linux Multipathing, change the field as follows, where <dm> and <sd>
are prefixes of device names:
ORACLEASM_SCANORDER="multipath dm sd"
In this example, /dev/dm* devices would be scanned after all mutlipath
devices, and /dev/sd* devices would be scanned last by the SCANDISKS
command (/etc/init.d/oracleasm scandisks).
• For Powerpath, change the field as follows, where <sd> is a device name:
ORACLEASM SCANORDER="emcpower sd"
4. Save the oracleasm file and close it.

Before You Begin
Configuring Oracle RAC with LVM on Linux

If XtremSW Cache is installed in an Oracle RAC environment running on RHEL 5.x or
RHEL 6.x with LVM, you must edit the lvm.conf file located on your host machine,
before you install. These parameters control the devices that will be included or
excluded from scans. Some typical scenarios that require editing of the lvm.conf
file are:
◆ Native Linux multipathing
• Do not make the PCIe flash card part of LVM. Including it will prevent XtremSW
Cache from gaining exclusive permissions to use the card.
◆ Use of PowerPath solutions
• Do not use PowerPath together with the sd* pattern. Doing so may cause data
integrity issues on I/O performed on both PowerPath and sd*.
To edit the lvm.conf file, refer to the examples shown in the following steps:
1. Before installing the PCIe flash device, locate the file /etc/lvm/lvm.conf on
your host machine, and open it in a text editor.
2. Edit the field filter="" , where <rssd> in the example below represents the
name of the PCIe flash device:
filter = [ "r/sd./", "r/disk./", "r/rssd./" ]
In this example, the flash device rssd will be excluded, in addition to the other
items listed in the filter field. If you install additional flash devices, ensure that
you add them to this list.
3. Save the lvm.conf file and close it.
Removing XtremSW Cache components

This section describes steps you must take before removing XtremSW Cache
components.
Before removing XtremSW Cache, first remove the resource, by performing the
following:
1. Remove all source devices.
2. Type the following command:
• Linux
/etc/emcsfc/oraxswc.sh reset

Before You Begin
• Windows
C:\Program Files\EMC\VFC\oraxswc.sh reset
Configuring support for AIX PowerHA

This section describes how to configure support for AIX PowerHA high availability
environments.
◆ “Copying the XtremSW Cache_State_Control.sh script file” on page 53
◆ “Configuring PowerHA and synchronizing the cluster” on page 53
Copying the XtremSW Cache_State_Control.sh script file

Copy the script file by performing the following steps:
VFCache_Cluster_Support.zip to the /etc/opt/emcsfc/ directory.
chmod 555 /etc/opt/emcsfc/vfcache_State_Control.sh
3. Repeat the previous steps on all nodes, regardless of whether XtremSW Cache is
installed on that node.
Note: When the vfcache_State_Control.sh script is launched on a node upon

which XtremSW Cache is not present, a successful return code appears.
Configuring PowerHA and synchronizing the cluster

This section describes configuration steps for AIX PowerHA version 7.1. using SMIT
(System Management Interface Tool).
To configure the cluster for use with XtremSW Cache:
1. In command line, type
smit
A list of menu options appears.

Before You Begin
2. Select the following menu options in the order that they appear, by pressing Enter
to progress through the sets of menu options: Communications Applications and
Services > PowerHA SystemMirror > Cluster Applications and Resources >
Resources > Configure User Applications (Scripts and Monitors) > Application
Controller Scripts > Add Application Controller Scripts. A list of fields appears.
3. Complete the fields as follows:
• Application Controller Name—type a text name of your choice
• Start Script—type:
/etc/opt/emcsfc/VFCache_State_Control.sh start
• Stop Script—type:
/etc/opt/emcsfc/VFCache_State_Control.sh stop
• Application Monitor Name(s)—leave this field blank
• Application Startup Mode—accept the default value [background]
Note: If the source device has the same name across all cluster nodes, you can pass
the source device name to the cluster script. This is important in cases when one node
has a local device accelerated (which is not part of the cluster and will not move
between nodes), and another accelerated device that is shared (part of the cluster). In
such cases, specify the name of the device after the first argument.
For example, if the shared device is hdisk6, the start/stop scripts would look like this:
Start Script: /etc/opt/emcsfc/vfcache_State_Control.sh start

hdisk6
Stop Script: /etc/opt/emcsfc/vfcache_State_Control.sh stop

hdisk6
If there is more than one shared device, create a separate Application Controller script
for each device. If the disk name is different, you may need separate scripts.
This solution only works if the devices have the same name; otherwise, you must
rename them so that they have identical names.
4. Press Enter. The configuration is saved in the system.

Before You Begin
5. Return to the Cluster Applications and Resources menu, and then select the
following menu options: Resource Groups > Change/Show Resources and
Attributes for a Resource Group.
6. From the list displayed in the box at the bottom of the screen, select the resource
group to which the accelerated device belongs, and press Enter. A list of
configuration parameters appears.
7. In the Application Controllers field, add the Application Controller name that was
defined in Step 3.
8. Press Enter to save the configuration.
To synchronize the cluster nodes:
1. Return to the Resources menu (Communications Applications and Services >
PowerHA SystemMirror > Cluster Applications and Resources > Resources).
2. Select Verify and Synchronize Cluster Configuration, and press Enter. Accept any
further confirmation messages that are displayed. The configuration is
propagated throughout the cluster. This process may take several minutes. When
the process is completed successfully, the Command field at the top of the screen
displays the message OK.

After successful completion of the cluster configuration, perform the following steps:
1. For each passive node, perform the following:
a. Configure cache devices and source devices, using the vfcmt add command.
b. Run the following command:
This command releases all source devices and enables their acquisition by an
active node.
c. Repeat the previous steps for each passive node.
2. If there is an active node in the cluster, you can now configure its cache devices
and source devices, using the vfcmt add command.

Before You Begin
Note: Any time you add cache devices to a passive node in the future, you must run
the vfcmt set -clustermode passive command on that node before adding any source
devices to that cache device.
display -all command. On each passive node, the state of each source device should
be PASSIVE. On the active node, the state of each source device should remain as
originally configured (for example, STARTED, PT-RD or PT-WR).
Logging
Script logs are written to /var/hacmp/adm/cluster.log

PART 2
Using the Command Line Interface (CLI)
The chapters in this part of the guide describe how to use the vfcmt command line
interface (CLI) to manage XtremSW Cache. Chapters include:
◆ Chapter 3, “Getting Started—CLI,” describes first-time configuration XtremSW
Cache.
◆ Chapter 4, “Managing XtremSW Cache—CLI,” describes how to manage cache and
source devices.
◆ Chapter 5, “Advanced Management Topics—CLI,”describes advanced
management topics.
◆ Appendix A, “Command Reference—CLI,” describes all of the vfcmt command line
commands.
Getting Started—CLI
CHAPTER 3
This chapter describes how to use the command line interface to configure XtremSW
Cache. Topics include:
◆ “Identifying cache and source devices” on page 59
◆ “Executing command line interface commands” on page 61
◆ “Basic steps to begin caching with XtremSW Cache” on page 63
◆ “Example of first-time configuration” on page 65
You configure XtremSW Cache by executing vfcmt command line interface commands.
These commands are added to your system during the XtremSW Cache installation.
Some of these commands are relevant to the first-time configuration and others are
used for managing and maintenance.
This chapter describes first-time configuration. For information about managing and
maintenance, refer to Chapter 4, “Managing XtremSW Cache—CLI.”
For information about advanced configuration, refer to Chapter 5, “Advanced
Management Topics—CLI.”
Identifying cache and source devices

This section describes how to identify cache and source devices in your operating
system.
Note: Resizing is not supported on logical volumes used as cache devices. If devices
are resized, they should be deleted from caching and then added again.
Identifying cache and source devices 59

Identifying devices in Windows

This section describes how to identify cache and source devices in the Windows Disk
Management console. After you have properly identified the devices, you can proceed
to start caching.
Note: Cache devices need to be MBR, not GPT-partitioned.
After installing your cache card and device drivers, and verifying that it is properly
installed, you should see the disk in the Device Manager, as shown in the following
example
Windows devices can be referred to either by their XtremSW Cache handle, described
below, or by the disk number, for instance harddiskX, where X is the number of the
disk in the Disk Management console list (starting from 0).
Identifying devices in Linux

This section describes how to identify cache devices in Linux. After you have properly
identified the devices, you can proceed to start caching.
Use the lspci command to show the attached devices.
Identifying devices in AIX

This section describes how to identify cache devices in AIX. After you have properly
identified the devices, you can proceed to start caching.

The following figure illustrates how an XtremSF cache device is shown using the lsdev
command.
Executing command line interface commands

The command line interface is called vfcmt. To invoke any command, you must
preface it with vfcmt.
You must have administrator or root privileges to run vfcmt commands.
Note: To run vfcmt commands on ESXi hosts, use the full path to the command:
/opt/emcsfc/bin/vfcmt <command>.
The XtremSW Cache caching device is referred to in this document as the cache
device. The device containing the data to be accelerated is referred to in this
document as the source device, or LUN.
When executing command line interface commands, you can specify the cache device
and source device names in either of the following ways:
In Windows:
◆ As an operating system-specific device name, for example, harddisk3.
◆ As an XtremSW Cache instance ID (handle), such as 9, where the 9 represents the
handle.
For example, either of the following commands could be used to delete the cache
device harddisk3 with a XtremSW Cache handle of 9:
• vfcmt delete -cache_dev harddisk3
• vfcmt delete -handle 9
Executing command line interface commands 61

In Linux:
◆ As an operating system-specific device name, for example, /dev/rssda
handle.
device /dev/rssda with a XtremSW Cache handle of 9:
• vfcmt delete -cache_dev /dev/rssda
You can retrieve the handle by executing the vfcmt display -all command. Each
XtremSW Cache device and source device will be displayed with a unique handle.
In AIX:
◆ As an operating system-specific device name, for example, /dev/hdisk1.
handle.
device /dev/hdisk1 with an XtremSW Cache handle of 9:
• vfcmt delete -cache_dev /dev/hdisk1
You can retrieve the handle by executing the vfcmt display -all command. Each
XtremSW Cache device and source device will be displayed with a unique handle.
Note: Handles cannot be used with the add command.
Your configuration settings are stored and saved so that when you reboot, you do not
need to perform them again.
The following sections describe each of these steps. At the end of this section, the
commands are put together in a series so you can see the complete process.
XtremSW Cache will display a message upon successful command execution, or an
error message if the command is not successful.

Basic steps to begin caching with XtremSW Cache

This section describes the following, basic steps required to begin caching with
XtremSW Cache:
◆ Enabling the XtremSW Cache cache device and starting caching
◆ Selecting source devices to be accelerated and starting acceleration

If you are running XtremSW Cache in a cluster environment, you must configure cluster
support before defining any devices. If you wish to add cache devices on a passive
node after the initial setup, you must run the vfcmt set -clustermode passive
command. For more information, refer to “Support for Hyper-V” on page 85
Enabling a cache device and starting caching
IMPORTANT
If your cache device is partitioned, or if you expect to partition it, refer to “Partitioning
a PCIe flash device” on page 76 before adding the cache device.
You can enable multiple XtremSW Cache devices, one per PCIe card. Each cache
device can accelerate multiple source devices, but each source device can be
accelerated by only one XtremSW Cache device.
To enable multiple XtremSW Cache devices, repeat the following procedure for each
XtremSW Cache device to be added.
To enable an XtremSW Cache cache device, run the following command:
vfcmt add -cache_dev <device>
where device is specified as an operating-system specific device
Before executing this command, ensure that:
◆ the cache device is supported by XtremSW Cache
◆ the cache device is not reported to be in use by the operating system
In addition to adding the cache device, this command also starts the caching process
on the added device, thus there is no need to run the start command.
Basic steps to begin caching with XtremSW Cache 63

When you add an XtremSW Cache device, you can also set the following parameters:
◆ Data deduplication
◆ Maximum I/O size
◆ Page size
For more information on setting these other parameters, as well as how to change
them after adding the cache device, see “Adding a cache device” on page 77.
Note: When you add a cache device in the Oracle RAC environment, you are adding
the cache to a specific node. Before adding cache devices, all RAC nodes must be
reported as Operational. You can determine the node status by using the vfcmt
display -all command. For more information on vfcmt commands in this environment,
see “Configuring support for Oracle Real Application Cluster” on page 40.
For more information on vfcmt commands, see Appendix A, “Command

Reference—CLI.”
Adding source devices to be accelerated

To begin acceleration on a source device, you must add, or attach, it to a cache device.
To add a source device to a cache device, run the following command:
vfcmt add -source_dev <device> [-cache_dev <device>
-dev_id_type by-name]
where source device is specified as an operating-system specific device.
where cache device can be specified as an operating-system specific device or as an
XtremSW Cache handle.
You can identify the device by name, by using the -dev_id_type by-name argument.
This can be used when the device cannot otherwise be found, for example if it’s a
native SCSI device that Linux cannot identify in /dev/disk/by-path or
/dev/disk/by-id.

By adding a device by name, you are declaring that the device name is permanent. If
the device name is going to change, remove the old device name before the name
changes, with the vfcmt remove -source_dev command.

When adding mpath source devices, such as mpathc, in the Linux environment, add
the source device by the full name of the mpath device.
When multipath is installed (such as EMC PowerPath or Veritas DMP), only use the
multipath devices as source devices, not the physical paths. For example, use
PowerPath device /dev/emcpowerk and not /dev/sdb.
You can accelerate a source device with one cache device only.
If there is only one cache device, you do not need to specify to which device to attach
the source. If there are multiple cache devices, you must specify which cache device
will be performing the acceleration, otherwise the source device will be attached to
the cache device with the lowest handle.
Note: Oracle RAC source devices are always added to the default cache device, usually
the one that was added first. The -cache_dev argument is not supported.
To use a different cache device for acceleration, use the vfcmt migrate command after
adding the source device.
You must perform this command for each source device to be cached.
In addition to adding the source device, this command also starts acceleration for the
added device, thus there is no need to run the start command.
Note: When you add a source device in the Oracle RAC environment, you are adding
the device to all server nodes in the cluster. Before adding source devices, all RAC
nodes must be reported as Operational. You can determine the node status by using
the vfcmt display -all command. For more information on vfcmt commands in this
environment, see “Configuring support for Oracle Real Application Cluster” on
page 40.
For more information on vfcmt commands, see Appendix A, “Command

Reference—CLI.”
This completes the initial configuration for the XtremSW Cache flash device.
Example of first-time configuration

This section illustrates a typical first-time configuration.
In general, the sequence of configuration tasks is as follows:
Example of first-time configuration 65

1. Enable and start the cache device using the add -cache_dev command.
2. Enable and start caching of the source device using the add -source_dev
command.
Windows example
For the purposes of this example, we are assuming the following devices:
◆ The cache device is harddisk5.
◆ The source devices are harddisk6, harddisk3 and harddisk1.
1. Enable and start caching on the cache device by executing the following
command:
vfcmt add -cache_dev harddisk5
2. Enable and start caching of the source devices by executing the following
commands:
• vfcmt add -source_dev harddisk6
3. You can review the configuration by executing the following command:
vfcmt display -all
The following figure shows the output of the display -all command.
Note that the XtremSW Cache handles do not match the Windows disk names.
To manage XtremSW Cache, refer to Chapter 4, “Managing XtremSW Cache—CLI.”
Linux example

◆ The cache device is /dev/rssda.

◆ The source devices are /dev/emcpowera and /dev/emcpowerb.
command:
vfcmt add -cache_dev /dev/rssda
commands:
• vfcmt add -source_dev /dev/emcpowera
• vfcmt add -source_dev /dev/emcpowerb
vfcmt display -all
The following figure shows the output of the display -all command.
To manage XtremSW Cache, refer to Chapter 4, “Managing XtremSW Cache—CLI.”
AIX example
◆ The cache device is /dev/hdisk4.
◆ The source devices are /dev/hdiskpower1 and /dev/hdiskpower2.
command:
vfcmt add -cache_dev /dev/hdisk4
commands:
• vfcmt add -source_dev /dev/hdiskpower1
Example of first-time configuration 67

• vfcmt add -source_dev /dev/hdiskpower2

vfcmt display -all

Managing XtremSW Cache—CLI
CHAPTER 4
This chapter describes how to manage the cache and maintain XtremSW Cache flash
devices and source devices.
The following topics are described:
◆ Managing the cache ......................................................................................... 69
◆ Displaying system statistics ............................................................................. 73
◆ Managing flash devices.................................................................................... 75
◆ Maintaining flash devices................................................................................. 79
Managing the cache

Managing the cache includes the following activities:
◆ Adding/attaching source devices to a cache device for acceleration, or

removing/detaching source devices from a cache device.
◆ Starting or stopping the caching process on a cache device.
◆ Starting or stopping the caching process on a source device.
When adding devices, you must always add the XtremSW Cache device before adding
a source device to it.
When stopping devices, you must always remove source devices before removing
their associated cache device.
Managing the cache 69

Adding or removing source devices

This section describes how to add and remove source devices. When you add a
source device, you are designating which cache device is going to provide
acceleration for the source device.
the vfcmt display -all command.
For more information on vfcmt commands in this environment, see “Configuring

support for Oracle Real Application Cluster” on page 40.
To add GPT source devices in the Microsoft Cluster Service environment, see “Adding
GPT source devices in Microsoft Cluster Service environment” on page 262.
To add a source device to acceleration, run the following command:
vfcmt add -source_dev <device> [-cache_dev <device>
-dev_id_type by-name]
where source device is specified as an operating-system specific device.
/dev/disk/by-id.


You can accelerate a source device with one cache device only.
If there is only one cache device, you do not need to specify to which device to attach
the source. If there are multiple cache devices, you must specify which cache device
will be performing the acceleration, otherwise the source device will be attached to
the cache device with the lowest handle.
To accelerate a partitioned source device, you must specify the whole device name,
not the partition, as described below:
• To accelerate a Windows device on which the E: partition resides, you would
add it as follows:
vfcmt add -source_dev harddisk2
• To accelerate a Linux device on which /dev/emcpowera1 resides, you would
add it as follows:
vfcmt add -source_dev /dev/emcpowera
• To accelerate a logical volume in AIX, specify it as the source device. For
example, to accelerate the logical volume /dev/hdiskpower0, you would
add it as follows:
vfcmt add -source_dev /dev/hdiskpower0
After the successful completion of the add -source_dev command, the added source
devices are automatically started upon system start-up.
To start the devices manually, type the following command:
vfcmt start -source_dev <device>| -handle <handle>
where source device can be specified as an operating-system specific device or as an
To remove a source device from acceleration, run the following

command:
vfcmt delete -source_dev <device> | -handle <handle>
Managing the cache 71


For a list of supported source devices and multi-pathing information, refer to
“Supported devices and multi-pathing” on page 23.
For more information about these commands, see Appendix A, “Command
Reference—CLI.”
Starting or stopping caching services on a cache device

This section describes how to start and stop the caching service on an XtremSW
Cache device.
To start caching on an XtremSW Cache device, run the following

command:
vfcmt start -cache_dev <device> | -handle <handle>
XtremSW Cache handle
This command is performed automatically, upon system start-up, or after a successful
execution of the add -cache_dev command.
To stop caching on an XtremSW Cache flash device, run the following

command:
vfcmt stop -cache_dev <device> | -handle <handle>
Be sure to stop the source devices (using the vfcmt stop -source_dev command)
before stopping the cache device.
Reference—CLI.”

Starting or stopping the caching of a source device

This section describes how to start and stop the caching of an attached source device.
To start the caching process on a device, run the following command:

vfcmt start -source_dev <device> | -handle <handle>
This command is performed automatically, upon system start-up, after a successful
execution of the add -source_dev command. When starting the source device
manually, ensure that the cache device has already been started.
To stop the caching process on a device, run the following command:

vfcmt stop -source_dev <device> | -handle <handle>
Reference—CLI.”
Displaying system statistics

You can use the following display commands to view system statistics:
◆ vfcmt display -all
Displays a summary of all configured devices.
◆ vfcmt display -cache_dev <device> | -handle <handle>
Displays overall cache statistics, the source device(s) bound to this cache device,
and an indication of whether the source device is being cached.
◆ vfcmt display -source_dev <device> | -handle <handle>
Displays source device statistics as well as statistics for the cache device to which
the source device is attached.
◆ vfcmt display -ddup -cache_dev <device>
Displays the data deduplication statistics for a cache device. For more
information, refer to “Configuring data deduplication” on page 90.
Displaying system statistics 73

Figure 4 on page 74 illustrates the output of the display -all command in an

environment with the following devices:
Device type Name Handle
Cache harddisk3 1
Source harddisk1 2
Source harddisk2 3
Figure 4 Output of the display -all command
Note: In the Oracle RAC environment, the vfcmt display -all command returns output
from all nodes.
The following table describes the fields listed with the display -all command:
Table 3 Display -all field description
Data Description
Cache Name of the cache device
Hnd Handle of the cache device
State State of the cache device
Policy Read/Write policy of the cache device
Algorithm The driver cache algorithm:

Data mapping in the cache is 16 set associative, 8k page size, eviction on LRU
basis
Size Physical size of the cache device

Table 3 Display -all field description (continued)
Data Description
Pages/Used Number of pages occupied in the cache, out of all cache pages
Dedup Status of data deduplication: disabled (default) or enabled
Dedup Gain The percentage of the amount of data in your cache that is duplicated.
Deduplication uses RAM, in proportion to this amount.
MaxIO Size of maximum I/O. Default: 64KB (in Windows, 128KB)
RDhits Percentage of read requests that were found in the cache
WRhits Percentage of write requests that were found in the cache
RDIOs Percentage of read IOs from the total IOs
Exceeds The percentage of I/O on this device whose size exceeds the defined
MaxIO maximum I/O
Hnd The source device handle
Source The source device name
Prio The priority of the source device
State The state of the source device
RDhits Percentage of read requests that were found in the cache
WRhits Percentage of write requests that were found in the cache
RDIOs Percentage of read IOs from the total IOs
Skips The sum percentage of write requests that were not found in cache (write
misses) plus the IOs that were directly read from, or written to, the source
device because they were larger than the specified maximum IO
Storage Indicates if the source device is VMAX
Managing flash devices

This section describes the following flash device management options:
◆ “Partitioning a PCIe flash device” on page 76

◆ “Adding a cache device” on page 77
Managing flash devices 75

◆ “Removing a cache device” on page 78

◆ “Editing cache device properties” on page 79
You use the XtremSW Cache software to manage flash devices.
Partitioning a PCIe flash device

You can use partitioned flash devices for caching. This section explains the treatment
of partitioned devices in XtremSW Cache. The treatment varies based on your
operating system.
Partitioning flash devices in Windows

When using XtremSW Cache in the Windows environment, XtremSW Cache allocates
the entire capacity of non-partitioned device space for caching. This allocation is done
automatically during the execution of the add -cache_dev command. You can make
use of additional device space for DAS.
To partition the DAS allocation differently, do so before using the add -cache_dev
command, while being sure to leave a minimum of 20 GB of space for caching.
XtremSW Cache will create the available remainder of the disk space as a caching
partition.
Partitioning flash devices in LINUX

When using XtremSW Cache in the LINUX environment, XtremSW Cache will work in
one of the following ways:
◆ If you add the entire device, for example /dev/rssda, XtremSW Cache will
automatically allocate the entire non-partitioned device space for caching.
◆ If you add the previously partitioned part of a disk, for example, /dev/rssda1,
XtremSW Cache will use only that part of the cache device for acceleration. You
must partition a minimum of 20 GB for acceleration.
Partitioning flash devices in AIX

When using XtremSW Cache in the AIX environment, XtremSW Cache will work in one
of the following ways:
◆ If you add the entire physical device, for example /dev/hdisk2, XtremSW Cache
will automatically allocate the entire device space for caching.

◆ If you add a logical volume mapped to the device, for example /dev/hd3,
XtremSW Cache will use only that part of the disk for acceleration. You must
allocate a minimum of 20 GB for acceleration.
Adding a cache device

When you add a cache device, you can add it with all parameters set to default, or you
can set the following parameters:
◆ Data deduplication, default: not enabled
For more information, refer to “Configuring data deduplication” on page 90.
◆ Maximum I/O size, default: 64KB (In Windows, 128KB)
For more information, refer to “Setting the maximum I/O size” on page 95.
◆ Page size, default: 8KB (in Windows, 64KB)
For more information, refer to “Changing the page size” on page 96.
Note: When you add a cache device, all parameters that you do not specify are set to
their default values.
You can also use edit these parameters after the XtremSW Cache device has been
added using the vfcmt edit_props command. For more information, refer to “Editing
cache device properties” on page 79.
display -all command.

To add a cache device with default values, run the following command:
vfcmt add -cache_dev <device>
Managing flash devices 77

To add a cache device and set its parameters, run the following
command:
vfcmt add -cache_dev <device> [-enable_ddup [-ddup_gain
<percentage>]] [-set_max_io_size <size>] [-set_page_size
<KB>]
where
• device is specified as an operating-system specific device.
• percentage represents the expected amount of data in your cache that is
duplicated. By default, deduplication is disabled.
• size represents the desired maximum I/O size, from 32KB to 128KB. By
default, set to 64KB (in Windows, 128KB).
• KB represents the cache page size. You can set this to 4, 16, 32, 64, or 128. By
Before executing this command, ensure that the device is supported by XtremSW
Cache and that the device is not in use.
After the successful completion of the add -cache_dev command, the
start -cache_dev command is automatically performed upon system start-up, thereby
starting the caching on the specified device.
For a list of supported cache devices and multi-pathing information, refer to
“Supported devices and multi-pathing” on page 23.
Reference—CLI.”
Removing a cache device

To remove a cache device, run the following command:
vfcmt delete -cache_dev <device> | -handle <handle>
Before executing this command, ensure that all source devices associated with this
cache device have been stopped and deleted.
Reference—CLI.”

Editing cache device properties

After a cache device has been added, you can edit its properties.
As opposed to the add cache_dev command which requires you to stop and remove
the attached source devices before use, when using the edit_props command it is
enough to stop the attached source devices. Therefore, you only need to restart the
caching, and not reattach the source devices.
Before using this command, ensure that the source devices being accelerated by this
cache device, and the cache device itself, are in a stopped state.
To edit cache device properties, type the following command:
vfcmt edit_props [-cache <device> | -handle <handle>]
[-enable_ddup [-ddup_gain <percentage>] ] [-set_max_io_size
<size>] [-set_page_size|-ps <KB>]
where
• device can be specified as an operating-system specific device or as an
• size represents the desired maximum I/O size, from 32KB to 128KB.
• KB represents the cache page size. You can set this to 4, 16, 32, 64, or 128.
For information about the meaning and use of these flags, see Appendix A,
“Command Reference—CLI.”
Note: Any property that is not set explicitly with this command will be returned to its
default value.
After issuing this command, restart the cache device, using the start -cache_dev, and
restart the source devices, using the start -source_dev, commands.
Maintaining flash devices

Flash device maintenance entails the following tasks:
◆ “Moving source devices from one cache device to another” on page 80
Maintaining flash devices 79

◆ “Erasing data from an XtremSF cache device” on page 81

◆ “Exporting XtremSW Cache configuration settings” on page 82
This section describes these tasks.
Moving source devices from one cache device to another

You can use the migrate command to move all previously defined source devices from
one XtremSW Cache cache device to another. The new XtremSW Cache device does
not need to be the same size as the existing one.

The migrate command has many prerequisites. Be sure to read through this entire
section before performing the migrate command.
You can perform migration in the following ways:

◆ with both devices in the system at one time
This method is useful if you are using the XtremSW Cache flash devices for DAS, in
addition to caching. You can copy the data from the existing device to the new
device. This method requires two system shutdowns.
◆ with only the new device in the system
This method is useful when you are migrating only the source devices (no data) to
a new XtremSW Cache flash device. This method requires only one system
shutdown.
Regardless of the method you choose, you must follow the following rules:
◆ Before installing the new device in the machine, refer to the XtremSF
documentation (or other hardware vendor documentation) for instructions on
how to replace a card.
◆ Before executing the migrate command, ensure that:
• If the new device is to be partitioned, the partitions have been created before
executing the migrate command.
• Both cache devices have been enabled, using the add -cache_dev command.
• All source devices have been stopped, using the stop -source_dev command.

Note: Executing the migrate command will cause all cached data in the source and
cache devices to be erased.
Migration steps
To migrate source devices, perform the following steps:
1. Record the handle of the existing cache drive.
2. Shut down the host.
3. Insert the new flash device.
4. Restart the host.
5. If you had previously split the existing device to use a part as DAS, and you need
to copy data to the new device, use standard, host-based utilities to do that now.
6. Perform the migrate command (after fulfilling all the prerequisites listed above),
by executing the following command:
vfcmt migrate -existing_dev <device> | -existing_hd
<handle> -new_dev <device> | -new_hd <handle>
where -existing_dev and -existing_hd represent the name or handle of the existing
cache device
where -new_dev and -new_hd represent the name or the handle of the new cache
device
7. To remove the existing card, shut down the machine, disconnect the power cord
from the power supply, and remove the card.
8. Restart the machine, and restart the cache and source devices.
9. Delete the old XtremSW Cache device, using the delete -cache_dev command,
and specifying the drive by its handle.
Reference—CLI.”
Erasing data from an XtremSF cache device

This section explains how to erase all data from an XtremSF cache device in a way that
complies with federal security requirements. You might need to perform a secure
erase before replacing the card or returning it to EMC.

Note: This operation can take several hours.
To erase the data from a cache device, type the following command:
vfcmt secure_erase -<device>| -handle <handle>
where device can be specified as an operating-system specific device or as an
Confirm the operation and the device’s data will be erased.
When the operation is complete, a confirmation message appears.
Note: This command is supported on XtremSF devices only.
Exporting XtremSW Cache configuration settings

This section describes how to export XtremSW Cache configuration settings.
You can use this command to generate and export a list of the vfcmt command
sequence needed to exactly reproduce your current configuration. This enables you to
recreate the cache devices, as well as the relationships between cache and source
devices.
This can be useful for backups, scripting, and in upgrade situations.
To export configuration settings, type the following command:
vfcmt export
In the following example, there is one cache device rssda, with four attached source
devices:
[root@f-srv-0003 VMAX_integ]# vfcmt display -all
Cache: rssda Hnd: 1 State: Started

Size(GB): 350.07 Pages/Used(K): 42733.6/921.6
Dedup: disable Dedup Gain: 0 MaxIO: 64
RDhits: 58.80 WRhits: 40.73 RDIOs: 58.80
Exceeds MaxIO: 0.00
========================================================================
======
------ State Information ------ ---------- Stats ------------
Hnd Source Prio State RDhits WRhits RDIOs Skips Storage
=== ============ ==== ======== ======= ======= ======= =======
=======

2 emcpowerbl 0 Started 60.59 0.00 61.00 0.26 VMAX

3 emcpowerbk 0 Started 61.35 0.00 61.99 0.39 VMAX
4 emcpowerw 0 Started 49.51 0.00 50.00 0.48 VMAX
5 emcpowerbj 0 Started 62.59 0.00 63.01 0.25 VMAX
And this is the output from the vfcmt export command:

[root@f-srv-0003 VMAX_integ]# vfcmt export
vfcmt add -cache_dev rssda -set_max_io_size 64 -set_page_size 8
vfcmt add -source_dev emcpowerbl -cache_dev rssda
vfcmt add -source_dev emcpowerbk -cache_dev rssda
vfcmt add -source_dev emcpowerw -cache_dev rssda
vfcmt add -source_dev emcpowerbj -cache_dev rssda


Advanced Management Topics—CLI
CHAPTER 5
This chapter describes advanced XtremSW Cache management. Topics include:

◆ Support for Hyper-V.......................................................................................... 85
◆ Support for VMAX............................................................................................. 86
◆ Configuring data deduplication ........................................................................ 90
◆ Setting the maximum I/O size .......................................................................... 95
◆ Changing the page size .................................................................................... 96
◆ Configuring caching in VMware with the CLI ...................................................... 97
Support for Hyper-V

This section describes issues that are relevant to running XtremSW Cache in the
Hyper-V environment.
In the Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V environment, XtremSW Cache is installed,
and runs, on the Hyper-V host and can accelerate I/O access of multiple virtual
machines to the storage system.
The XtremSW Cache command line interface enables caching on selected physical
disk drives (LUNs) presented to the Hyper-V host.
In the Hyper-V environment, XtremSW Cache is agnostic to guest operating systems.
XtremSW Cache can be used to accelerate the following I/O requests:
◆ I/O requests that are issued on the virtual machine level to virtual disks and
transported to the underlying storage
◆ I/O requests that originate at the host level
Support for Hyper-V 85

The following diagram illustrates this relationship.
When installing XtremSW Cache in the Hyper-V environment, pay attention to the
following details:
◆ The XtremSF card and driver, as well as the XtremSW Cache software are installed
on the Hyper-V host machine. This results in the following:
• Virtual disks can be defined either before or after configuring the LUN as a
source device.
• All virtual disks allocated on a LUN source device will be accelerated.
◆ The installation procedure is identical to the procedure for Windows. For more
information, refer to the XtremSW Cache Installation Guide.
Support for VMAX

You can benefit from the installation of XtremSF cards and XtremSW Cache in a VMAX
array environment. The XtremSF cards are physically installed in the server host,
working together with VMAX to improve application performance by further reducing
I/O latency.
XtremSW Cache and VMAX are mutually aware of each other.
◆ In VMAX:
• You can identify the LUNs that are accelerated by XtremSW Cache as well as
view the host information and statistics.

• To enhance data integrity, when a VMAX LUN is being actively accelerated by

XtremSW Cache, restore operations are blocked on the source device (through
SRDF, TimeFinder, etc). To restore, stop the caching on the LUN, perform the
restore operation, and then restart the caching process.
• You can use the Symmetrix CLI and API to view statistics and monitor XtremSF
cards.
• Statistics reporting is enhanced.
• Event reporting is enhanced.
◆ In XtremSW Cache:
• VMAX LUNs are identified as such in the vfcmt display -all command.
• When XtremSW Cache identifies a VMAX LUN, that device is locked, thereby
preventing the possibility of two hosts caching the same LUN, which could
lead to decreased data integrity.
If necessary, such as when a server needs to be replaced, you can manually
unlock the device using the vfcmt release -source_dev command. For more
information on this command, refer to Appendix A, “Command
Reference—CLI.”
• You can configure the read full track feature. For more information, refer to
“Read full track feature configuration” on page 88.
• You can determine which VMAX LUNs could benefit most from acceleration. For
more information, refer to “Cacheable LUNs selection helper” on page 88.
For these features to work, VMAX must be operating with XtremSW Cache support
enabled, and together with Enginuity 5876.261.151.
The host with the VMAX GUI used for monitoring requires the following minimum
versions:
◆ Solutions Enabler 7.5
◆ Unisphere for VMAX 1.5
In the VMware environment, VMAX support is enabled for LUNS that are mounted as
physical RDM only.
Support for VMAX 87

Read full track feature configuration

When VMAX source devices are controlled by XtremSW Cache, data reads are
performed with the read full track (RFT) feature enabled, by default. Having the full
track data in cache reduces latency in most every case. You can display the read full
track status or disable this feature.
To set RFT properties, execute the following command:

vfcmt set -tunable rft -mode <mode> | -src <device>
where
• mode is the RFT mode, either on or off.
• device is the operating-system specific device name.
You can also display the status of RFT on devices, with the following command:
vfcmt display -tunable rft | -src <device>
where device is the operating-system specific device name.
You can set or display settings for all devices or for a specific device.
For more information about this command, see Appendix A, “Command
Reference—CLI.”
Cacheable LUNs selection helper

XtremSW Cache includes a LUN “selector” utility that helps you determine which
VMAX LUNs can benefit most from acceleration.
The recommendation, given on a basis of a score between 1 to 10, can be made
on-the-spot using historical data, or you can set a data collection time period (from 1
to 1440 minutes) that starts when the command is run. You might want to use this
argument if you expect the future LUN activity to be different than the activity in the
past. When the collection period has elapsed, the recommendation list is displayed at
the command prompt.
In the event that a specific LUN has not had significant activity in the evaluation
period, it appears with a score of N/A - low IO activity.

The following figure illustrates the output of the LUN selector recommendation list:
Figure 5 LUN selector recommendation list
The LUNS with the higher score will benefit more from being accelerated with
XtremSW Cache. If resources are limited, these LUNs should be accelerated first.
To display the LUN selector output, execute the following command:

vfcmt analyze -all | -src <device> [-collect <minutes>]
where
• device is the operating-specific name of a device to query. To analyze a
specific device, use the -src argument.
• minutes is the number of minutes (from command execution) to collect data
upon which to base the recommendations. To generate the list based on
historical data, leave the collection argument out.
For more information about this command, see Appendix A, “Command
Reference—CLI.”
Note: This command is supported only on XtremSF devices from a VMAX.
Support for VMAX 89

Configuring data deduplication

XtremSW Cache enables you to take advantage of the benefits of data deduplication,
such as reduced storage and bandwidth requirements and extended cache device life
expectancy.
Data deduplication eliminates redundant data by storing only a single copy of
identical chunks of data, while at the same time, providing access to the data from the
cache.
Deduplication is enabled per cache device, so the requests from all applications using
the enabled XtremSW Cache device will be deduplicated.
In general, deduplication is most likely to benefit environments where unstructured
data, such as files, is being cached. Deduplication will not be helpful when the data
being cached contains internal signatures, such as database blocks (for example,
Oracle and SQL Server).
By default, XtremSW Cache deduplication is disabled.
When enabling deduplication, you set a deduplication ratio (default 20%) that
represents a percentage of the amount of data in your cache that you expect is
duplicated. Deduplication uses RAM, in proportion to this deduplication ratio.
You can set deduplication when adding a new cache device or after the device has
already been added.
Before you set deduplication, it is recommended to determine the optimum use for
your environment.
To determine the optimum use of deduplication in your environment, perform the
following steps:
1. Add an XtremSW Cache device and enable deduplication by executing the
following command:
vfcmt add -cache_dev <device> -enable_ddup -ddup_gain
<percentage>
where
duplicated.

Note: You can also perform this test on an existing cache device by using the
vfcmt edit_props command to change its deduplication properties. For more
information, refer to “Editing cache device properties” on page 79.
2. Add a source device by executing the following command:

vfcmt add -source_dev <device>
where device is specified as an operating-system specific device.
3. After the cache is warm (after letting it run through a typical business cycle), view
the deduplication statistics by executing the following command:
vfcmt display -ddup -cache_dev <device> | -handle
<handle>
where device is specified as an operating-system specific device or as an
Note: This command displays the deduplication statistics, not the XtremSW Cache
device statistics that are displayed with the vfcmt display -all command.
4. Calculate the observed deduplication hit ratio, and compare it the configured
ratio.
• Calculate the observed deduplication hit ratio by dividing the Write Hits by the
Writes Received. This is the amount of duplicate data in the cache.
– If the observed ratio is less than 10%, it is recommended to turn off
deduplication.
Note: To benefit from extended cache device life, instead of turning

deduplication off, enable deduplication with a gain of 0%.
– If the observed ratio is over 35%, it is recommended to raise the

deduplication gain to match the observed deduplication.
– If the observed ratio is between 10% - 35%, it is recommended to leave the
deduplication gain as is.
To change the configured ratio, you can use the edit_props command or you can add
the cache device from the start. Using the edit_props command does not require you
to reattach source devices.
Configuring data deduplication 91

To use the edit_props command, type the following command:

vfcmt edit_props [-cache <device> | -handle <handle>]
[-enable_ddup [-ddup_gain <percentage>] ] [-set_max_io_size
<size>] [-set_page_size|-ps <KB>]
For full information on the use of this command, see “Editing cache device properties”
on page 79. After you use this command, you must restart the cache and source
devices.
To add the cache device from the start, type the following command:
vfcmt add -cache_dev <device> [-enable_ddup [-ddup_gain
<percentage>]] [-set_max_io_size <size>] [-set_page_size
<KB>]
For full information on the use of this command, see “Adding a cache device” on
page 77.
Note: Both commands can result in changes in other cache device parameters, and
will result in starting with a cold cache. Be sure to review the relevant sections in the
documentation before using these commands.
The following table depicts the host memory used by enabling deduplication.
Table 4 Deduplication memory usage
Configured deduplication
gain 350 GB card 700 GB card
10% 100 MB 200 MB
20% 200 MB 400 MB
50% 500 MB 1 GB
Viewing deduplication statistics

This section describes the data duplication statistics.
To view the statistics, run the following command:
vfcmt display -ddup -cache_dev <device> | -source_dev
<device>

For more information about this command, refer to Appendix A, “Command

Reference—CLI.”
The following table describes the primary data deduplication statistics:
Table 5 Deduplication statistics
Key statistics Expert statistics Description
ddup_read_hit number of read requests found in the

deduplication cache
ddup_read_miss number of read requests not found in the

deduplication cache
ddup_write_hit number of write requests found in the

deduplication cache
ddup_write_miss number of write requests not found in

the deduplication cache
Configuring data deduplication 93

Table 5 Deduplication statistics (continued)
Key statistics Expert statistics Description
ddup_validate_miss number of requests of data that have

been evicted from the deduplication
cache
ddup_validate_hit number of requests of data that were

found in the deduplication cache
ddup_ios_received number of read and writes received
ddup_read_received number of reads received
ddup_ios_pending number of pending write requests of

duplicated data
ddup_down_reads number of actual reads from the flash

card
ddup_down_writes number of actual writes to the flash card
ddup_ios_errors number of read and write errors
ddup_writes_received number of writes received
ddup_ios_outstanding number of reads and writes in process in

the deduplication cache
ddup_entries_num number of cache pages in the

deduplication cache
ddup_occupied_entries_num number of occupied pages in the

deduplication cache
ddup_evictions number of evictions
ddup_evicted_during_read number of eviction on read
ddup_evicted_during_write number of eviction on write
ddup_eviction_failed number of writes to the deduplication

cache that were skipped because a write
operation to the same location is in
process
ddup_sig_errors sha1 signature errors, cannot calculate

signature.
ddup_cache_is_purged_error number of writes to the deduplication

cache that were skipped because a
purge operation is in process.

Setting the maximum I/O size

This section describes how to set maximum I/O size.
By default, data larger than 64KB (in Windows, 128KB) is passed through to the disk
and not cached. This size is correct for most applications. For some applications,
however, caching will be more effective by enabling data up to 128KB to be cached.
You can set the maximum I/O size when adding a new cache device or after the device
has already been added.
Before you change the maximum I/O size, it is recommended to determine the
optimum size for your environment.
To determine the optimum maximum I/O size for your environment, follow these
steps:
1. Add an XtremSW Cache device and allow it to run throughout a typical business
cycle. This enables the cache to warm up.
2. Open the statistics window for the accelerated source device.
3. Use the vfcmt display -all command to display the source device statistics. If the
percentage of Exceeds MaxIO is higher than 25%, you could benefit from
increasing the maximum I/O size.
Note: If you back up to and from the flash device, IOs are likely to be larger than
the default (64 or 128KB). You do not want to cache the backup IOs, so in this
case, it is recommended to allow more than 25% Exceeds MaxIO and not to
increase the max I/O.
To set the maximum I/O size, perform the following:

1. Stop the source devices that are being accelerated by this cache device, using the
vfcmt stop -source_dev command.
Note: The process of changing the maximum I/O on an XtremSW Cache device
requires that you first stop all source devices. This will result in starting with a cold
cache.
2. Stop the cache device, using the vfcmt stop -cache_dev command.
3. Change the current maximum I/O ratio using one of the following methods:
Setting the maximum I/O size 95

• Use the vfcmt edit_props command, and set the maxio parameter:
vfcmt edit_props -cache <device> | -handle <handle>
-set_max_io_size <size>
Note: After using the edit_props command, you need to restart the cache and
source devices.
• Remove the XtremSW Cache device, using the vfcmt delete -cache_dev
command, and recreate a new one using the vfcmt add -cache_dev command,
with the new maxio parameter:
vfcmt add -cache_dev <device> -set_max_io_size
<max_io_size>
where max_io_size is the maximum size of I/O to be cached.
Note: The add -cache_dev command is also used to set deduplication, as described in
the previous section. You can set maximum I/O size and deduplication in the same
command. If you do not set deduplication when issuing this command, deduplication
will be set to the default (disabled).
For more information about this command, refer to Appendix A, “Command

Reference—CLI.”
Changing the page size

This section describes how to configure the cache page size.
By default, the page size is 8KB (in Windows, 64KB). This size is correct for most
applications. For some applications, however, caching will be more effective by
increasing the page size, to match the application block size.
You can set the page size when adding a new cache device, and you can change the
page size after the device has already been added.
To set the page size when adding a new device, use the -set_page_size flag in the
vfcmt add -cache_dev command and set KB to the desired size. For more information
on this command, see “Adding a cache device” on page 77.

To set the page size on a current device, stop the cache device, and use the
-set_page_size flag in the vfcmt edit_props command and set KB to the desired size.
For more information, refer to “Editing cache device properties” on page 79.
Configuring caching in VMware with the CLI

This section describes how to use the vfcmt command line interface (CLI) to configure
caching in the VMware environment.
This procedure contains the following steps:
◆ “Task 1: Add claiming rules” on page 97
◆ “Task 2: Verify claiming rules” on page 99
◆ “Task 3: Create the caching infrastructure” on page 99
◆ “Task 4: Add a cache device to virtual machines” on page 100
Note: This procedure should be performed by someone with in-depth understanding

of claiming rules.
Before you begin, ensure that:

◆ The flash device is installed according to the XtremSF user guide for your device.
◆ XtremSW Cache is installed on both the virtual machines and the ESX hosts in the
desired cluster.
Task 1: Add claiming rules

1. View the current claiming rules by typing the following command: esxcli
storage core claimrule list
Output similar to the following is expected:
MP <rule_ID> runtime vendor PSAN_MPP vendor=EMC model=VFC-PSAN
MP <rule_ID> file vendor PSAN_MPP vendor=EMC model=VFC-PSAN
2. If the previous rule does not appear, add it by typing the following command:
esxcli storage core claimrule add -u -t vendor
--vendor=EMC --model=VFC-PSAN --plugin=PSAN_MPP --force
Configuring caching in VMware with the CLI 97

3. Enter claiming rules for the flash devices installed on the ESX hosts in your cluster
by typing the following commands:
• XtremSF350s, XtremSF700, XtremSF700s, any XtremSF1400
esxcli storage core claimrule add -u
-t vendor --vendor=ATA --model=mtip32xx
--plugin=PSAN_MPP --force
• XtremSF550 and XtremSF2200
-t vendor --vendor=EMC --model=VFStore
--plugin=PSAN_MPP -force
• XtremSF300S
-t vendor --vendor=EMC --model=SLP-300
--plugin=PSAN_MPP -force
Note: You only need to claim the devices once per device group. For example,
if you have XtremSF350s and XtremSF700 installed, you only need to run the
command once.
By default, pseudo devices and flash cards are claimed by NMP. Before the PSAN_MPP
rules can claim them, you must first unclaim them.
4. Unclaim the devices by typing the following command: esxcli storage core
claiming unclaim -t vendor --vendor=<vendor_name>
--model=<model_name>
where <vendor_name> and <model_name> are according to the following
examples, per XtremSF device:
• XtremSF350s, XtremSF700, XtremSF700s, and XtremSF1400
esxcli storage core claiming unclaim -t vendor
--vendor=ATA --model=mtip32xx
• XtremSF550 and XtremSF2200
--vendor=EMC --model=VFStore
• XtremSF300S
--vendor=EMC --model=SLP-300

Note: You only need to unclaim the devices once per device group. For
example, if you have XtremSF350s and XtremSF700 installed, you only need to
run the command once.
d. Load the claim rules by typing the following command: esxcli storage
core claimrule load
e. Run the claim rules by typing the following command: esxcli storage
core claimrule run
Task 2: Verify claiming rules

1. Verify the validity of the claiming rules by typing the following command: esxcli
storage core claimrule list | grep PSAN_MPP
Output similar to the following is expected:
MP 5001 runtime vendor PSAN_MPP vendor=ATA model=mtip32xx
MP 5001 file vendor PSAN_MPP vendor=ATA model=mtip32xx
MP 5002 runtime vendor PSAN_MPP vendor=EMC model=VFC-PSAN
MP 5002 file vendor PSAN_MPP vendor=EMC model=VFC-PSAN
Task 3: Create the caching infrastructure

To create the cache pool, perform the following:
1. Create a shared datastore on a LUN that is shared amongst all ESX hosts in the
cluster. Name the datastore XtremSW_Cache_DS.
2. On this shared datastore, create RDM links by running the following command:
vmkfstools -z /vmfs/devices/disks/ naa.************
/vmfs/volumes/XtremSW_Cache_DS/<RDM_name>.vmdk
where <RDM_name> is the name of the RDM link, for example cache1.vmdk
3. Repeat this command for each RDM link to create, changing cache1.vmdk to
cacheX.vmdk, for each link to create.

Task 4: Add a cache device to virtual machines

To add a cache device to a virtual machine, perform the following:
1. Right-click the virtual machine to which to add the cache device, and choose Edit
settings.
2. In the Properties dialog, click Add,
The Add Hardware wizard starts.
3. From the Device Type dialog, select Hard Disk, then click Next.
4. From the Select a Disk dialog, select Use an existing virtual device, then click
Next.
5. From the Select Existing Disk dialog, click Browse to see the defined VMDK in the
datastore.
Supporting more than the default number of devices

By default, eight RDM LUNs are created. To work with more than 8 caches across the
datacenter, perform the following:
1. Increase the number of device by typing the following command: vfcmt
set_max_cache_disks <number of LUNs>
2. Repeat this command on all hosts.
3. After increasing the number of LUNs, detect the new LUNs by typing the following
command: esxcfg-rescan -A
4. Show all XtremSW LUNs by typing the following command: esxcli storage
core device list |grep "Local EMC"
5. Create an RDM linked to the XtremSW LUN by selecting the new disk, then type the
following command: vmkfstools -z /vmfs/devices/disks/
naa.************/vmfs/volumes/XtremSW_Cache_DS/
<LUN_name><X>.vmdk
where
– LUN_name is the name of the XtremSW LUN
– X is the next available number in the RDM links



APPENDIX A
Command Reference—CLI
This appendix describes the command line interface commands. For more information
about the symbols used in the command syntax, refer to “Typographical conventions”
on page 15.
Note: To run vfcmt commands on ESXi hosts, use the full path to the command:
/opt/emcsfc/bin/vfcmt <command>.
Command Reference—CLI 103

Executable commands
Table 6 Executable commands
Refer to
Command Function page
vfcmt add -cache_dev <device> instructs XtremSW Cache to use the device page 107
[-enable_ddup [-ddup_gain device for caching data blocks
<percentage>]] [-set_max_io_size
<size>] [-set_page_size <KB>]
vfcmt add -source_dev <device> instructs XtremSW Cache to provide cache page 108
[-cache_dev <device> -dev_id_type services for the block device device.
by-name]
vfcmt analyze -all | -src <device> runs the LUN selector utility page 109
[-collect <minutes>]
vfcmt delete -cache_dev <device> instructs XtremSW Cache to stop using the page 110
| -handle <handle> cache device device
vfcmt delete_license removes the current XtremSW Cache page 110

license file from the physical host
vfcmt delete -source_dev <device> instructs XtremSW Cache to stop caching page 110
| -handle <handle> services for the block device device
vfcmt disable -maxio -cache_dev instructs XtremSW Cache to process all IOs, page 111
<device> | -handle <handle> regardless of size
vfcmt display on an ESX host, displays active LUNs, page 111

devices, and counters
vfcmt display -all provides a summary display of all page 111

configured cache devices and source block
devices
vfcmt display -cache_dev <device> displays statistics, source devices, and page 112
| -handle <handle> caching information for the specified cache
device
vfcmt display -ddup -cache_dev displays deduplication statistics page 112

<device> | -source_dev <device>
vfcmt display -firmware -device displays the firmware version of the flash page 112
<device> device

Table 6 Executable commands (continued)
Refer to
vfcmt display -license displays information about the license file page 112
on the current physical host
vfcmt display -reservation displays information about reserved page 112

-source_dev <device> | -handle devices
<handle> | -all [-reservation_key
<key>]
vfcmt display -serial -device displays the serial number of the flash page 113
<device> device
vfcmt display -source_dev <device> displays the state of the source device as page 113
| -handle <handle> well as specific performance statistics
associated with the source device
vfcmt display -tunable rft [-src displays the state of the read full track page 114
<device>] features
vfcmt edit_props [-cache <device> | edits the properties of a previously defined page 114
-handle <handle>] [-enable_ddup XtremSW Cache device
[-ddup_gain <percentage>] ]
[-set_max_io_size <size>]
[-set_page_size|-ps <KB>]
vfcmt export exports the vfcmt commands necessary to page 114

recreate your current configuration
vfcmt extractlog -device <device> creates a log file with debugging data page 115
[-path <logpath>]
vfcmt help displays a brief summary of each of the page 115

commands
vfcmt migrate -existing_dev instructs XtremSW Cache to move all source page 115
<device>|-existing_hd <handle> devices from one cache device to another
cache device.
-new_dev <device> |-new_hd <handle>
vfcmt purge -cache_dev <device> instructs XtremSW Cache to discard all page 116
| -handle <handle> [-stats_only] current cache entries
vfcmt purge -source_dev <device> instructs XtremSW Cache to discard current page 116
| -handle <handle> [-stats_only] cache entries related to a specific source
device
Executable commands 105

Table 6 Executable commands (continued)
Refer to
vfcmt release -source_dev <device> releases the lock from an XtremSW page 116
Cache-enabled VMAX device
vfcmt reservation -clear_reservation removes all registration keys and the page 117
-device <device> -reservation_key reservation group
<key>
vfcmt reservation removes the issuer node's reservation key page 117
-unregister_reservation -device from the reservation group associated with
<device>|-all a specified source device
vfcmt secure_erase -<device>| enables you to erase the data from a cache page 117
-handle <handle> device in a secure way
vfcmt set -clustermode passive enables the configuring of XtremSW Cache page 117
in clusters
vfcmt set_license -license_file copies the XtremSW Cache license file to page 118
<license_file_path> the physical host
vfcmt set -opmode <passthru_mode> enables manually changing the state of a page 118
-cache_dev <dev_name> | -source_dev cache or source device
<device> | -handle <dev_handle>
vfcmt set -tunable rft -mode <mode> enables the configuring of the read full page 118
[-src <device>] track mode
vfcmt start -cache_dev <device> instructs XtremSW Cache to prepare the page 119
| -handle <handle> cache device for cache operations
vfcmt start -source_dev <device> instructs XtremSW Cache to start caching page 120
| -handle <handle> services for the block device source device
vfcmt stop -cache_dev <device> instructs XtremSW Cache to stop caching page 120
| -handle <handle> operations for all source block devices
currently using the cache device
vfcmt stop -source_dev <device> instructs XtremSW Cache to stop caching page 121
| -handle <handle> services for the source device
vfcmt updatefirmware -device updates the PCIe card firmware page 121
<device> -path <path> -force
vfcmt version displays the current version of the XtremSW page 121
Cache software

vfcmt add -cache_dev <device> [-enable_ddup [-ddup_gain <percentage>]]

[-set_max_io_size <size>] [-set_page_size <KB>]
where
default, set to 64K (in Windows, 128K).
add cache_dev instructs XtremSW Cache to use the cache device device for caching
data blocks.

If you are running XtremSW Cache in a cluster environment, you must configure cluster
support before defining any devices. If you wish to add cache devices on a passive
node after the initial setup, you must run the vfcmt set -clustermode passive
command. For more information, refer to “Configuring XtremSW Cache support for
clusters” on page 30.
You can enable data deduplication with the -enable_ddup option. For more
information, refer to “Configuring data deduplication” on page 90.
You can change the maximum size of I/O to be cached with the -set_max_io_size
option. For information, refer to “Setting the maximum I/O size” on page 95.
You can change the page size with the -set_page_size option. For more information,
refer to “Changing the page size” on page 96.
You can set all of the above parameters in the same command. Any parameter that is
not set, will be set at its default value.
Before executing this command, ensure that the device is supported by XtremSW
Cache and that the device is not in use.


After the successful completion of the add -cache_dev command, the

start -cache_dev command is automatically performed, thereby starting the caching
on the specified device.
vfcmt add -source_dev <device> [-cache_dev <device> -dev_id_type by-name]

where source device names are specified as operating-system specific devices.
/dev/disk/by-id.

This command is used as workaround for extreme cases where the device has no SCSI
ID. After reboot, you must reconfigure the device.
add -source_dev instructs XtremSW Cache to provide cache services for the block
device source_dev.
By default, the block device will be attached to only one cache device, the first one
that is defined. To attach the block device to a different cache device, use the optional
-cache_dev device parameter.

Use this command only on a source device that has not been previously configured.
the vfcmt display -all command.

After the successful completion of the add -source_dev command, the

start -source_dev command is automatically performed.
vfcmt analyze -all | -src <device> [-collect <minutes>]

where
• device is the operating-specific name of a VMAX LUN to query.
• minutes is the number of minutes (from command execution) to collect data
upon which to base the LUN selection recommendations.
The analyze command runs the LUN selector, a utility that helps you determine which
VMAX LUNs can benefit most from being accelerated with XtremSW Cache.
By default, the LUN selector returns its recommendations based on historical data. If
you have reason to suspect that future LUN activity will be different than the
aggregated history of the past, you can use the collect argument to collect new
information upon which to base the recommendations.
Example:
vfcmt analyze -all -collect 10
This command analyzes all VMAX LUNs, and returns a recommendation report based
on ten minutes of activity.

vfcmt delete -cache_dev <device> | handle <handle>

delete -cache_dev instructs XtremSW Cache to stop using the cache device device.
Before executing this command, ensure that all source devices associated with this
cache device have been stopped and deleted.
Note: When you delete a cache device in the Oracle RAC environment, you are adding

On successful completion, all memory previously allocated by the kernel to

implement the cache will have been released.
vfcmt delete_license
This command removes the license file from the physical host. On ESX hosts, you
must use this command before you install a new license file with the set_license
command.
On ESX hosts, precede vfcmt commands with /opt/emcsfc/bin/vfcmt
<command>
For more information on licensing, see Appendix A, “Licensing.”
vfcmt delete -source_dev <device> | handle <handle>

delete -source_dev instructs XtremSW Cache to stop caching services for the block
device device.
If caching services cannot be terminated for the source device, an error will be
returned.

Note: When you delete a source device in the Oracle RAC environment, you are
removing the device from all nodes. Before removing source devices, all RAC nodes
must be reported as Operational. You can determine the node status by using the
vfcmt display -all command.

vfcmt disable -maxio -cache_dev <device> | handle <handle>

disable -maxio instructs XtremSW Cache to process all IOs, regardless of size.
When maxio is enabled, I/O exceeding the maximum size are passed directly to the
source device because it is generally more efficient to process them as one large I/O.
If maxio is disabled, all requests, regardless of size will be processed by the cache.
This command will remain in effect until XtremSW Cache is restarted or the system is
rebooted.
vfcmt display
On an ESX host, displays information about the following:
◆ Active LUNs—LUNs that are being used by the guest machines as communication
ports
◆ Active devices—physical devices that were added to the ESX local cache pool
◆ Global counters—counters used by the XtremSW Cache ESX driver
vfcmt display -all

display -all provides a summary display of all configured cache devices and source
block devices. It also displays the cache statistics and handles associated with all
devices.

vfcmt display -cache_dev <device> | handle <handle>

display -cache_dev displays the following information for the specified cache device:
◆ overall cache statistics
◆ the source device(s) bound to this cache device
◆ an indication of whether the source device is being cached
vfcmt display -ddup -cache_dev <device> | -source_dev <device>

display -ddup displays the data deduplication statistics for an XtremSW Cache device
or source device.
For more information on the statistics, refer to “Configuring data deduplication” on
page 90.
vfcmt display -firmware <device>

display -firmware shows the firmware version of the flash device. This command
works on installed flash devices, even if they have not been configured in XtremSW
Cache.
Limitations:
◆ This command is supported for XtremSF devices only.
◆ This command is not supported for flash devices installed on ESX machines.
vfcmt display -license

This command displays information about the license file on the current physical
host.
vfcmt display -reservation -source_dev <device> | -handle <handle> | -all

[-reservation_key <key>]
where key is a specific key

This command, relevant in Oracle RAC environments, displays information about

reserved devices. It is used to identify the SCSI reservation info used by XtremSW
Cache, thus enabling you to see the state of the LUNs in regards to SCSI reservation.
The reservation is done via MPIO or PowerPath commands depending on the
multipathing solution being used.
Use the key flag to display information for that specific key only.
Sample output:
Source device: 'mpathg'
------------------------------------------
SCSI reservation status:
Registered host's key: 0x157536d65727458 (XtremSW.)
ReservationHolder: true
Type: 5
SCSI reservation status:
Registered host's key: 0x257536d65727458 (XtremSW.)
ReservationHolder: false
SCSI reservation capabilities:

Persist Through Power Loss Capable: true
All Target Ports Capable: false
Persist Through Power Loss Active: false
vfcmt display -serial <device>

display -serial shows the serial number of the flash device. This command works on
installed flash devices, even if they have not been configured in XtremSW Cache.
Limitations:
vfcmt display -source_dev <device> | handle <handle>

display -source_dev displays the state of the source device as well as the specific
performance statistics associated with the source device.

vfcmt display -tunable rft [-src <device>]

The display -tunable rft command enables you to display the read full track settings
for a specific VMAX source device or for all source devices.
vfcmt edit_props [-cache <device> | -handle <handle>] [-enable_ddup

[-ddup_gain <percentage>] ] [-set_max_io_size <size>] [-set_page_size|-ps
<KB>]
where
default, set to 64K (in Windows, 128K).
Note: Any property that is not set explicitly with this command will be returned to its
default value.
For information about the meaning and use of these flags, see Chapter 5, “Advanced
Management Topics—CLI.”
When you use the add -cache_dev command to make these cache device
configuration changes, you must first remove all attached source devices, and remove
the cache device. The benefit of the edit_props command, is the ability to reconfigure
cache device properties without losing the configuring of the cache and source
devices.
Before using this command, ensure that the source devices being accelerated by this
cache device, and the cache device itself, are in a stopped state. The easiest way to
do this is to stop the cache device using the stop -cache_dev command.
After issuing this command, restart the cache device, using the start -cache_dev, and
restart the source devices, using the start -source_dev, commands.
vfcmt export
This command generates a list of all the vfcmt commands necessary to recreate your
cache devices and the source devices that are attached to them.

vfcmt extractlog -device <device> [-path <logpath>]

where logpath is the absolute path in which to create the log file. By default, the log
file will be created in a directory with the name: log_devicename_date_time.
The extractlog command creates a log file that contains debug data. This command
can take several minutes to complete.
Run this command only at the advice of Technical Support.
Limitations:
vfcmt help
help displays a brief summary of each of the vfcmt commands.
vfcmt migrate -existing_dev <device> | -existing_hd <handle> -new_dev

<device> | -new_hd <handle>
where -existing_dev and -existing_hd represent the name or handle of the existing
cache device.
where -new_dev and -new_hd represent the name or the handle of the new cache
device.
◆ both cache devices have been enabled, using the add -cache_dev command
◆ all source devices have been stopped, using the stop -source_dev command.
Note: Executing the migrate command will cause all cached data in the cache devices
to be erased.
The migrate command combines the following procedures:

◆ Stops caching on the existing cache device.
◆ Deletes all caching on the existing cache device.
◆ Moves all source devices to the new cache device.
◆ Starts caching on the new cache device.

After executing this command, restart the source devices, using the start -source_dev
command.
vfcmt purge -cache_dev <device> | handle <handle> [-purge_ddup]

[-stats_only]
purge -cache_dev instructs XtremSW Cache to discard all current cache entries.
Use the -purge_ddup flag to discard all cache entries in the space reserved for
deduplicated cache.
On successful completion, the cache pages are marked as not used, though they will
remain in the pages used count. Subsequent I/O will repopulate the cache.
Use the -stats_only flag to clear the statistics display, but not to purge the actual data.
vfcmt purge -source_dev <device> | handle <handle> [-purge_ddup]

[-stats_only]
purge -source_dev instructs XtremSW Cache to discard current cache entries that are
related to the specified source device.
Use the -purge_ddup flag to discard all cache entries in the space reserved for
deduplicated cache.
On successful completion, the cache entries related to the specified source device are
marked as not used, though they will remain in the pages used count. Subsequent I/O
will repopulate the cache.
Use the -stats_only flag to clear the statistics display, but not to purge the actual data.
vfcmt release -source_dev <device>

Use this command to remove a lock from an XtremSW Cache-enabled VMAX source
device, such as when the server needs to be replaced.

vfcmt reservation -clear_reservation -device <device> -reservation_key

<key>
where key is the reservation holder’s key.
This command, relevant in the Oracle RAC environment, removes all registration keys
and the reservation group, and is used to clear the SCSI reservation from a LUN used
by Xtrem SW cache. This enables you to clear a reservation, when necessary for
troubleshooting.
vfcmt reservation -unregister_reservation -device <device>|-all

This command, relevant in the Oracle RAC environment, removes the issuer node's
reservation key from the reservation group associated with the specified source
device, and is used to clear the SCSI reservation from a LUN used by XtremSW Sache.
This enables you to unregister a reservation, when necessary for troubleshooting.
vfcmt secure_erase -<device>| -handle <handle>

Use this command to remove all data from a cache device in a way that complies with
federal security requirements.

Use this command on a passive node of a cluster after configuring cache devices on
that node.

vfcmt set_license -license_file <license_file_path>

where <license_file_path> is the full path to the license file saved on your host
machine.
vfcmt set -opmode <passthru_mode> -cache_dev <device>|-source_dev

<device>|-handle <handle>
where cache_dev and source-dev can be specified as an operating-system specific
device or as an XtremSW Cache handle.
where passthru_mode can be one of the following:
• pt-normal: changes passthrough to normal mode, where both reads and
writes are cached
• pt-rd: changes passthrough to read mode, where reads are not cached
• pt-wr: changes passthrough to write mode, where writes are not cached
• pt-rw: changes passthrough to read/write mode, where neither reads nor
writes are cached
set -opmode enables you to manually change the operating mode of the XtremSW
Cache cache or source device.
The mode is set back to normal passthrough after a start -cache_dev command (or
start -source_dev command), when set to normal using the set -opmode command, or
after a machine reboot.
vfcmt set -tunable rft -mode <mode> [-src <device>]

where
• mode is the read full track mode, either on or off.
• device is the operating-system specific device name.
The set -tunable rft command enables you to set the read full track feature on or off
and to display the status of the command. You can edit the settings for a specific
device or for all de vices.

The following table summarizes the commands:
Table 7 Read full track commands
To do this Run this command
Disable RFT for all source devices vfcmt set -tunable rft -mode off
Disable RFT for a specific source vfcmt set -tunable rft -mode off
-src <device>
Enable RFT for all source devices vfcmt set -tunable rft -mode on
Enable RFT for a specific source vfcmt set -tunable rft -mode on
-src <device>
vfcmt start -cache_dev <device> | handle <handle>

start -cache_dev instructs XtremSW Cache to prepare the cache device for cache
operations.
◆ the cache device has not yet been started with a start command or an add
command
◆ the cache device is not already in use
Note: When you start a cache device in the Oracle RAC environment, you are adding


vfcmt start -source_dev <device> | handle <handle>

start -source_dev instructs XtremSW Cache to start caching services for the block
device device.
This command is performed automatically, upon system start-up, after a successful
execution of the add -source_dev command. When starting the source device
manually, ensure that the cache device has already been started.
◆ the source device has not yet been started with a start command or an add
command
◆ the source device is not already in use
Note: When you start a source device in the Oracle RAC environment, you are adding

vfcmt stop -cache_dev <device> | handle <handle>

stop cache_dev instructs XtremSW Cache to stop caching operations for all source
block devices currently using the cache device.
All I/O that are in-process prior to this command will be completed, or drained, from
XtremSW Cache before terminating the cache. While I/O is being drained, all new I/O
is routed directly to the source device.
Note: When you stop a cache device in the Oracle RAC environment, you are adding


vfcmt stop -source_dev <device> | handle <handle>

stop -source_dev instructs XtremSW Cache to stop caching services for the source
device.
If caching services cannot be stopped, an error will be returned.
Note: When you stop a source device in the Oracle RAC environment, you are adding

vfcmt updatefirmware -device <device> -path <path> -force

where path is the absolute path in which the firmware file is located.
updatefirmware updates the PCIe card firmware. You can use the -force option to
perform the update without requiring confirmation prior to the update.
Limitations:
Note: If you attempt to update firmware for PCIEHHS-3XXM, PCIEHHS-3XXM2, and

PCIEHHS-7XXM products to the same firmware version that is currently installed,
and you do not specify the force argument, the update will fail. The current
firmware will remain on the device.
vfcmt version
version displays the current version of the XtremSW Cache software.


PART 3
Using the VSI Plug-in for VMware
The chapters in this part of the guide describe how to use the VSI plug-in to manage
XtremSW Cache in the VMware environment. Chapters include:
◆ Chapter 6, “Getting Started—VSI Plug-In,”describes the tasks required before
beginning to use the plug-in to manage and monitor XtremSW Cache as well as
first-time configuration.
◆ Chapter 7, “Managing XtremSW Cache—VSI Plug-In,” describes the tasks used to
manage XtremSW Cache.
◆ Chapter 8, “Advanced Configuration—VSI Plug-In,” describes advanced
configuration options.
Before using the VSI plug-in

This section describes tasks that must be completed before using the VSI plug-in.
◆ To manage and monitor virtual machines, each virtual machine must have
XtremSW Cache and the XtremSW Cache remote agent installed, as well as valid
authentication credentials. If these components were not installed and
configured, you can reinstall those components. For information about
reinstalling, see the Troubleshooting appendix in the XtremSW Cache Installation
Guide.
◆ To enable migration, all ESX hosts in the cluster must have XtremSW Cache on
them.
◆ You must have a shared datastore, a dedicated LUN with at least 1 GB of free
space. The datastore must be created on a LUN that is visible to all ESX hosts in
the datacenter that may host a virtual machine with XtremSW Cache on it.
If this datastore was previously created during the licensing of XtremSW Cache,
you will be directed to skip the datastore creation.
◆ To add cache devices, you will need to add a vCenter. You will need the vCenter
host name/IP, as well as user name and password. Optionally, you can add all
cache devices using the CLI, and then manage existing cache devices with this
plug-in.
CHAPTER 6
Getting Started—VSI Plug-In
This chapter describes the steps required to perform caching. Topics include:
◆ About the VSI plug-in ..................................................................................... 125
◆ Before you begin ............................................................................................ 125
◆ First-time caching on a virtual machine........................................................... 136
About the VSI plug-in

The EMC VSI Storage Viewer for VMware vSphere™ (VSI) is a plug-in to VMware’s
vSphere Client that provides a single management interface used for managing EMC
storage within the vSphere environment.
Features can be added, or plugged-in, to VSI, providing flexibility for customizing VSI
user environments.
The EMC XtremSW Cache feature, referred to in this document as the VSI plug-in, is a
server flash-based caching technology designed to transparently accelerate
application I/O performance. By combining PCIe flash technology with caching
software, XtremSW Cache moves data closer to the application which dramatically
reduces latency and accelerating performance, resulting in a networked infrastructure
dynamically optimized for performance, cost and availability.
Examples of other features available for VSI are Storage Viewer, Path Management,
Storage Pool Management, Symmetrix storage replication adapter Utilities, and
Unified Storage Management.
Before you begin

Before starting caching with the XtremSW Cache feature, you need to perform the
following tasks:
◆ “Task 1: Enabling access to virtual machines” on page 126
◆ “Task 2: Creating the XtremSW shared datastore” on page 129
◆ “Task 3: Populating the ESX cache pools with XtremSF devices” on page 132
Getting Started—VSI Plug-In 125

◆ “Task 4: Enabling XtremSW Cache remote monitoring” on page 134

◆ “Task 5: Enabling UUID mapping” on page 135
Task 1: Enabling access to virtual machines

The first task is to enable access to virtual machines. This is accomplished by
performing a one-time security authentication in the vSphere client.
You must authenticate the following credentials:
◆ XtremSW VM Agent Authentication
The virtual machine agent authentication credentials were set up during the
installation of the XtremSW Cache remote agent.
◆ XtremSW ESX Agent Authentication
You set up the ESX agent authentication credentials in the following section.
These credentials are used when communicating with this agent from the VSI
plug-in or the XtremSW Management Center.
The ESX agent is running under a specifically restricted security policy designated
to be used by host agents. In this policy, creating new processes (fork) is not
allowed, nor is establishing network connections and other operations that
VMware deems to be more risky.
Communication between the VSI plug-in and managed systems uses the CIM/XML
protocol over HTTPS on the port 5989.
Configuring XtremSW ESX agent authentication credentials

This section describes how to configure the XtremSW ESX agent authentication
credentials. You must perform this process on every ESX host on which the XtremSW
Cache software is installed.
Note: If all of the relevant ESX hosts are using the same user and password (such as
root), you can skip this step. Use this user and password in the XtremSW ESX Agent
Authentication in the next step.

To set the credentials, perform the following steps:

1. Use vSphere to connect directly to an ESX host.
2. Create the new user:
a. Select the Local Users & Groups tab.
b. Right-click and choose Add. The Add New User window appears.
c. Enter a login, a user name (case-sensitive), and a password.
You can create a dedicated user instead of using the root user. The user must
be a member of the root group, with read/write permissions. The password
must be between 8-16 characters.
Note: When using the plug-in to manage all virtual machines from one
management station, you must use the same user name and password for all
ESX hosts.
d. To ensure enhanced security, clear the Grant shell access to this user option.
e. In the Group membership section, make this user a member of the root group.
3. Set the user permissions:
a. From the Permissions tab, double-click the new user.
b. Select a permission.
– Read-only
Enables read-only access
– Administrator
Enables read and write access, for actions such as add and remove devices
for local cache pool
The ESX Agent credential configuration is complete.
Entering authentication credentials

To enable access to virtual machines, perform the following steps:
1. Open the XtremSW security window by performing the following steps:
a. From the vSphere client window, select Home.
b. From the Solutions and Applications section, click EMC VSI.
Before you begin 127

c. From the Features area, on left side of the client window, click XtremSW.
Note: If XtremSW is not displayed in the Features area, but is listed in the
Installed Features list, you may simply need to enable it. Right-click and select
Enable. If it is still not displayed, see “Installation issues” on page 166.
The XtremSW authentication window appears.
Figure 6 XtremSW authentication window
2. In the XtremSW VM Agent Authentication section, enter the following credentials:

• User (case-sensitive)
VFCacheAdmin (default user)
• Password
The password defined for the XtremSW agent user during the installation of
the XtremSW Cache remote agent.
Note: To manage all virtual machines from one management station, you must
use the same password across all virtual machines running XtremSW Cache.
For more information, refer to the XtremSW Cache Installation Guide.
3. In the XtremSW VM Agent Authentication section, click Update Credentials.

4. In the XtremSW ESX Agent Authentication section, enter the following credentials:
root (default user), or the user name created in the previous section,
“Configuring XtremSW ESX agent authentication credentials” on page 126.
• Password
The password defined for the root user in the ESX host.
Note: To manage all virtual machines from one management station, you must
use the same user name and password across all virtual machines running
XtremSW Cache.
5. In the XtremSW ESX Agent Authentication section, click Update Credentials.
Note: The first time that a vCenter administrator logs in to a vSphere upon which
XtremSW Cache is installed, the XtremSW administration custom attribute is
automatically added to the schema. This step is necessary in order for XtremSW
Cache to function.
Task 2: Creating the XtremSW shared datastore

The next task is to create a shared XtremSW Cache datastore. This datastore is used to
store the virtual device RDM link files for the cache devices, as well as the XtremSW
Cache configuration and license information. If you have not created this datastore
yet, you must do so now.

This datastore may have been previously created, during the licensing of XtremSW
Cache. If that is so, you will be directed in the procedure below what parts to skip.
The datastore must be created on a LUN that is visible to all ESX hosts in the
datacenter that may host a virtual machine with XtremSW Cache on it. The LUN does
not need to be larger than 1 GB.
Note: Before you continue to create the datastore, ensure that such a LUN exists.
Creating the datastore

The first time that the EMC VSI tab is accessed, the Welcome dialog displays.
If the Welcome dialog is not displayed, it could be for either of the following reasons:
◆ The shared datastore has already been created, in which case, you should skip to
“Task 3: Populating the ESX cache pools with XtremSF devices” on page 132.
◆ You may have previously selected Don’t show this message again, in which case
you must create the datastore before you continue. To begin the process, perform
the following:
1. Select a cluster in the navigation tree.
2. Click the EMC VSI tab.
3. In the Local Cache Pool Summary screen, click Create a shared datastore.
Note: If this link is not displayed, the shared datastore has already been
created, and you should skip to “Task 3: Populating the ESX cache pools with
XtremSF devices” on page 132.

4. Continue with step 1 on page 131 .
Figure 7 The Welcome dialog—VSI plug-in
The Welcome dialog offers links to create the shared datastore and to populate the
local cache pools.
To create the shared datastore, perform the following:
Hint: You can do this 1. Click Create the XtremSW shared datastore (required).
task without the
Welcome dialog, too: The Create Shared Datastore dialog appears.
Select a cluster, and
click EMC VSI >
XtremSW > Cluster
details.From the
Commands panel,
click Create Shared
Datastore, then
follow the steps
below.

The first time you log in to a virtual machine or ESX, or if a certificate has changed,
you will encounter a certificate trust request. Review the certificate and click Trust
if it’s trusted.
This dialog lists the free LUNs in the datacenter. If there are LUNs detected that
are visible to all of the ESX hosts in the datacenter, then only those LUNs are
listed. If there are no such LUNs detected, then all of the free LUNs are listed.
Note: You must create the datastore on a LUN that is visible to all of the ESX hosts
in the datacenter that are running XtremSW Cache. If there are many ESX hosts,
but only one cluster with XtremSW Cache, it is adequate that the datastore LUN be
visible to the ESX hosts in that cluster.
Do not create the shared datastore on a flash device that will be used for caching.
A yellow warning icon to the left of the LUN name indicates that this LUN is not
visible to all ESX hosts, and therefore may not be a candidate for the shared
datastore.
2. Select the LUN where to create the datastore, and click Create Datastore.
3. When a message displays that indicates that the shared datastore has been
created, click Close.
The shared datastore is named XtremSW_Cache_DS. Do not change this name.
After creating the shared datastore, use the vfcmt set_license command to install your
license file. For more information, see the “Licensing” appendix in the XtremSW Cache
Installation Guide.
Continue with populating the cache pools.
Task 3: Populating the ESX cache pools with XtremSF devices
After creating the shared datastore, you need to populate the ESX cache pools with
XtremSF devices.
Every XtremSW Cache-enabled ESX host comes with an empty XtremSW Cache local
pool. The cache pool is a resource from where we allocate cache capacity to the virtual
machines on an ESX. The pool is populated from the flash devices that are installed
on the ESX hosts in the cluster whose cache capacity is added to the cache pool.

These pools are best populated with XtremSF devices.

You can populate the local cache pools of all ESX hosts in the cluster at once, or you
can populate them one by one.
Populating the local cache pools all at once

This procedure populates all ESX hosts in a cluster with the cache capacity of the
XtremSF devices that are installed on those hosts, in one action.
To populate multiple local cache pools, perform the following:
Hint: You can do this 1. From the Welcome dialog, click Populate local cache pools with XtremSF devices
task without the
Welcome dialog, too: (optional).
Select a cluster, and
click EMC VSI >
XtremSW > Cluster
details.From the
Commands panel,
click Populate pools
with XtremSF
devices.
The free XtremSF devices are displayed. Devices that will be populated into their
ESX hosts are checked.
When an ESX host contains multiple devices of the same vendor and model, the
amount of devices, indicated in the # of devices column, will be greater than 1.
Selecting to add those devices to the ESX pool will add all of these devices to the
ESX pool.

Adding devices to the pool erases their contents. Ensure that none of your
devices contain any data that needs to be saved.
The number of devices of a given model appears in the # of Devices column, and
the aggregate size appears in the Total Size column.
2. Click Apply to populate all the checked devices into their ESX hosts.
3. When the process finishes, click OK, then Close.

4. Close the Welcome dialog by clicking OK.
Populating the local cache pools one at a time

This procedure populates a single ESX host with the cache capacity of devices that are
installed on that host. You can use this procedure to populate non-XtremSF devices.
To populate a single local cache pool, perform the following:
1. Select an ESX host.
2. Select EMC VSI > XtremSW > Cache Pool
3. From the Cache pool panel, click Add device.
amount of devices, indicated in the # of devices column, will be greater than 1.
Selecting to add those devices to the ESX pool will add all of these devices to the
ESX pool.

It is highly recommended to populate the pool with flash devices only.
4. Add devices.
Task 4: Enabling XtremSW Cache remote monitoring
You’re almost there!

The next step is to enable remote monitoring of XtremSW Cache virtual machines.
Once remote monitoring has been enabled, disabling it will not affect the state of
XtremSW Cache, but it will prevent monitoring of XtremSW Cache activities from a
virtual machine or an ESX host.
To enable remote monitoring, perform the following steps:

1. In the vSphere client, select a virtual machine, and then select the EMC VSI tab.

2. At the following screen, click Enable XtremSW Remote Management.
Please wait, as this operation could take several seconds.
If this screen does not appear, XtremSW Cache monitoring has already been
enabled.
3. The first time you log in to a virtual machine or ESX, or if a certificate has changed,
you will encounter a certificate trust request. Review the certificate and click Trust
if it’s trusted.
If you click the link and an error message appears, it is due to one of the following
reasons:
• Your user is missing the Global > set custom attribute privilege over this
specific virtual machine. This could happen if the user role is read-only on this
virtual machine.
• The custom attribute is not defined properly. For more information, refer to
Appendix C, “Troubleshooting the VSI Plug-in.”
You can monitor all virtual machines with XtremSW remote management enabled in
the ESX XtremSW > Virtual Machines screen.
Task 5: Enabling UUID mapping
The last step in the process is to enable UUID mapping. This enables the virtual
machine to locate the datastores that will be configured.
You can enable UUID data mapping with the XtremSW Cache management window or
using the vSphere client settings.

To enable UUID mapping with the XtremSW Cache management window, perform the
following steps:
1. From the tree view of the vSphere client window, select a virtual machine.
2. Select the EMC VSI tab.
3. From the Features section, click XtremSW Cache. The XtremSW Cache
management window, Figure 8 on page 137, appears.
4. In the Commands section, click Enable Disk File Mapping to Guest. If this
command does not appear in the Commands section, then it is already enabled.
5. Click OK, then reset the virtual machine. This is not necessary if the UUID mapping
was previously enabled.
To enable UUID mapping with the vSphere settings, perform the following steps:
1. Stop the virtual machine.
2. Add a configuration parameter of disk.EnableUUID=TRUE. You can set the
configuration parameters by choosing Edit Setting > Options > Advanced (General)
for your virtual machine.
3. Shut down and restart the virtual machine.
First-time caching on a virtual machine

Now that you’ve completed all the prerequisites, you are ready to initiate caching
operations.
To initiate caching, you need to perform the following tasks:
◆ “Creating an XtremSW Cache device” on page 137
◆ “Starting source device acceleration” on page 141
You manage and XtremSW activities from the XtremSW management window.
To open the management window, perform the following:

1. Select a virtual machine in the tree view of the vSphere client window
3. From the Features section, choose XtremSW > Cache.

The management window appears.
Figure 8 XtremSW management window
◆ The Status section shows the status of XtremSW Cache on the current machine.
◆ The Commands section shows context-relevant command links.
◆ The Device Configuration section shows the XtremSW Cache devices and source
devices that are added to the current machine.
Creating an XtremSW Cache device

When you create a cache device, the following activities go on in the background:
◆ A search is performed to find an available RDM device that is connected to the
cache pool. If one is not detected, it will be created.
◆ A scan is performed to identify the RDM device.
◆ A search is performed to find a free “cache-pool” LUN to which to connect the
RDM device. If no LUN is found, a new one will be added.
◆ A new SCSI controller is created for the RDM device. If all the controllers (up to 4)
already exist, the device will be added to an existing controller and a warning will
be displayed that you might not get the best performance as the cache device is
not on a dedicated controller.
First-time caching on a virtual machine 137

To create an XtremSW Cache device, perform the following steps:

1. From the Device Configuration area of the management window, click Add
XtremSW Device.
The Add Cache Device dialog appears.
Note: On RHEL 5.x machines, you may be prompted to reset the virtual machine.
Do so, and then start this process again.
2. Click Next.

The Add XtremSW Cache Device dialog appears.
3. Enter the requested cache size, minimum 20 GB.

Pay attention to the free space in the ESX local cache pool. You can request a
cache size greater than the available capacity, but caching will not start until the
free space in the pool increases. This could occur, automatically, when additional
flash devices are added, or by stopping other cache devices.
4. Set the maximum I/O size to be cached by sliding the Maximum I/O request size
to cache bar to the desired position, between 32-128KB. The default value is
64KB (in Windows 128KB).
For more information on this option, see “Changing the maximum I/O size” on
page 161.
5. Set the Requested Page Size by sliding the bar to the desired position, between
8-64KB. You can choose 8, 16, 32, and 64KB. The default value is 8KB (in
Windows, 64KB).
For more information on this option, see “Changing the page size” on page 162.

6. Click OK.
Note: When you add an XtremSW Cache device, you can also enable data
deduplication.
Before enabling deduplication, it is recommended to review “Configuring data
deduplication” on page 159.
Repeat these steps to create additional cache devices.

After the creation of the XtremSW Cache device, you can see it in the following
screens:
The management window
The ESX XtremSW > Virtual Machines screen

The ESX XtremSW > Cache Pool screen
Starting source device acceleration

You start acceleration on a source device by adding (attaching) the source device to an
enabled XtremSW Cache device.
Note: In Oracle RAC environments, you must use the CLI to add source devices. For
more information, see “Adding or removing source devices” on page 70.
To start acceleration of a source device, perform the following steps:

1. In the Device Configuration area of the management window, select an XtremSW
Cache device, then click Add Source Device.
2. In the Add Source device dialog, select a source device and click OK.
Acceleration is started, by default.
The source device appears in the Source devices (LUNs) section of the
management window.
3. Repeat the previous steps for every source device to accelerate.
You can accelerate each source device on only one cache device, but you can
accelerate multiple source devices on one cache device.

The following figure illustrates an XtremSW Cache device with multiple

accelerated source devices.

CHAPTER 7
Managing XtremSW Cache—VSI Plug-In
This chapter describes how to manage the XtremSW Cache feature. Topics include:
◆ Managing XtremSW Cache pools .................................................................... 143
◆ Managing XtremSW Cache devices ................................................................. 148
◆ Viewing virtual machines................................................................................ 156
Managing XtremSW Cache pools

To create and start an XtremSW Cache device on a virtual machine, the ESX host on
which the virtual machine resides must fulfill the following requirements:
◆ The XtremSW Cache ESX driver must be installed. This is accomplished during the
XtremSW Cache installation on the ESX host.
◆ The ESX's XtremSW local cache pool must have free space equal to or greater than
the size of the cache device. The local cache pool is based upon the flash devices
in it.
You can perform the following local cache pool management tasks:
◆ “Adding a flash device to the local cache pool” on page 144
◆ “Removing a flash device from the local cache pool” on page 145
◆ “Displaying XtremSW Cache pool statistics” on page 146
You perform these activities from the Remote Agent Information screen.
To open the Remote Agent Information screen, perform the following:
1. From the tree view, select an ESX.
3. From the Features panel, choose XtremSW > Cache Pool.
Managing XtremSW Cache—VSI Plug-In 143

The Remote Agent Information—Cache Pool screen appears:
The Remote Agent Information section displays:

◆ the XtremSW ESX Cache driver version
◆ the XtremSW remote agent driver version
◆ the XtremSW license status
The Cache Pool section displays:
◆ the total size of the local cache pool
◆ the available size of the pool
◆ the flash devices that are populating the cache pool
You can also use this screen to perform cache pool actions and view cache pool
statistics.
Adding a flash device to the local cache pool

To add a flash device to the XtremSW local cache pool, perform the following:
1. From the Remote Agent Information—Cache Pool screen, click Add Device.

The Add Device dialog appears:
Hint: By default, this 2. Select a line (vendor and model) to add.

dialog shows all
XtremSF devices that Not all displayed devices are flash devices, so only select flash devices.
are installed on the
ESX host, and not in
the local cache pool. Note: You add devices from a specific vendor and model as one unit. If you have
To show other
devices, click Show multiple flash devices of the same model, you have to add all of them. The
non-XtremSF number of devices of a given model appears in the Number of Devices column,
devices.
and the aggregate size appears in the Total Size column.
3. Click OK.
The added device is now shown in this ESX’s local cache pool.
Removing a flash device from the local cache pool

You can remove a flash device from the local cache pool.
Before you do so, you must ensure that there are no XtremSW Cache devices defined
on the flash device, over all virtual machines hosted on this ESX. You can use one of
the following options:
◆ Perform a vMotion to migrate all the virtual machines using the flash device on the
source ESX to a flash device on a different ESX.
◆ Remove all XtremSW Cache devices from the virtual machines hosted on the ESX.
Managing XtremSW Cache pools 145

Note: You remove devices from the XtremSW Cache pool from a specific vendor and
model unit; when you remove one device from that vendor, all of the same devices
from that vendor are removed.
To remove a flash device from the local cache pool, perform the following:
1. Remove all XtremSW Cache devices from virtual machines on the ESX host:
a. From the navigation pane, select the ESX host.
All guest virtual machines appear in the Virtual Machines screen, as illustrated
in the following figure:
b. On every virtual machine that has 1 or more Cache Devices, remove these
cache devices (from the virtual machines EMC VSI tab).
2. From the navigation pane, select the ESX host.
3. Select Cache Pool.
4. In the Cache Pool section, select the device to remove, then click Remove Device.
5. Confirm the removal by clicking OK.
6. When the process is complete, click Close.
The removed flash device is no longer displayed in the pool.
Displaying XtremSW Cache pool statistics

You can view statistics for the local cache pool, or for a specific device.

To view statistics, perform the following:

1. From the Remote Agent Information—Cache Pool screen:
• To display statistics for the entire cache pool, click Pool Statistics.
• To display statistics for a specific device, select the device in the Cache Pool
section, and click Device Statistics.
Displaying cache pool information aggregated across a cluster

You can view cache pool information aggregated across an entire cluster.
To display aggregated cache pool information for a whole cluster, perform the
following:
1. Select a cluster in the navigation tree.

The Local Cache Pool Summary screen appears:
The Local Cache Pool Summary section displays the total capacity, available
capacity, and the number of cache devices defined in all of the ESX hosts in the
cluster combined.

Hint: To quickly open The ESX Local Cache Pools section displays the total capacity, available capacity,
the ESX in the
vSphere client, click and number of cache devices defined per ESX.
its name. If there is
an error state, click You can use the Commands panel to perform the following actions:
anywhere else to see
the error message ◆ Refresh the displayed data.
displayed in the
Details section. ◆ Populate the XtremSW local cache pools with XtremSF devices. For more
information, see “Task 3: Populating the ESX cache pools with XtremSF devices”
on page 132.
◆ Create the shared datastore. This link is only visible if the datastore hasn’t
already been created. For more information, see “Task 2: Creating the
XtremSW shared datastore” on page 129.
Managing XtremSW Cache devices

You use the XtremSW Cache management window to perform the following
management tasks:
◆ “Disabling XtremSW Cache” on page 148
◆ “Modifying an XtremSW Cache device” on page 149
◆ “Removing devices” on page 149
◆ “Displaying statistics” on page 150
◆ “Viewing XtremSF devices” on page 155
◆ “Viewing virtual machines” on page 156
The following sections describe these tasks.
Disabling XtremSW Cache

You can disable XtremSW Cache in the following ways:
◆ Disable remote management
Stops the display of the disabled virtual machine at the ESX host. No change is
made to the state of the caching or the configuration of devices.
◆ Disable caching on the virtual machine
Temporarily stops all caching activity on the source and cache devices and then
stops the service from running. The configuration data remains. This can be
useful for troubleshooting and maintenance.

Note: When RAC-controlled source devices are attached to the cache device, you
must stop them first using the CLI. For more information, see “Starting or stopping
the caching of a source device” on page 73.
To disable remote management, perform the following:

From the Commands section of the management window of a virtual machine, click
Disable XtremSW Remote Management.
To disable caching on a virtual machine, perform the following:

Disable XtremSW on Virtual Machine.
To re-enable caching on a virtual machine, perform the following:

Enable XtremSW on virtual machine. You are prompted whether to restart all the
devices on the virtual machine.
Modifying an XtremSW Cache device

You can modify the maximum I/O and page size parameters of a cache device. Before
you can modify a cache device, the device must be stopped. This will result in a cold
cache.
To modify the parameters perform the following:

1. Select the cache device and click Stop.
2. After the device is stopped, select it and click Modify.
3. Set the new maximum I/O and page size values.
4. Click OK.
5. Select the cache device and click Start.
Note: To change deduplication parameters, delete the cache device and create it
again with the new deduplication parameters.
Removing devices
You can remove a cache or source device.
Managing XtremSW Cache devices 149

Note: In Oracle RAC environments, you must use the CLI to remove source devices. For
To remove a source device, select the device, click Remove, and then confirm.
To remove a cache device, perform the following:
1. Remove all attached source devices.
2. Select the cache device.
3. Click Remove, and then confirm.
4. You are prompted to remove the created RDM device.If you are not expecting to
use it for future caching, you can remove it.
Displaying statistics
You can display cache device and source device statistics.
To display statistics, select the device and click the Statistics link for that device.

The Statistics window appears.
Figure 9 Statistics window—Key Statistics View tab

The Key Statistics View tab shows the following statistics:
Table 8Key Statistics
Group Statistic Description
Aggregated Averages • Read Rate

number of reads from total IOs,
expressed as a percentage
• Cache Hit Rate
number of times that requested
data was found in the cache,
expressed as a percentage
Cache Size and Utilization (only for cache • Cache Size (pages)
devices) total cache size, in pages of 8 kb
• Pages used
number of available cache pages
that are being used, expressed
as a percentage
Deduplication Statistics (only displayed if • Deduplication Hit Ratio

the cache device has deduplication The percentage of write hits in
enabled) the deduplicated cache.
You can display the statistics for the last 2, 5, or 15 minutes.

You can select the Expert View tab to show other statistics.

The Expert View tab shows the following statistics:
Table 9Expert Statistics
Counters Statistic Description
Cache device • Read Hits

amount of read requests that were found in the cache
• Read Misses
amount of read requests that were not found in cache
• Reads Pending
amount of read requests waiting for completion of outstanding IOs
• Write Hits
amount of write requests that were found in the cache
• Write Misses
amount of write requests that were not found in cache
• Writes Pending
amount of write requests waiting for completion of outstanding IOs
• Reads Received
total amount of read requests received
• Writes Received
total amount of write requests received
• I/Os Received
total amount of IOs received
• Unaligned I/Os (source device only)
number of IOs that are unaligned to the VFC cache page
• Partial I/Os
total amount of IOs that were smaller than the cache page size
• I/Os Outstanding
total amount of IOs in progress
• Skipped I/Os (source device only)
number of IOs that are not cached, either because they are larger than
the max I/O size or because the cache device is in passthru mode
• Evictions
number of pages that have been replaced with other data
• Cache Pages
total pages in cache
• Cache Pages Used
total used pages in cache
• Down Reads (source device only)
number of read IOs that are sent to the source device
• Down Writes (source device only)
number of write IOs that are sent to the source device

Table 9Expert Statistics (continued)
Counters Statistic Description
Deduplication • Write Hits

(only displayed if amount of write requests that were found in the cache
the cache device • Write Misses
has deduplication amount of write requests that were not found in cache
enabled) • Writes Received
total amount of write requests received
• Read Hits
amount of read requests that were found in the cache
• Read Misses
amount of read requests that were not found in cache
• Reads Received
total amount of read requests received
• I/Os Received
total amount of IOs received
• Down Reads
number of actual reads to the flash device
• Down Writes
number of actual writes to the flash device
• Validate Hits
number of XtremSW Cache hits that exist in the deduplication cache
• Validate Misses
number of VFC cache hits not found in the deduplication cache
because they have been evicted
• Evictions
number of pages that have been replaced with other data
• Evicted During Read
number of deduplication entries evicted while there are reads in
progress for these entries
• Evicted During Write
number of deduplication entries evicted while there are writes in
progress for these entries
• Entries Number
number of deduplication cache entries
• Occupied Entries Number
number of occupied deduplication cache entries
Note: In many cases, the statistics in the cache device and the source device will not
match.

Viewing XtremSF devices

XtremSF devices are physical devices installed on the ESX host.
To view the XtremSF devices on an ESX host, perform the following:

1. Select an ESX in the navigation tree.
2. Click EMC VSI.
3. From the Features section, choose XtremSW > XtremSF Cards.
The Remote Agent Information—XtremSF Devices screen appears:
The XtremSF Devices screen displays the following information for each attached
XtremSF device:
Table 10 XtremSF Devices field description
Parameter Description
Device Name The device name
Serial Number The device internal serial
Model The EMC device model

number
Viewing XtremSF devices 155

Table 10 XtremSF Devices field description (continued)
Size The device capacity (GB)
Temperature The current device

temperature
Lifetime Remaining The percent of life left on the

device
Viewing virtual machines

You can view information about XtremSW Cache-enabled virtual machines on an ESX
host. These virtual machines must have the XtremSW Cache remote agent installed.
To view virtual machines on a specific ESX, perform the following:

1. Select the ESX from the tree.
3. From the Features section, choose XtremSW -> Virtual Machines.
The Virtual Machines screen appears:
Hint: You can jump to

a virtual machine by
double-clicking its
name.

The Virtual Machines screen displays the following information for each virtual
machine:
Table 11 Virtual Machines field description
Virtual Machine The name of the virtual

machine
Power State The current state of the

virtual machine: powered on
or off
XtremSW Mode The state of the XtremSW

Cache on the virtual
machine: Enabled, Disabled,
or N/A
Cache Size The aggregated size of all the

cache devices on this virtual
machine
Number of Cache Devices Number of cache devices

created on this virtual
machine
Number of Source Devices Number of source devices

(LUNs) being accelerated by
this machine’s cache devices
Viewing virtual machines 157


CHAPTER 8
Advanced Configuration—VSI Plug-In
This chapter explains advanced XtremSW Cache configuration topics. Topics include:
◆ Configuring data deduplication ...................................................................... 159
◆ Changing the maximum I/O size..................................................................... 161
◆ Changing the page size .................................................................................. 162
Configuring data deduplication

expectancy.
cache.
Data deduplication can enable more data to be cached than the physical cache size
would otherwise allow. For example, on a 20 GB XtremSF disk with 20% expected
deduplication, you would obtain 24 GB of effective cache capacity. This relationship,
is shown in the Add XtremSW Cache dialog box.
Oracle and SQL Server).
When enabling deduplication, you set a deduplication ratio (default 20%), the
Expected Data Deduplication Gain, that represents a percentage of the amount of
data in your cache that is duplicated. Deduplication uses RAM, in proportion to this
deduplication ratio.
Advanced Configuration—VSI Plug-In 159

You can view the Deduplication Hit Ratio in the Key Statistics window. This ratio,
calculated by the dividing the amount of deduplication write hits by the deduplication
writes received, shows the amount of duplicate data in the cache.
You can view other deduplication statistics that appear on the right side of the Expert
View window.
To determine the best use of deduplication in your environment, perform the following
steps:
1. Add an XtremSW Cache device, as described in “Creating an XtremSW Cache
device” on page 137.
a. In the Add XtremSW Cache Device dialog, select Use Data Deduplication.
Leave the slider at the default value, 20%.
b. Set maximum I/O and page size.
c. Click OK.
2. Add a source device to this XtremSW Cache device, described in “Starting source
device acceleration” on page 141.
3. After the cache is warm (after letting it run through a typical business cycle), from
the Device Configuration area of the XtremSW Cache management window, select
the cache device and click Statistics.
4. In the Key Statistics window, view the Deduplication Hit Ratio.
Hint: To benefit from • If the Deduplication Hits Ratio is less than 10%, it is recommended to turn off
extended device life,
keep deduplication deduplication.
enabled, and set the
Deduplication Gain • If the Deduplication Hits Ratio is over 35%, it is recommended to raise the
to 0%. deduplication gain to match the observed deduplication.
• If the Deduplication Hits Ratio is between 10% - 35%, it is recommended to
leave the deduplication gain as is.

5. To change the configured gain, remove the XtremSW Cache device, and recreate a
new one using the Add XtremSW Cache device command, as described in
“Creating an XtremSW Cache device” on page 137.
Note: Changing the deduplication gain on an XtremSW Cache device requires that you
first stop all attached source devices, remove the XtremSW Cache device, and then
add a new XtremSW Cache device. This will result in starting with a cold cache.
Changing the maximum I/O size

This section describes how to configure maximum I/O size.
By default, data larger than 64KB (128KB for Windows devices) is passed through to
the disk and not cached. This size is correct for most applications. For some
applications, however, caching will be more effective by enabling data up to 128KB to
be cached.
To best determine the proper maximum I/O size for your environment, follow these
steps:
1. Add an XtremSW Cache device, as described in “Creating an XtremSW Cache
device” on page 137
2. Add a source device to this XtremSW Cache device, as described in “Starting
source device acceleration” on page 141.
3. After the cache is warm (after letting it run through a typical business cycle), from
the Device Configuration area of the XtremSW Cache management window, select
the source device and click Statistics.
4. Determine whether the current maximum I/O size is appropriate, by performing
the following steps:
1. From the Expert View tab of the statistics window, divide the number of
Skipped I/Os by the number of I/Os Received.
2. Multiply the result by 100 to yield a percentage.
3. If the resultant percentage is higher than 25%, you could benefit from
Changing the maximum I/O size 161

Note: If you backup to and from the source device, IOs are likely to be larger than
the default. You do not want to cache the backup IOs, so in this case, it is
recommended to allow more than 25% Exceeds MaxIO and not to increase the
max I/O.
5. To change the maximum I/O, select the cache device, and modify this parameter,
as described in “Modifying an XtremSW Cache device” on page 149.
Changing the page size

To set the page size when adding a new device, see “Creating an XtremSW Cache
device” on page 137.
To set the page size on a current device, see “Modifying an XtremSW Cache device” on
page 149.

PART 4
Using the XtremSW Management Center
The chapters in this part of the guide describe how to use the XtremSW Management
Center to manage XtremSW Cache. Chapters include:
◆ Chapter 9, “Getting Started—XtremSW Management Center,” describes how to log
in and begin using the XtremSW Management Center.
◆ Chapter 10, “Monitoring and Managing Systems,” describes how to use the
Management Center to view and manage systems.
◆ Chapter 11, “Managing Cache and Source Devices,” describes how to set up
caching operations, and how to manage cache and source devices.
◆ Chapter 12, “Configuring XtremSW Management Center Settings,”describes how
to configure Management Center settings.
◆ Appendix B, “Servicing the XtremSW Management Center,”describes how to
perform service activities.
◆ Appendix C, “XtremSW Management Center REST API,”describes how to use the
REST API.
This section describes how to use the XtremSW Management Center to manage
multiple systems. If you only have one or two systems, you may want to use the
XtremSW Lite Client. For more information about the Lite Client, see Part 5, “Using the
XtremSW Lite Client.”
The XtremSW Management Center provides all the functionality of the Lite Client. In
addition, it retains machine history and enables you to manage multiple machines,
physical, virtual, and ESX hosts from a single view.
VNX users can benefit from the integration of the management center with Unisphere
remote for VNX. For VNX LUNs being accelerated by XtremSW Cache, this integration
simplifies the monitoring of the cache performance by displaying the information
directly on the Unisphere Remote management screens. In addition, you can see the
health information of XtremSF flash cards that are managed by the Management
Center from Unisphere Remote.
To enable this integration, register the XtremSW Management Center in the Unisphere
Remote, by providing the IP and credentials of the Management Center. The
registration is from the Settings > Management Settings > Network Menu tab.
CHAPTER 9
Getting Started—XtremSW Management
Center
This chapter introduces the XtremSW Management Center and the Dashboard, the
main management console. Topics include:
◆ Logging in ...................................................................................................... 165
◆ The Dashboard............................................................................................... 166
Logging in
This section describes how to log in to the XtremSW Management Center.
Communication between the Management Center and managed systems uses the
CIM/XML protocol over HTTPS on the port 5989.
1. To log in, enter the IP address of the XtremSW Management Center in any browser
window, as follows:
https://<IP_address>
The login screen appears.
Note: The first time you attempt to log in, you may encounter a security certificate
warning. You can proceed past this warning.
2. Enter the login credentials:

Required, default is admin
• Password
Required, default is Password123#
Note: On first login, you are prompted to change the default password.
Getting Started—XtremSW Management Center 165

Getting Started—XtremSW Management Center
• Domain
The LDAP domain. Required if the user you are logging in with is a member of
an LDAP domain.
3. Click Login.
Upon successfully logging in, the XtremSW Management Center Dashboard appears.
In this document, we’ll refer to it as the Dashboard.
The Dashboard, described in the following section, is the center of your management
activities.
The menu bar is displayed at the top of every XtremSW Management Center window.
You can use the menu bar to access the main functions of the Management Center:
◆ “Viewing and managing managed systems” on page 169
◆ “Viewing XtremSF cards” on page 179
◆ “Viewing alerts” on page 180
◆ “Configuring XtremSW Management Center Settings” on page 199
These tasks are described in the following chapters.
The Dashboard
This section describes how to use the Dashboard.
The Dashboard displays a system view of activities that are relevant to your managed
systems. Managed systems are physical machines, virtual machines, or ESX hosts
upon which XtremSW Cache is running. You add managed systems from the Managed
Systems window, described in “Viewing and managing managed systems” on
page 169. Until you add managed systems, the Dashboard is empty.

The following figure illustrates the Dashboard.
Figure 10 The XtremSW Management Center Dashboard
By default, the Dashboard displays the following panes:

◆ XtremSF Cards by Health State
Displays the health status of XtremSF devices in your system. In this example,
there are 5 XtremSF cards installed on the managed systems, and they are all in
good health.
You can show the details of the XtremSF cards by clicking the bars in the chart. In
the table that appears, you can jump to an XtremSF card host system by clicking
the system address.
For more detailed information on the XtremSF cards, click XtremSF Cards from the
main menu.
◆ Cache Efficiency in the Past 24 Hours
Displays the percentage of read hit rate per source device. In this example, there
is no caching taking place yet, so there is no information shown.
The Dashboard 167

◆ XtremSW Cache Aggregated IOPS

Displays the aggregate number of IOPS that have passed through all cached LUNS
on the managed system. In this example, there is no caching taking place yet, so
there is no information shown.
◆ Unresolved Alerts in the Past 24 hours
Displays system alerts that are still active, that is, they have not yet been solved.
In this example, there are no unresolved alerts within the past 24 hours.
For more detailed alert information, click Alerts from the main menu.
You can change the order of appearance of these panes by selecting a pane’s title bar
and dragging it to a different area of the screen. You can expand a pane by clicking the
expand button in the title bar.
You can refresh a pane or maximize a pane by clicking the appropriate button in the
pane’s title bar.
At the bottom of the dashboard, you can see a summary of the following information:
◆ Systems
The state of all managed systems. In this example, the ten managed systems that
have been added are in the following states:
• 3 machines in good state
• 2 machines in warning state
• 1 machine in error state
• 2 machines with a certificate error
• 2 machines with communication issues
To see the managed systems in each state, click the state icon. In the window that
appears, you can jump to the system details by clicking its hostname or IP.
◆ User
The name of the user that is logged in. You can manage users, as described in
“Managing users” on page 201. You can change the password of the current user
by clicking the gear icon in the top right corner.
◆ Role
The role of the user that is logged in.
The next chapter describes how to add and manage systems.

CHAPTER 10
Monitoring and Managing Systems
This chapter describes how to use the XtremSW Management Center to monitor and
manage your systems. Topics include:
◆ Viewing and managing managed systems ...................................................... 169
◆ Viewing XtremSF cards ................................................................................... 179
◆ Viewing alerts ................................................................................................ 180
◆ Viewing audit log messages ........................................................................... 181
The XtremSW Management Center gives you a single pane-of-glass to all systems that
you want to manage. To manage systems, you must first add them to the Management
Center.
You can add physical servers, ESX hosts, and virtual machines that are running
XtremSW Cache or in which there are XtremSF cards installed.
Note: To add a system, it must have the XtremSW Cache remote agent installed, and
its authentication details must have been set. These steps are typically performed
during product installation.
Viewing and managing managed systems

This section describes how to view and manage managed systems. You perform
managed systems activities from the Managed Systems window.
Monitoring and Managing Systems 169

To enter the Managed Systems window, click Managed Systems in the menu. The
Managed Systems window appears.
Figure 11 Managed Systems window—blank
From the Managed Systems window, you can view and manage systems that are
running XtremSW Cache.
When you first open the Managed Systems window, it will be blank. The next section
describes how to add machines.
Adding managed systems

You use the Managed Systems window to add, view, remove, edit, and monitor
managed systems.

Adding a managed system

Hint: If you have To add a managed system, perform the following:
already started
caching, then at least 1. From the Managed Systems window, click Add System.
one managed system
has already been
added. Use this
The Add System Wizard appears.
section to add
additional systems. 2. Enter the Hostname or IP (IPv4 or IPv6) address of a machine to add, then click
Next.
Note: You must configure DNS to use a hostname.
3. Review and approve the certificate, then click Next.

4. Enter the user name and password for the XtremSW Cache remote agent, then
click Next. The user name and password were configured when setting credentials
during the installation of XtremSW Cache.
The user name and password are case-sensitive.
• User
VFCacheAdmin (default user)
• Password
The password defined for the XtremSW agent user during the installation of
the XtremSW Cache remote agent.
5. You can modify the sampling settings and add a description, then click Next.
6. Approve the system settings, then click Finish.
7. Upon completion of adding the system, click Close.
The new system is now displayed in the Managed Systems window.
Note: If you have applied filters, a new system that does not meet the filter criteria
will not be displayed.
Repeat this process to add all systems you want to manage.
Viewing and managing managed systems 171

The following figure illustrates the Managed Systems window populated with various
systems:
Figure 12 Managed Systems window—populated
The following table describes the parameters shown for each managed system. To
display the advanced settings, select Show Advanced Parameters.
Table 12 Managed Systems window—field description
Parameter Description Displayed
! State of the machine’s health. If there is an Standard

alert, you can click the icon to display a table
of the alerts on this managed system.
Hostname or IP Host name or IP of the machine Standard
Type Virtual machine, ESX, or Physical server Standard
XtremSW Cache Usage and Total cache size and how much source device Standard
Allocation space is being cached

Table 12 Managed Systems window—field description (continued)
Parameter Description Displayed
XtremSF Card Detected Yes or blank (card presence is only detected Standard
if the XtremSW Cache remote agent is
installed on the machine)
XtremSW Cache Installed Yes or blank (only shows if the XtremSW Standard
Cache remote agent is installed on the
machine)
Remote Agent Version The version of the XtremSW Cache remote Advanced
agent
XtremSW Cache Version The version of XtremSW Cache installed on Advanced

the machine
Last Sample Time The last time the machine was sampled Advanced
successfully
Sampling Frequency The frequency at which the machine is Advanced

sampled
Certificate Expiry Date The date on which the current certificate Advanced
expires
License Information The status of the current license Advanced
System Description The user-defined description of the system Standard
Filtering the managed systems view

You can filter which managed systems are displayed by clicking any of the following
filters:
Table 13 Filter states
Filter Description
Display systems in normal state
Display systems in warning state

Table 13 Filter states
Filter Description
Display systems in error state
Display systems with a connection problem
Display systems with a certificate problem
These filters are common throughout the other XtremSW Management Center
windows.
The status bar at the bottom left of the managed systems window gives you a quick
summary of the status of the systems that are displayed, according to the symbols in
the previous table.
You can also filter which systems are displayed by choosing one of the filters in the All
Systems pane. Choose from:
◆ Physical systems
◆ VMware systems, of:
• VMware Clusters
• Non-Clustered ESX Servers
• Other Virtual Machines
Note: To filter VMware systems by clusters or ESX servers, you must first register a
vCenter. For more information, see “Registering a vCenter and adding a shared
datastore” on page 208.
Viewing managed system details—drilling down

You can drill down to a managed system’s details from the Managed Systems window.
Drilling down to a machine’s details is a fundamental part of most actions performed
on machines.
The machine detail tabs vary depending on what kind of machine you are viewing. Not
all monitoring and management actions are relevant to the various system
environments.

For example, ESX hosts and physical servers have physical devices installed, whereas
virtual machines do not. In the former, you can access card-related activities, which
do not appear for virtual machines.
On the other hand, on virtual machines and physical servers, you can perform
activities related to XtremSW Cache devices, such as adding devices, which would not
be relevant to ESX hosts.
To view machine details, from the Managed Systems window, click the machine
hostname or IP address, as illustrated in the following figure:

The following figure illustrates the machine details view for the physical server
selected in the previous figure:
Figure 13 Machine details view—physical server

The following table lists the sections and tabs that appear for each kind of managed
system. The actions that can be performed from the various tabs are described as
parts of specific tasks later in this guide.
Table 14 Machine details—by machine type
Machine type Available sections and tabs
Physical server and • Sections

virtual machine Machine information—displays information about the physical
or virtual machine
Latest Performance Analysis—displays cache statistics
• Tabs
XtremSF Cards—displays details about installed XtremSF cards
(not on virtual machines)
XtremSW Cache Devices—displays details, and enables
activities related to XtremSW Cache devices. For more
information, see “Managing cache devices” on page 196.
LUNs (potential sources)—displays details, and enables
activities related to caching LUNs. For more information, see
“Managing source devices” on page 196.
Performance—displays performance graphs for XtremSW Cache
devices
Counters—displays performance counters for XtremSW Cache
devices
Alerts—displays system alert messages
ESX host • Sections

Machine information—displays information about the ESX
machine
XtremSW Cache Pool Size & Availability—displays information
about the ESX local cache pool
• Tabs
XtremSF Cards—displays details about installed XtremSF cards
XtremSW Cache Pool Cards—displays details and enables
activities related to the local ESX cache pool. For more
information, see “Managing XtremSW Cache pools” on
page 191.
Virtual machines—displays details related to guest virtual
machines
Alerts—displays system alert messages

After drilling down to a machine’s details, you can return to the Managed Systems
window by clicking Managed Systems in the menu bar, or by clicking Managed
Systems in the bread crumb menu:
Removing a managed system

You can remove a managed system from monitoring. Removing a system will delete all
of its history, such as performance statistics and alerts.
To remove a managed system, select the system, then click Remove System.
Note: When selecting a system, select it from anywhere other than its host name/IP.
This selects the entire line.
Editing a managed system

To edit the properties of a managed system, perform the following:
1. Select the system, then click Edit System. The Edit System dialog appears.
Note: When selecting a system, select it from anywhere other than its host
name/IP. This selects the entire line.
2. Make changes, then click Apply.
Updating a system certificate

To update the certificate of a managed system, perform the following:
1. Select the system, then click Update System Certificate.
Note: When selecting a system, select it from anywhere other than its host
name/IP. This selects the entire line.
2. Confirm the update by clicking OK.


Once you confirm the certificate update, your certificate will be invalid, and you will
not be able to communicate with the managed system until you confirm a new
certificate.
Viewing XtremSF cards

The XtremSF window displays information on all XtremSF cards in the managed
systems.
To open the XtremSF window, click XtremSF Cards from the main menu. This window
displays information about all XtremSF cards for all managed systems.
Figure 14 XtremSF Cards window
In the top part of the screen, the following aggregate information is displayed:
◆ Total number of cards
◆ Total capacity (GB) of the cards
◆ The number and ratio of cards per temperature rating
◆ The number and ratio of cards per life expectancy rating
Viewing XtremSF cards 179

In the bottom part of the screen, the following information is displayed, per card:
Table 15 XtremSF window field description
Health An icon that shows the health state of the card
Hosted on The IP or host name where the card is located
Name The operating-system-specific name of the disk (or virtual disk)

where the card is sitting
Capacity The total capacity (GB) of the card
Model The EMC part #
Serial Number The serial number of the card
Current Firmware The current firmware that is installed
Card Temperature The current temperature
Remaining Lifetime The remaining device lifetime
Viewing alerts
The Alerts window displays information on all alerts in the managed systems.
To open the Alerts window, click Alerts from the main menu.
Figure 15 Alerts window—XtremSW Management Center

The Alerts window displays the following information:
Table 16 Alerts window field description
State of alert An icon that shows the state of the alert
Time The time the alert was logged
System The IP or host name where the card is located
Message A message from the system that describes the alert
Resolved Shows whether the alert has been resolved or

not resolved
You can filter the displayed alerts in the following ways:

◆ choosing the alert state icons
◆ entering text in the filter field
◆ choosing a date range
In addition, you can select whether to display alerts that have already been resolved.
Viewing audit log messages

To view audit log messages, choose Settings > Audit Logs from the main menu.
Viewing audit log messages 181

The Audit Logs window appears.
Figure 16 Audit Logs window
The Audit log shows the following actions:

◆ Manage manages systems (add, remove, edit).
◆ Manage vCenter.
◆ Manage users (add, remove, change password and change role).
◆ Configure managed system (add/remove/start/stop cache/source, edit cache,
disable/enable cache)
The following information is displayed for each system log entry:
Table 17 Audit log messages field description
Time The time the action was performed
User The user who performed the action
Managed System The managed system where the action was performed
Action The action during which the activity was generated
Result The result of the action
Description The description of the performed activity
You can filter the displayed logs in the following ways:

◆ Enter filter text in the Filter for field.
◆ Select which errors to display in the Date Range box.

CHAPTER 11
Managing Cache and Source Devices
This section describes how to start caching services, and to manage XtremSW Cache
devices and source devices. Topics include:
◆ Understanding the caching process................................................................ 183
◆ First-time caching........................................................................................... 185
◆ Managing XtremSW Cache pools .................................................................... 191
◆ Managing cache devices ................................................................................ 196
◆ Managing source devices ............................................................................... 196
Understanding the caching process

This section describes the process of starting caching in XtremSW Cache.
Cache devices provide caching (acceleration) to applications running on the LUNs.
One cache device can accelerate several LUNs, but each LUN can only be accelerated
by one cache device.
On physical servers, where there is a physical flash device, this device (or part of it) is
defined as an XtremSW Cache device. You attach source devices directly to the cache
device to provide caching.
On virtual machines, the physical flash device is installed in the ESX host, not in the
guest virtual machine. The ESX host contains a local cache pool, made up of one or
more flash devices. When you create an XtremSW Cache device on a virtual machine,
you are creating an RDM device, linked to the local cache pool, to provide the caching
service.
These differences create differences in the manner in which caching is enabled in the
physical and virtual environments. These differences are explained in the following
sections.
To configure caching on physical servers, continue with “First-time caching” on
page 185.
To configure caching on virtual machines, continue with “Before you begin caching on
a virtual machine” on page 184.
Managing Cache and Source Devices 183

Before you begin caching on a virtual machine

To configure caching on virtual machines, you must first perform the following tasks:
◆ “Task 1: Register a vCenter and create a shared datastore” on page 184
◆ “Task 2: Add managed systems” on page 184
◆ “Task 3: Add flash devices to the local cache pool” on page 185
◆ “Task 4: Enable UUID mapping” on page 185
Task 1: Register a vCenter and create a shared datastore

You use the vCenter Settings window to register a vCenter server. The vCenter is
needed in order to add and remove cache devices on virtual machines.
You also must create a shared datastore. This datastore is used to store the virtual
device RDM link files for the cache devices, as well as the XtremSW Cache
configuration and license information. If you have not created this datastore yet, you
must do so now.
Cache. If that is the case, you will be directed to skip that part of the task.
datacenter that may host a virtual machine with XtremSW Cache on it.
To add a vCenter and a shared datastore, refer to “Registering a vCenter and adding a
shared datastore” on page 208.
After creating the shared datastore, use the vfcmt set_license command to install your
license file. For more information, see the “Licensing” appendix in the XtremSW Cache
Installation Guide.
Task 2: Add managed systems

Before you configure caching, you need to add a managed system. Because you are
configuring caching on a virtual machine, you need to add both an ESX host as well as
at least one of its virtual guest machines.

To add a managed system, see “Adding a managed system” on page 186.
Task 3: Add flash devices to the local cache pool

pool. The cache pool is a resource from where you allocate cache capacity to the
virtual machines hosted on an ESX. The pool is populated from the flash devices that
are installed on the ESX hosts in the cluster whose cache capacity is added to the
cache pool.
These pools are best populated with XtremSF devices.
To populate an ESX local cache pool, see “Populating an XtremSW Cache local pool”
on page 191.
Task 4: Enable UUID mapping

You need to enable UUID mapping on each virtual machine. You enable the UUID
mapping with the vSphere client or the VSI plug-in.
To enable UUID mapping from the vSphere client, perform the following steps:
1. Stop the virtual machine.
2. Add a configuration parameter of disk.EnableUUID=TRUE by choosing Edit Setting
> Options > Advanced (General) for your virtual machine.
3. Shut down and restart the virtual machine.
After you have completed these tasks, continue with the following section, “First-time
caching.”
First-time caching
To configure caching, you need to perform the following steps:
◆ “Task 1: Adding a managed system” on page 186
◆ “Task 2: Adding a cache device” on page 186
◆ “Task 3: Adding a source device” on page 189
First-time caching 185

Task 1: Adding a managed system

Before you can manage or monitor a system, you must add it to the XtremSW
Management Center as a managed system. You add managed systems from the
Managed Systems window.
If you are managing VMware systems, and you performed this step in the previous
section, you can skip to the next task.
To add a managed system, see “Adding managed systems” on page 170.
Task 2: Adding a cache device
You add XtremSW Cache devices that will provide acceleration to source devices
(LUNs). The process of adding cache devices is very similar in the physical and virtual
environment, with the following exception:
In the VMware environment, when you create a cache device, the following activities
go on in the background:
◆ A search is performed to find an available RDM device that is connected to the
cache pool. If one is not detected, it will be created.
◆ A scan is performed to identify the RDM device.
◆ A search is performed to find a free “cache-pool” LUN to which to connect the
RDM device. If no LUN is found, a new one will be added.
◆ A new SCSI controller is created for the RDM device. If all the controllers (up to 4)
already exist, the device will be added to an existing controller and a warning will
be displayed that you might not get the best performance as the cache device is
not on a dedicated controller.
These additional activities result in an additional step when adding a cache device, as
described in the following section.
To create an XtremSW Cache device, perform the following steps:

1. From the Managed Systems tab, drill down to the machine on which you want to
add the XtremSW Cache device, by selecting the IP or host name.
The machine details view appears.
2. Select the XtremSW Cache Device tab, then click Add Cache.

This dialog box In the VMware environment, the Create Cache Device dialog appears.
is relevant only
for virtual
machines
XtremSW Cache searches for an available RDM device through which to create the
link for caching services. When a device is found, the Click Next to configure the
cache message appears.
Note: On RHEL 5.x machines, you may be prompted to reset the virtual machine.
Do so, and then start this process again.
3. Click Next. The Add Cache Device dialog appears,

The Add Cache Device dialog appears.
4. Select the cache size (between 20-500 GB).

When you add a cache device to a virtual machine whose size exceeds the free
space in the ESX local cache pool, a warning appears. You can request a cache
size greater than the available capacity, but caching will not start until the free
space in the pool increases. This could occur, automatically, when additional
flash devices are added, or by stopping other cache devices.
5. Set the maximum I/O size to be cached by sliding the Maximum I/O request size
to cache bar to the desired position, between 32-128KB. The default value is
64KB (in Windows 128KB).
For more information on this option, see “Maximum I/O size” on page 248.
6. Set the Requested Page Size by sliding the bar to the desired position, between
Windows, 64KB).
For more information on this option, see “Page size” on page 249.
7. Click OK.

Note: When you add an XtremSW Cache device, you can also enable data
deduplication. Before enabling deduplication, it is recommended to review “Data
Repeat these steps to create additional cache devices.
Task 3: Adding a source device

This section describes how to attach source devices to a cache device that will provide
caching.
1. From the Managed Systems tab, drill down to the machine on which the XtremSW
Cache device is located, by selecting the IP or host name.
The machine details view appears.
2. Select the LUNs (potential sources) tab.
3. Select source devices to add, then click Add (attach) LUNs to Cache. You can
select multiple LUNs.

The Add Selected LUNs to Cache dialog appears.
4. Select the cache device to use for acceleration of the selected LUNs, then click OK.
If you accepted the default setting, the selected source devices are now being
accelerated, and appear as started in the LUNS (potential sources) tab.
To view all source devices that are being accelerated by a cache device, perform the
following:
1. Drill down to the machine details view, and click the XtremSW Cache Devices tab.

2. Select the cache device, and click Show All Cached LUNs.
Managing XtremSW Cache pools

pool. The cache pool is a resource from where we allocate cache capacity to the virtual
machines on an ESX. The pool is populated from the flash devices that are installed
on the ESX hosts in the cluster whose cache capacity is added to the cache pool.
These pools are best populated with XtremSF devices, though any supported flash
device can be used.
You can add and remove flash devices to a local cache pool.
Populating an XtremSW Cache local pool

To populate an ESX local cache pool, perform the following steps:
1. From the Managed Systems window, drill down to the machine details of the ESX
host to which you want to add the devices, by selecting its host name or IP.

The cache pool details appear in the top section of the screen.
2. Select the XtremSW Cache Pool Cards tab and click Add Device.

In the Add Flash Disk to XtremSW Cache Pool dialog, the free XtremSF devices are
displayed.
To view non-XtremSF devices, clear the Show only XtremSF devices option.
amount of devices, indicated in the Number of Devices column, will be greater
than 1. Selecting to add those devices to the ESX pool will add all of these devices
to the ESX pool. For more information, see “Enabling use of disks for DAS” on
page 28.

It is highly recommended to populate the pool with flash devices only.
3. Select the devices to add to the local cache pool, and click OK.
4. When the devices have been added to the pool, click Close.

Removing a flash device from the local cache pool

You can remove a flash device from the local cache pool.
Before you do so, you must ensure that there are no XtremSW Cache devices defined
on the flash device, over all virtual machines hosted on this ESX host. You can use one
of the following options:
◆ Perform a vMotion to migrate all the virtual machines using the flash device on the
source ESX to a flash device on a different ESX.
◆ Remove all XtremSW Cache devices from the virtual machines hosted on the ESX.
Note: You remove devices from the XtremSW Cache pool from a specific vendor and
model unit; when you remove one device from that vendor, all of the same devices
from that vendor are removed.
To remove a flash device from the local cache pool, perform the following:
1. Remove all XtremSW Cache devices from virtual machines on the ESX host:
a. From the Managed Systems tab, locate all registered virtual machines hosted
by the ESX by filtering by the ESX host.
The following figure illustrates the ESX host in the Managed Systems window:
b. In the left pane, filter by the ESX machine. The hosted virtual machines appear.

The following figure illustrates this for our selected ESX:
The virtual machines that are indicated as accelerating are those with
XtremSW Cache devices,
c. Drill down to the machine details for each virtual machine, then from the
XtremSW Cache tab select the cache device and click Remove Cache.
d. Confirm the removal.
When you remove a cache device, all attached source devices are also removed.
Note: To remove a flash device to which there are RAC source devices attached,
you must first remove the source devices using the CLI, as described in “Adding or
removing source devices” on page 70.
2. Remove the flash device from the cache pool:

a. From the Managed Systems tab of the ESX host, drill down to the machine
details.
b. Select the XtremSW Cache Pool Cards tab.
c. Select the device to remove, and click Remove Device.
d. Confirm the removal by clicking OK.
3. When the process is complete, click Close.
The removed flash device is no longer part of the pool.

Managing cache devices

This section describes how to use the XtremSW Management Center to manage cache
devices.
The actions in this section are identical to those performed in the XtremSW Lite Client
and are described there. Where there are differences, they are noted.
You can perform the following cache management actions:
◆ “Customizing cache device properties” on page 246
◆ “Starting or stopping caching on a cache device” on page 250
◆ “Disabling caching on your machine” on page 251
◆ “Enabling caching on your machine” on page 251
Managing source devices

This section describes how to manage source devices (LUNs) on the managed system.
Note: In Oracle RAC environments, you must use the CLI to manage source devices.
For more information, see “Managing the cache” on page 69.
You can perform the following source device management actions:
◆ “Adding a LUN to a cache device” on page 252
◆ “Removing a LUN from a cache device” on page 252
◆ “Starting and stopping LUN acceleration” on page 253
Displaying statistics and performance details

You can display cache device and source device statistics and counters.

You can view the following statistics and performance details:
◆ “Viewing current accelerated LUNs performance” on page 256
◆ “Viewing performance statistics” on page 257
◆ “Viewing source device raw counters” on page 258
Displaying statistics and performance details 197


CHAPTER 12
Configuring XtremSW Management Center
Settings
This chapter describes how to configure the XtremSW Management Center settings.
Topics include:
◆ Management settings..................................................................................... 199
◆ Managing users ............................................................................................. 201
◆ vCenter settings ............................................................................................. 207
◆ Viewing system log messages ........................................................................ 210
The settings menu gives you access to the following functions:

• “Management settings” on page 199
• “Managing users” on page 201
• “vCenter settings” on page 207
• “Viewing system log messages” on page 210
Management settings
To configure management settings, choose Settings > Management Settings from the
main menu.
Configuring XtremSW Management Center Settings 199

Configuring XtremSW Management Center Settings
The Management Settings window appears.
Figure 17 Management Settings window
You can use this panel to set the following settings:

◆ “XtremSW Management Center Server”
◆ “DNS servers”
◆ “Time servers (NTP)”
XtremSW Management Center Server

Use this section to set network configuration for the XtremSW Management Center.
◆ Server Name
The server's hostname
◆ IP Address
The server's IP address
◆ Subnet Mask
The net mask of the IP address

◆ Gateway
The default gateway for the server
DNS servers
◆ Domain Name
The name of the domain the DNS server
◆ IP address
The IP address of the DNS server serving the domain
◆ Add
Add a new DNS (by IP address) to the DNS servers list
◆ Remove
Remove a DNS from the DNS servers list
◆ Move up
Move the DNS server down in the list. When performing DNS queries, the DNS
servers will be asked sequentially, in the order of the list, until one of them
answers. If a DNS server answers that a record cannot be found, the other DNS
servers will not be questioned.
◆ Move down
Move the DNS server up in the list.
Time servers (NTP)

Servers that holds the time and send NTP updates to update the XtremSW Cache
clock.
◆ Network name
The DNS name of the NTP server. You can specify the NTP server by DNS name.
◆ IP
The IP address of that server. You can specify the NTP server by IP address.
Managing users
To manage users, choose Settings > User Management from the main menu. Only
users with the administrator role can access this window.
Managing users 201

The User Management window appears.
Figure 18 User Management window
You can use this window to perform the following tasks:

◆ “Viewing user roles” on page 202
◆ “Adding users” on page 203
◆ “Changing user role” on page 204
◆ “Removing a user” on page 204
◆ “Changing a user password” on page 204
◆ “Editing LDAP settings” on page 205
Viewing user roles

The User Management window displays the following parameters for defined users:
Table 18 User Management field description
User Name The name of the user
Role The role of the user
Type The user type: Local user, LDAP user, or LDAP group

Adding users
You can define additional users, with various roles. You might want to define users
that do not have administrative rights.
You can use the User Management window to add users.
To add users, perform the following:
1. From the User Management window, click Add User. The User wizard appears.
2. Choose from the available types of users, then click Next.
• Local
User that is defined internally
• LDAP User
User that is defined in the LDAP server
• LDAP Group
An LDAP group that is defined in the LDAP server
3. Enter the User name, password, and password verification, according to the
following guidelines, then click Next.
• Passwords must be 9 to 40 characters in length and cannot contain spaces or
a single quote.
• Passwords must include mixed case, a number, and a special character from
this list: ! , @ # $ % ^ * ? _ ~
• When changing a password, you cannot reuse your last password.
4. Specify the role for the user, then click Next:
• Monitor
View configuration only
• Operator
View and change caching configuration of the managed systems
• Administrator
View and change configuration, and manage the Management Center: register
managed systems, manage users, perform maintenance tasks
5. Click Finish to create the user.
Managing users 203

Changing user role

You use the User Management window to change the role of a defined user.
To change the role of a defined user, perform the following:
1. Select the user and click Change Role.
2. Select from the following roles:
• Monitor
View configuration only
• Operator
View and change caching configuration of the managed systems
• Administrator
View and change configuration, and manage the Management Center: register
managed systems, manage users, perform maintenance tasks
3. Click OK.
Removing a user
You use the User Management window to remove a defined user or group.
Note: The default user, admin, cannot be removed, though you can change its role.
To remove a defined user, perform the following:

1. Select the user and click Remove User.
2. Confirm the deletion.
Changing a user password

You use the User Management window to change a user password.
To change a user password, perform the following:
1. Select the user and click Reset Password.
2. Enter and confirm the new password.
• Passwords must be 9 to 40 characters in length and cannot contain spaces or
a single quote.
• Passwords must include mixed case, a number, and a special character from
this list: ! , @ # $ % ^ * ? _ ~

• When changing a password, you cannot reuse your last password.

3. Click OK, then click Close.
Editing LDAP settings

You use the LDAP Settings tab of the User Management window to perform the
following LDAP tasks:
◆ “Adding an LDAP server” on page 205
◆ “Removing an LDAP server” on page 206
◆ “Uploading a Certificate Chain” on page 207
Adding an LDAP server

You use the LDAP Settings tab of the User Management window to add an LDAP
server. You can configure only one LDAP server to be active at the same time.
To add an LDAP server, perform the following:
1. Choose Settings > Users Management and select the LDAP Settings tab.
2. Enter the LDAP parameters:
• LDAP Domain
The domain name of the LDAP server
• LDAP Server
The IP or DNS name of a server managing the LDAP
• Port
Network port of the LDAP server
• Use LDAPS Protocol
Select this to use LDAPS
• Distinguished Name
The unique identifier of the LDAP user whose credentials will be used to log in
to the LDAP server
• Password
Password for the distinguished name user
Managing users 205

• User Settings
– User ID Attribute
LDAP user object attribute that specifies the user ID (for example, in Active
Directory it is samaccountname).
– User Object Class
LDAP object describing a user
– User Search Path
The base LDAP path from which the LDAP user is searched. If you have a
very large LDAP tree, and all of the XtremSW Management Center users are
in a specific part of the tree, you may want to change this value.
• Group Settings
– Group Member Attribute
LDAP group object attribute that specifies the list of group members
– Group Name Attribute
LDAP group object attribute that specifies the group name
– Group Object Class
LDAP object that describes a group
– Group Search Path
The base LDAP path from which the LDAP group is searched. If you have a
very large LDAP tree, and all of the XtremSW Management Center groups
are in a specific part of the tree, you may want to change this value.
Removing an LDAP server

You use the LDAP Settings tab of the User Management window to remove an LDAP
server. You might want to do this if you are stopping to use LDAP or if you are
switching to a different LDAP domain.
Note: If you remove an LDAP server, and then add another server for the same LDAP
domain, the user and group permissions for this LDAP domain will return.
To remove an LDAP server, perform the following:

2. Click Remove, and confirm.

Uploading a Certificate Chain

You use the LDAP Settings tab of the User Management window to upload a certificate
chain. You might want to do this to personally approve the LDAP server certificate.
This option is only relevant if using LDAPS.
To prepare the certificate chain, get all the certificate in the chain, in base64 format.
Concatenate all the certificates to a file (order of certificates is not important), then
upload that file.
To update a certificate chain, perform the following:
2. Click Update Certificate Chain.
vCenter settings
To manage vCenters, choose Settings > vCenter Settings from the main menu.
The vCenter Settings window appears.
Figure 19 vCenter Settings window
You can use the vCenter Settings window to perform the following tasks:
◆ “Registering a vCenter and adding a shared datastore” on page 208
◆ “Editing vCenter settings” on page 209
vCenter settings 207

◆ “Removing a vCenter” on page 209

◆ “Updating system certificate” on page 209
Registering a vCenter and adding a shared datastore

You use the vCenter Settings window to register a vCenter server. The vCenter is
needed in order to add and remove cache devices on virtual machines. At the same
time, you will create a shared datastore.
This datastore is used to store the virtual device RDM link files for the cache devices,
as well as the XtremSW Cache configuration and license information. If you have not
created this datastore yet, you must do so now.
Cache. If that is so, you will be directed in the procedure below what parts to skip.
The datastore must be created on a LUN that is visible to all ESX hosts in the vCenter
that may host a virtual machine with XtremSW Cache on it. The LUN does not need to
be larger than 1 GB.
To add a vCenter, perform the following:

1. From the main menu, choose Settings > vCenter Settings.
2. Click Add vCenter.
The Add vCenter wizard appears.
3. Enter the Hostname or IP (IPv4 or IPv6) address of a machine to add, then click
Next.
4. Review and approve the certificate, then click Next.
5. Enter the User name and password for the vCenter, then click Next. The user must
have an administrator role.
6. Enter a description (optional), then click Next.
7. Review the details, then click Finish.
8. Click Close.
By default, the Create Shared Datastore wizard begins.

9. Expand a cluster and select an ESX upon where the datastore should be created
and click Next.
Note: Do not create the shared datastore on a flash device that will be used for
caching.
vCenter that may host a virtual machine with XtremSW Cache on it.
10. Select a LUN and click Next.
11. Confirm the shared datastore details and click Finish.
Upon successful completion, the message The datastore was created successfully
appears.
Editing vCenter settings

1. To remove vCenter settings, select the vCenter, then click Edit vCenter. The Edit
System dialog appears.
2. Make changes, then click Apply.
Removing a vCenter
To remove a vCenter, perform the following:
1. Select the vCenter, then click Remove vCenter.
2. Confirm the deletion.
Updating system certificate

To update the system certificate, perform the following:
1. Select the vCenter, then click Update System Certificate.
2. Confirm the update by clicking OK.

Once you confirm the certificate update, your certificate will be invalid, and you will
not be able to communicate with the managed system until you confirm a new
certificate.
vCenter settings 209

Viewing system log messages

To view system log messages, choose Settings > Logs from the main menu.
The System Logs window appears.
Figure 20 System Logs window
The following information appears for each system log entry:
Table 19 System log messages field description
Level Debug, Info, Warn, Error, or Fatal
Timestamp The time the log entry was made
Class For Support use
Message The text of the log entry

◆ Enter filter text in the Filter for field
◆ Select a log level to display in the UI Log Level box
To the right of each log entry, you can scroll up and down to see the full text of the log
entry.

APPENDIX B
Servicing the XtremSW Management Center
This appendix describes how to service the XtremSW Management Center. Topics
include:
◆ Accessing the service menu ........................................................................... 211
◆ Performing service activities........................................................................... 212
Accessing the service menu

You access the service menu from the main menu.
1. To access the service menu, choose Settings > Service XtremeSW Management
Center.
2. Enter the service password.
The service password is set during the initial login. By default, it is the same
password used to access the XtremSW Management Center.
When authentication is complete, the Service Actions menu appears.
You can perform the following service actions:
◆ “Collecting service information” on page 212
Collect information about the server and save it to a file.
◆ “Rebooting the XtremSW Management Center server” on page 212
Reboot XtremSW Management Center server. This can resolve speed issues.
◆ “Changing the service password” on page 212
Change the service password used to access the service menu.
◆ “Disabling SSH access” on page 213
Block SSH access to the system.
◆ “Changing the log level” on page 213
Change the default log level.
◆ “Setting the History cleanup policy” on page 213
Change the settings for history cleanup.
Servicing the XtremSW Management Center 211

Performing service activities

This section describes the service actions you can perform.
Collecting service information

You can use this option to collect logs from the server. This can be helpful for
troubleshooting your server.
Contact your service provider to determine if it is necessary to collect this information
and to establish a process for sending the file to EMC support.
To collect service information, perform the following:
1. From the Service Actions menu, choose Collect Service Information, and click
Execute Service Action.
2. Enter a location where the file should be saved, and click OK.
Rebooting the XtremSW Management Center server

You can use this option to reboot the XtremSW Management Center. This can be
helpful if the system response time seems to have slowed.
To reboot the application server, perform the following:
1. From the Service Actions menu, choose Reboot XtremSW Management Center
Server, and click Execute Service Action.
2. Confirm the reboot.
Changing the service password

You can use this option to change the service password. This password is changed
from the service menu, and not from the user management section.
To change the service password, perform the following:
1. From the Service Actions menu, choose Change Service Password, and click
2. Enter the Old Password, New Password, and New Password confirmation, then
click OK.

Disabling SSH access

By default, SSH access is disabled. You can use this option to toggle SSH access.
To change SSH access, perform the following:
1. From the Service Actions menu, choose Disable SSH (or Enable SSH), and click
2. Confirm the request.
Changing the log level

You can use this option to change the level of events reported to the log.
The following table shows the default log settings:
Table 20 Default log settings
Log action Default
Infrastructure log level Warn
Application events Info
To change the log levels, perform the following:

1. From the Service Actions menu, choose Change Log Level.
2. Choose the desired levels and click Update.
Setting the History cleanup policy

You can use this option to change the history cleanup policies and delete history.
The following table shows the default history cleanup settings:
Table 21 Default history cleanup settings
History setting Default
Save log files for 180 days
Save measurements for 180 days
Save alerts for 1000 days
Daily time for cleanup task 23:00 (11:00 PM)
Performing service activities 213

To change the cleanup settings, perform the following:

1. From the Service Actions menu, choose History cleanup policy.
2. Choose the desired levels and click Update.
To clean up the stored history, click Clean history and then confirm the operation.

APPENDIX C
XtremSW Management Center REST API
This appendix describes the REST API exposed by the XtremSW Management Center.
You can use this API to monitor XtremSW Cache-enabled systems as well as their
installed XtremSF flash devices.
Topics include:
◆ Before you begin ............................................................................................ 215
◆ Monitoring XtremSF devices ........................................................................... 216
◆ Monitoring XtremSW cache devices ................................................................ 218
◆ Data types and enumerations......................................................................... 232
◆ Supported URI patterns .................................................................................. 232
Before you begin

The REST API is served from the XtremSW Management Center. The information
exposed is collected through a secure connection from the agents that are deployed
on the managed systems.
Before you use this API to monitor your systems ensure that:
◆ XtremSW and XtremSF agents are installed on your managed systems and that the
agent credentials to be used by the XtremSW Management Center have been
configured.
You may also want to install a custom server certificate signed by your
organization. If you do not, a default certificate will be created for you.
◆ The XtremSW Management Center vApp is installed and all managed systems are
registered.
The XtremSW Management Center is intended for viewing XtremSF flash devices and
XtremSW Cache-enabled systems and cache devices as well as monitoring alerts and
statistics for these objects. It also exposes internally-used functionality for registering
monitored systems, creating caches, and defining caching services for sources. This
functionality is not currently intended for external use and may be changed without
prior notice. It will thus not be documented here. Please refrain from using it.
XtremSW Management Center REST API 215

The XtremSW management Center Rest API uses JSON encoding and adheres to EMC's
EDAA style conventions for all read operations.
Monitoring XtremSF devices

This section describes how to use the REST API to monitor XtremSF devices.
FlashDisk (extends PhysicalDisk)

The FlashDisk class represents an XtremSF server flash device. It contains technical
information about the device, such as wwn, capacity, speed etc.
Properties
Attribute Value type Description
Description String
Name String
Capacity Long
wwn String
requiredFirmware String The firmware version required for the

device to work with your XtremSW
installation
linkSpeed Int
currentFirmware String The firmware version currently installed on

the device
isInPsanPool Boolean Indicates if the device is in the local cache

pool
isFunctional Boolean Indicates if the device in the local cache

pool is functional
Relationships
Attribute Value type
hostedOnComputerSystem ComputerSystem The ComputerSystem on which this

device is installed
partOfStoragePool StoragePool

FlashDiskMeasurement
The FlashDiskMeasurement has a reference to its FlashDevice object, as well as to any
alerts that the FlashDeviceMeasurement triggered. Use this class to monitor the
amount of wear on a device, its temperature, etc.
Example alerts include device approaching end-of-life” and device temperature above
threshold. The FlashDeviceMeasurement refers to its FlashDevice object, as well as to
any alerts that the FlashDeviceMeasurement triggered.
Properties
writeProtectProgress Int The percentage of the total write cycles

that the flash device can provide that
were used
temperatureLimitBegin Int The device temperature at which a

warning will be displayed
lifeTimeUsed Int The percentage of the life time of the

device that was used up
shutdownTemperature Int The temperature at which the device

will shut down
deviceTemperature Int The temperature of the device
timeOfMeasurement Date The time at which this measurement

was taken
Relationships
triggeredAlerts FlashDiskAlert Link to any alerts triggered by this

measurement
flashDisk FlashDisk The flash device that this measurement

is about
FlashDiskAlert (extends Alert)
Monitoring XtremSF devices 217

Properties
alertType FlashDiskAlertType Enumeration of alert types
alertTime Date The time that the problem was first

detected
endTime Date The time that the problem was remedied

(a value of 0, such as 01.01.1970
indicates the problem still persists)
severity Severity severity enumeration
alertParams Map
Relationships
FlashDisk FlashDisk The device on which the problem

occurred
basedOnMeasurement FlashDiskMeasurement The measurement in which the

problem was detected
computerSystem ComputerSystem The ComputerSystem on which the

card experiencing the problem is
installed
Monitoring XtremSW cache devices

This section describes how to use the REST API to monitor XtremSW Cache device.
Cache
The cache class contains information about an XtremSW cache device.

Properties
pageSize Int The size of each cache page
configuredCacheMode ConfiguredCachingMode The configured operation mode of

the cache device
logicalDiskName String The local name of the disk on which

this cache device is defined
revision Int
maxIOActive Boolean Has the maxIO threshhold been

activated
name String The name/ID of the cache device
maxIOThreshold Int The maximum IO size that will be

served by this cache device
status Severity Indicates whether there is currently

a problem with this cache device
deDupUsed Boolean Is the deduplication feature

activated
description String User-supplied description
expectedDeDupGain Int Indicates the expected

deduplication gain that was
configured for this cache device
runtimeCacheMode RuntimeCachingMode The operation mode of the cache

device
Relationships
cacheMeasurements CacheMeasurement All the performance

measurements for this cache
latestMeasurement CacheMeasurement The most recent performance

measurement for this cache
hostedOnComputerSystem ComputerSystem The Computer system on which

this cache operates
Monitoring XtremSW cache devices 219

storedOnLogicalDisk LogicalDisk The LogicalDisk object for the

local disk on which this cache is
stored
cachingServiceForSource CachingServiceForSource The cachingServiceForSource

objects for all the LUNs served by
this cache
cacheAlerts CacheAlert Current and past alerts for this

cache
CacheAlert (extends Alert)

The CacheAlert class contains information about a past or current problem with a
specific cache device.
Properties
alertType CacheAlertType The only alert type currently

supported is CacheFailed, which
indicates a cache that could not
start due to lack of resources, or
due to hardware issues
alertTime Date The point-in-time the problem

was first detected
endTime Date The point-in-time the problem

was remedied (a value of 0, such
as 01.01.1970 indicates the
problem still persists)
severity Severity Severity Enumeration
Relationships
Value type Description Value type
computerSystem ComputerSystem The computer system from which

this alert originates
cache Cache The cache device that this alert is

about

CacheMeasurement
The CacheMeasurement class represents a performance measurement for a cache. A
measurement contains performance counters for a cache accumulated over a period
of time. If the cache serves multiple LUNs data exposed by the CacheMeasurement
will reflect all of them. Use CachingServiceMeasurement.
Properties
timeOfMeasurement Date The point in time at which the

measurement was started
endTime Date The point in time at which the

measurement was concluded
readHits long The number of read hits produced

by the cache for the measuring
period
readMisses long The number of read misses in the

cache for the measuring period
readsReceived long All reads received (hit & miss)
writeHits long All write hits
writeMisses long All write misses
writeReceived long All writes received (hit & miss)
iosReceived long Total IOs received (read & write)
dedupData CachingMeasurementDedupData
evictions long
partialIos long
CachingMeasurementDedupData
The CachingMeasurementDedupData class contains performance data for the
deduplication mechanism of a XtremSW Cache or cachingServiceForSource. The
measurement period for this data can be retrieved from the corresponding
CacheMeasurement or CachingServiceforSourceMeasurement.

Properties
deDupReadHits Long
deDupReadMisses Long
deDupWriteHits Long
deDupWriteMisses Long
deDupIOsReceived Long
deDupReadsReceived Long
deDupDownReads Long
deDupDownWrites Long
deDupIOErrors Long
deDupWritesReceived Long
deDupEntries Long
deDupOccupiedEntries Long
deDupEvictions Long
deDupEvictedDuringRead Long
deDupEvictedDuringWrite Long
deDupEvictionFailed Long
deDupSignatureErrors Long
deDupCacheIsPurgedErrors Long
deDupValidateMisses Long
deDupValidateHits Long
CachingServiceForSource
The CachingServiceForSource class represents the XtremSW cache service for a single
cached LUN

Properties.
logicalDiskName String The local name of the cached LUN
name String The name/ID of the

CachingServiceforSource object
revision Int
status Severity Indicates whether there is a

problem with this caching service
runtimeCachingMode RuntimeCachingMode The current caching mode for this

caching service
configuredCachingMode ConfiguredCachingMode The configured caching mode for

this caching service
isVMAXSource Boolean Indicates whether the LUN cached

by this caching service is situated
on an EMC VMAX storage array
description String
isFullTrackRead Boolean Indicates whether the EMC VMAX

read-full-track feature is enabled
for this LUN
Relationship
hostedOnComputerSystem ComputerSystem
cachingServiceForSource CachingServiceForSource
Measurements Measurement
latestMeasurement CachingServiceForSource
Measurement
usesCache Cache
cachingServiceForSourceAlerts CachingServiceForSourceAlert
cachesLogicalDisk: LogicalDisk

CachingServiceForSourceMeasurement
The CachingServiceForSourceMeasurement class contains performance data about
the XtremSW cache service provided to a single cached LUN.
Properties
timeOfMeasurement Date The point in time the measurement was

started at
endTime Date The point in time the measurement was

concluded at
readHits Long The number of read hits produced for

the LUN in the measuring period
readMisses Long The number of read misses for the LUN

in the measuring period
readsReceived Long
writeHits Long
writeMisses Long
writeReceived Long
iosReceived Long
dedupData CachingMeasurement
DedupData
unalignedIos Long
skippedIos Long
downReads Long
downWrites Long
totalReadLatency Long
totalWriteLatency Long
totalReadSize Long
totalWriteSize Long

CachingServiceForSourceAlert (extends Alert)

The CachingServiceForSourceAlert contains information a past or current problem
with the caching service provided to a specific LUN.
Properties
alertType CachingServiceForSourceAlertType
alertTime Date The point-in-time the problem was

first detected
endTime Date The point-in-time the problem was

remedied (a value of 0, fpr
example 01.01.1970 indicates the
problem still persists)
severity Severity
Relationships
basedOnMeasurement RawCachingServiceFor The Measurement this alert was

SourceMeasurement created for
cachingServiceForSource CachingServiceForSource The CachingServiceForSource

object this alert relates to get
information about affected LUN,
related Cache, and so on, from this
object
computerSystem ComputerSystem
PhysicalDisk
Properties
description String
name String
capacity Long

wwn String
isInPsanPool Boolean psan device property indicating if the

device is in the psan pool
isFunctional Boolean psan device property indicating if the

device in the psan pool is functional
Relationship
hostedOnComputerSystem ComputerSystem
partOfStoragePool StoragePool
StoragePool
Properties
logicalId String
wwn String This property is populated only if

the pool consists of exactly one
disk, in which case it will contain
the wwn of that disk
description: String
name: String
basedOnSupportedFlashDisks boolean True if all the disks in this pool

are XtremSF flash devices
capacity long The pool's capacity, which is the

sum of the capacities of the disks
in it
storagePoolType StoragePoolType The type of this storage pool
capacity long The pool's capacity, which is the

sum of the capacities of the disks
in it
storagePoolType StoragePoolType The type of this storage pool

Relationships
hostedOnComputerSystem ComputerSystem The computer systems this

storage pool is accessible from
physicalDisks PhysicalDisk The disks that comprise this

storage pool
logicalDisks LogicalDisk
LogicalDisk
The LogicalDisk class contains data about a local logical disk on a computer system
Properties.
name String The local name of the logical disk (typically

something like sda or harddisk1)
uuid String The UUID of the logical disk
description String The description of the logical disk
size Long The capacity of the logical disk
StandaloneComputerSystem (extends ComputerSystem)

The StandaloneComputerSystem class contains information about a 'standalone',
non-virtualized computer system (as opposed to a VM).
Properties
isApplicationClusterNode Boolean Is this ComputerSystem part of a Oracle

RAC cluster?
applicationClusterType String Currently only Oracle RAC is supported
cachingEnabled Boolean Is caching enabled on this

ComputerSystem?
wwn String The wwn of this computer system if

available

description String The description of this computer system
hostName String The name of this computer system
iqn String The iqn of this computer system if

available
name String The name of this computer system
ip String The ip of this computer system
os String The Operating System installed on this

computer system
Relationships
flashDiskAlerts FlashDiskAlert
flashDisks FlashDisk
storagePools StoragePool
cachingServicesForSources CachingServiceForSource
physicalDisks PhysicalDisk
cacheAlerts CacheAlert
cachingServicesForSourceAlerts CachingServiceForSourceAlert
caches Cache
GuestComputerSystem (extends ComputerSystem)

The GuestComputerSystem class contains information about a guest or VM computer
system.

Properties
clusterName String the VMware cluster this VM

belongs to
os String The Operating System installed

on this computer system
isApplicationClusterNode Boolean Is this ComputerSystem part of a

Oracle RAC cluster?
applicationClusterType String Currently only Oracle RAC is

supported
cachingEnabled Boolean Is caching enabled on this

ComputerSystem?
wwn String The wwn of this computer system

if available
description String The description of this computer

system
hostName String The name of this computer

system
iqn String The iqn of this computer system

if available
name String The name of this computer

system
Relationships
cachingServicesForSources CachingServiceForSource
cachingServicesForSourceAlerts CachingServiceForSourceAlert
guestOnHostComputerSystem HostComputerSystem

HostComputerSystem (extends ComputerSystem)

The GuestComputerSystem class contains information about a 'host' computer
system. Currently only VMware virtualization is supported, so all
HostComputerSystems are VMware ESX(i) servers.
Properties
clusterName String the VMware cluster this VM

belongs to
wwn String The wwn of this computer system if

available
description String The description of this computer

system
hostName String The name of this computer system
iqn String The iqn of this computer system if

available
name String The name of this computer system
os String The Operating System installed on

this computer system
psanPoolFunctionalSize Long The size of the PSAN pool, which is

the sum of the capacities of all the
functional devices assigned to the
psan pool (see psan-related
attributes in PhysicalDisk and
FlashDisk classes)
psanPoolAvailableSize Long The free capacity in the psan pool,

which is the functional size the
capacity occupied by the active
caches on all VMs on this ESX

Relationships
flashDiskAlerts FlashDiskAlert
flashDisks FlashDisk
physicalDisks PhysicalDisk
hostedComputerSystems GuestComputerSystem

Data types and enumerations

The following table describes the data types and enumerations used in the REST API:
Data type Enumerations
Severity {"OK", "WARNING", "ERROR", "CRITICAL", "EMERGENCY"}
FlashDiskAlertType { "DeviceTemperatureAboveThermalLimitTemperature",
"DeviceTemperatureAboveShutdownTemperature",
"EndOfLifeNear", "EndOfLifeReached", "WriteProtectIsHigh",
"AllDeviceIsWriteProtect", "FirmwareNotSupported" }
ConfiguredCaching { StoppedByAdmin(0), StoppedByStorageRequest(1),

Mode StoppedByStorageError(2), StoppedByCluster(4), Started(8),
PassThroughReadWrite(16), PassThroughRead(32),
PassThroughWrite(64), NoPassThrough(128), Unknown(-1) }
RuntimeCachingMode { Initial(0), Started(2), Stopped(1), PassThroughRead(6),

PassThroughWrite(10), PassThroughReadWrite(14),
Throttle(15), WriteHit(16), NoPassThrough(258), Unknown(-1) }
CacheAlertType { "CacheFailed" }
CachingServiceForSource { "AllReadsAreSkipped",
AlertType "WriteReadProportionAboveThreshold" }
StoragePoolType { "Logical", "Datastore" }
Supported URI patterns

The following table describes the URI patterns supported in the REST API:

HTTP
meth
URI Pattern Example ods Comments
/api/types/{typeName} • /api/types/Cache/instances GET Get a list of instances by type. Returns

/instances returns all Caches all instances of the given type as well
• /api/types/PhysicalDisk/ as instances of types that inherit from
instances the given type. Can also be applied to
returns all PhysicalDisks and all abstract types.
FlashDisks (FlashDisk inherits from You can use attribute filters in order to
PhysicalDisk) limit the result to the instances you
• /api/types/Alert/instances are interested in.
returns all CacheAlerts, By default only the id will be provided
CachedSourceAlerts, FlashDiskAlerts for related objects. You may use
etc. (they all inherit from abstract class expand=* in order to get the related
Alert) objects in-place. This may reduces the
• /api/types/Alert/instances? number of requests needed, but will
filter=endTime eq 0 cause larger responses, in some
returns all Alerts with endTime = 0 cases it may result in the same object
(alerts that are still active) being returned several times. Note
• /api/types/Alert/instances? that the expand functionality does not
filter=endTime eq 0 and take effect recursively, i.e. it will
severity eq CRITICAL expand only the direct relationships
returns all alerts of critical severity of your query result.
• /api/types/Alert/
instances?expand=*
/api/instances/{id} • /api/instances/{id}/api/ GET Get one instance. Note that the MSA
instances/Cache::12341234 {id} includes the
• /api/instances/ type_name::instance_id for our
Cache::12341234?expand=* objects.
By default only the id will be provided
for related objects. You may use
expand=* in order to get the related
objects in-place. This may reduces the
number of requests needed, but will
cause larger responses. Note that only
direct relationships of the requested
object will be expanded.
/api/instances/{id}/ • /api/instances/Cache::12345/ GET Get all related objects

relationships relationships
/api/instances/{id}/ • api/instances/Cache::12345/ GET Get objects related by a specific

relationships/ relationships/ reference
{relationship} storedOnLogicalDisk
• api/instances/
LogicalDisk::12345/
relationships/
storedOnStoragePool
Supported URI patterns 233


PART 5
Using the XtremSW Lite Client
The chapters in this part describe how to use the XtremSW Lite Client to manage
XtremSW Cache instances. Chapters include:
◆ Chapter 13, “Getting Started—XtremSW Lite Client,” describes how to log in and
the basic functions of the XtremSW Lite Client.
◆ Chapter 14, “Configuring the XtremSW Lite Client,” describes how to configure
and manage XtremSW Cache instances.
◆ Chapter 15, “Viewing Statistics and System Information,” describes how to view
performance statistics and system data for XtremSW Cache instances.
◆ Appendix D, “Troubleshooting,” describes how to solve issues that may arise.
CHAPTER 13
Getting Started—XtremSW Lite Client
This chapter introduces the XtremSW Lite Client. Topics include:

◆ Overview........................................................................................................ 237
◆ Logging in ...................................................................................................... 237
Overview
You can use the XtremSW Lite Client to manage a single system at one time. To
manage multiple systems, either open multiple instances of the Lite Client, or use the
XtremSW Management Center. For more information about the Management Center,
see Part 4, “Using the XtremSW Management Center.”
Hint: To manage and You can use the XtremSW Lite Client to view and manage a physical machine or to
view VMware
environments, it is view a virtual machine or ESX host that is running XtremSW Cache. If that machine has
recommended to use a cache card installed, you can also monitor that card.
the VSI plug-in.
Communication between the Lite Client and managed systems uses the CIM/XML
protocol over HTTPS on the port 5989.
Logging in
This section describes how to log in to the XtremSW Lite Client.
Note: To manage machines, the XtremSW Cache remote agent must be installed on
the machine, and authentication credentials must be defined. If these steps were not
completed during installation, refer to the “Troubleshooting” section of the XtremSW
Cache Installation Guide.
1. Start the XtremSW Lite Client program. The login screen appears.
Note: If the Lite Client desktop icon does not appear, the default installation
folder is C:\Program Files (x86)\EMC XtremSW Lite Client.
2. Enter the login credentials and click Login. All values are required.
Getting Started—XtremSW Lite Client 237

Initial user name is VFCacheAdmin
• Password
The password for user VFCacheAdmin, set during the installation process or by
using the setcredentials script.
• IP
The IP address of a machine upon which XtremSW Cache is running.
Note: You cannot use localhost as the IP, even if the Lite Client is installed on
the managed system.
3. A security certificate warning appears. Review the certificate and, if it’s OK, click
Approve.
Upon successful authentication, the XtremSW Lite Client Managed System window
opens.
The following figure illustrates a physical machine with one XtremSF card installed.
Figure 21 The XtremSW Lite Client Managed System window
You use the Managed System window to view and to manage systems.

The top of the Managed Systems window shows:

◆ Machine information
Displays basic information about the managed machine.
◆ LUN performance analysis
Displays the cache effectiveness performance of the accelerated LUNs.
From the Managed Systems window, you can access the following tabs:
◆ XtremSF Cards
Enables you to view XtremSF cards installed on the managed system.
◆ XtremSW Cache Devices
Enables you to manage XtremSW Cache devices on the managed system.
◆ LUNs (potential sources)
Enables you to manage source devices on the managed system.
◆ Performance
Enables you to view performance statistics on the managed system.
◆ Counters
Enables you to view raw counters on the managed system.
◆ Alerts
Enables you to view alerts on the managed system.
These tabs are described in the following chapters.
Logging in 239

CHAPTER 14
Configuring the XtremSW Lite Client
This chapter describes how to use the XtremSW Lite Client to view and manage your
system. Topics include:
◆ First-time configuration .................................................................................. 241
◆ Managing cache devices ................................................................................ 246
◆ Managing source devices ............................................................................... 252
First-time configuration
This section describes how to begin using the XtremSW Lite Client to manage caching.
You configure caching from the Managed System window.
Figure 22 XtremSW Lite Client Managed System window
When you first open the Managed Systems window, it shows you information about
the machine into which you are logged in as well as about installed XtremSF cards.
However, if no XtremSW Cache devices have been added, and no source devices
(LUNs) are being accelerated, there will be no performance activity.
First, you need to add a cache device and then you can start acceleration.
Configuring the XtremSW Lite Client 241


This section describes how to add a cache device. You need to add a cache device in
order to provide acceleration to source devices.
You add cache devices by allocating the space on a hard disk to provide caching
service.
You can add cache devices to any flash device.
To add a cache device, perform the following steps:
1. From the Managed System window, select the XtremSW Cache Devices tab.
2. Click Add Cache.
The Add Cache dialog appears
Figure 23 Add Cache dialog—XtremSW Lite Client.
3. Choose a flash device to use for the caching. To show non-XtremSF devices, select
Show all devices.

4. Set the Maximum I/O request size to cache by sliding the bar to the desired
position, between 32-128KB. The default value is 64KB (in Windows 128KB).
For more information on this option, see “Maximum I/O size” on page 248.
5. Set the Requested page size by sliding the bar to the desired position, between
Windows, 64KB).
For more information on this option, see “Page size” on page 249.
6. To start the cache device automatically, select Start cache automatically. This
option is selected by default.
7. To enable deduplication, select Use deduplication. For more information on using
deduplication, and how to determine the optimal gain percentage, see “Data
8. Click OK.
The new device is added and is displayed in the XtremSW Cache Devices tab.
Adding source devices to acceleration

This section describes how to add, or attach, a source device to a cache device.
You manage source devices from the LUNs (potential sources) tab.
First-time configuration 243

To add source devices to acceleration, perform the following:

1. From the Managed System window, select the LUNs (potential sources) tab.
Figure 24 LUNs (potential sources) tab—XtremSW Lite Client

On Linux machines, when MultiPath devices are present, only MultiPath devices are
displayed. You can select the Show all LUNs (potential sources) option to display
other source devices, as well as MultiPath “dummy” devices. You should not
accelerate the dummy devices.

The following information is displayed for each LUN:
Table 22 LUNs (potential sources) tab fields—XtremSW Lite Client
Status The state of the source device:

• N/A
Not added to a cache device
• Started
Added to a cache device and currently being accelerated
• Stopped
Added to a cache device, but not currently being accelerated
• Warning
The source device is in a warning state
Device Name The source device name
Size The size of the source device
Cached On The cache device to which this source has been attached
VMAX Read Full Track Shows whether a VMAX source device has the read full track
option enabled
2. Select one or more LUNs, and click Add (attach) LUNs to Cache.
The Add Selected LUNs to Cache dialog appears.
3. Select a cache device to which to attach the source device. You can scroll over to
see the properties of available cache devices.
4. Select Start acceleration after adding LUNs. This option is selected by default.
5. Click OK.
First-time configuration 245

The source device is now attached to the selected cache device, and acceleration of
the source device begins.
Initial configuration is now complete!
Now that you have started acceleration for a source device, you can view the
performance statistics.
Managing cache devices

This section describes how to use the XtremSW Lite Client to manage cache devices.
The actions in this section are identical to those performed in the XtremSW
Management Center. Where there are differences, they are noted.
You can perform the following cache management actions:
◆ “Customizing cache device properties” on page 246
◆ “Starting or stopping caching on a cache device” on page 250
◆ “Disabling caching on your machine” on page 251
◆ “Enabling caching on your machine” on page 251
Customizing cache device properties

You can customize the following cache device properties, either when adding the
cache device, or after it has already been added:
◆ “Data deduplication” on page 246
◆ “Maximum I/O size” on page 248
◆ “Page size” on page 249
Data deduplication
cache.

expectancy.
Oracle and SWQL Server).
When enabling deduplication, you set a deduplication ratio (default 20%) that
represents a percentage of the amount of data in your cache that you expect is
duplicated. Deduplication uses RAM, in proportion to this deduplication ratio.
Before you set deduplication, it is recommended to determine the optimum use for
your environment.
To determine the optimum use of deduplication in your environment, perform the
following steps:
1. Add an XtremSW Cache device, as described in the section below:
• For Lite Client
“Adding a cache device” on page 242, and select Use deduplication.
• For Management Center
“Adding a cache device” on page 186, and select Use deduplication.
Note: You can also perform this test on an existing cache device by editing the
existing cache device. For more information, refer to “Editing cache device
properties” on page 251.
2. Add a source device, as described in the section below:

• For Lite Client
“Adding source devices to acceleration” on page 243.
• For Management Center
“Adding a source device” on page 189.
Managing cache devices 247

3. After the cache is warm (after letting it run through a typical business cycle), use
the data in the Counters tab to calculate the observed deduplication hit ratio, and
compare it to the configured ratio.
• Calculate the observed deduplication hit ratio by dividing the Write Hits by the
Writes Received. This is the amount of duplicate data in the cache.
Hint: To benefit from – If the observed ratio is less than 10%, it is recommended to turn off
extended cache
device life, instead of deduplication.
turning
deduplication off, – If the observed ratio is over 35%, it is recommended to raise the
enable deduplication deduplication gain to match the observed deduplication.
with a gain of 0%.
– If the observed ratio is between 10%
35%, it is recommended to leave the deduplication gain as is.
To change the configured ratio, edit the cache device properties, as described in
“Editing cache device properties” on page 251, or add the cache device from the
start.
Note: Both methods will result in starting with a cold cache.
Maximum I/O size

This section describes how to set maximum I/O size.
By default, data larger than 64KB (in Windows, 128KB) is passed through to the disk
and not cached. This size is correct for most applications. For some applications,
however, caching will be more effective by enabling data up to 128KB to be cached.
You can set the maximum I/O size when adding a new cache device or after the device
has already been added.
Before you change the maximum I/O size, it is recommended to determine the
optimum size for your environment.
To determine the optimum maximum I/O size for your environment, follow these
steps:

1. Add an XtremSW Cache device and allow it to run throughout a typical business
cycle. This enables the cache to warm up.
2. Open the Performance tab for the accelerated source device. For more
information, see “Viewing performance statistics” on page 257.
3. If the percentage of Exceeds MaxIO is higher than 25%, you could benefit from
Note: If you back up to and from the flash device, IOs are likely to be larger than
the default. You do not want to cache the backup IOs, so in this case, it is
recommended to allow more than 25% Exceeds MaxIO and not to increase the
max I/O.
To edit the maximum I/O size, edit the cache device properties, as described in
“Editing cache device properties” on page 251.
Page size
To add a cache device, see the steps described in:
◆ Lite Client
“Adding a cache device” on page 242.
“Adding a cache device” on page 186.
To set the page size for an existing cache device, see “Editing cache device
properties” on page 251.
Removing a cache device

You remove a cache device using the XtremSW Cache Devices tab. When you remove a
cache device, all attached source devices are also removed.

Note: In Oracle RAC environments, you must use the CLI to remove source devices
before you remove a cache device to which the source device is attached. For more
information, see “Adding or removing source devices” on page 70.
To remove a cache device, perform the following steps:

1. From the XtremSW Cache Devices tab, select the cache device and then click
Remove Cache.
2. Confirm the removal.
The cache device, and its attached source devices, are removed.
Starting or stopping caching on a cache device

You start and stop a cache device from performing caching services from the XtremSW
Cache Devices tab. When a cache device is stopped, it does not provide any caching
services.

When you stop caching services, attached source devices are also stopped. When
caching is restarted, it will start with a cold cache.
before you stop a cache device to which the source device is attached. For more
information, see “Adding or removing source devices” on page 70.
To start or stop caching service on a cache device, perform the following steps:
1. From the XtremSW Cache Devices tab, select the cache device and then click Start
Cache or Stop Cache.
Note: The Start Cache button is not available unless the cache device is stopped.
2. Confirm the action.

When you stop caching service, the cache device is not removed, but its caching
services are currently stopped.

Editing cache device properties

You can edit cache device properties from the XtremSW Cache Devices tab. Before you
edit the properties, you must stop caching services.

Stopping caching services will result in a cold cache when it is restarted.
To edit the properties of a cache device, perform the following steps:

1. From the XtremSW Cache Devices tab, select the cache device and click Stop
Cache.
2. When the cache device is stopped, click Edit Cache.
Note: If the Edit Cache option is not available, the cache has not been stopped.
Select the cache, click Stop Cache, confirm, then click Edit Cache.
3. Change the selected properties, and click OK.

4. To restart caching services, restart the cache device.
Disabling caching on your machine

You can disable caching on all cache devices on your machine using the XtremSW
Cache Devices tab. You can use this option to disable caching on all cache devices at
once. Caching will be disabled until it is enabled.
before you disable caching. For more information, see “Adding or removing source
devices” on page 70.
To disable caching, perform the following steps:

1. From the XtremSW Cache Devices tab, click Disable Caching.
Caching is disabled on this machine.
Enabling caching on your machine

You can enable caching from the XtremSW Cache Devices tab.
To enable caching, perform the following steps:

1. From the XtremSW Cache Devices tab, click Enable Caching.

Caching is disabled on this machine.
Managing source devices

This section describes how to manage source devices (LUNs) on the managed system.
Note: In Oracle RAC environments, you must use the CLI to manage source devices.
For more information, see “Managing the cache” on page 69.
You can perform the following source device management actions:

◆ “Adding a LUN to a cache device” on page 252
◆ “Removing a LUN from a cache device” on page 252
◆ “Starting and stopping LUN acceleration” on page 253
Adding a LUN to a cache device

When you add, or attach, a LUN to a cache device, you are designating a certain cache
device to provide acceleration for that source device. A LUN can only be attached to
one cache device, though it is perfectly normal for a single cache device to provide
caching service for several LUNs.
You add LUNs to a cache device using the LUNs (potential sources) tab.
To add LUNs to a cache device, see the steps described in:
◆ Lite Client
“Adding source devices to acceleration” on page 243.
“Adding a source device” on page 189.
Removing a LUN from a cache device

You can remove a LUN from a cache device using the LUNs (potential sources) tab.
To remove a LUN from a cache device, perform the following steps:
1. From the LUNs (potential sources) tab, select one or more source devices to
remove, and click Remove (detach) LUNs from Cache.


The LUN is removed.
Starting and stopping LUN acceleration

You can stop and start an attached LUN from being accelerated using the LUNs
(potential sources) tab.
To stop acceleration of a LUN, perform the following steps:

1. From the LUNs (potential sources) tab, select the started LUNs to stop, and click
Stop Acceleration.
The LUN acceleration is stopped, and will remain stopped until manually started.
To start acceleration of a LUN, perform the following steps:

1. From the LUNs (potential sources) tab, select the LUNs to start, and click Start
Acceleration.
The LUN acceleration is started for all selected LUNs.
Managing source devices 253


CHAPTER 15
Viewing Statistics and System Information
This chapter describes how to view performance statistics, system alerts and logs.
Topics include:
◆ Viewing a managed system ............................................................................ 255
◆ Viewing alerts ................................................................................................ 259
◆ Viewing log messages .................................................................................... 260
Viewing a managed system

This section describes how to use the XtremSW Lite Client to view performance
information and statistics of a managed system.
The actions in this section are identical to those performed in the XtremSW
Management Center. Where there are differences, they are noted.
You can view the following statistics and performance details:
◆ “Viewing current accelerated LUNs performance” on page 256
◆ “Viewing performance statistics” on page 257
◆ “Viewing source device raw counters” on page 258
Viewing Statistics and System Information 255

Viewing current accelerated LUNs performance

The top part of the Managed Systems window shows the Current accelerated LUNs
performance analysis graph.
Figure 25 Latest Performance Analysis
This graph is a bubble chart that depicts the following:

◆ On the X axis, the chart displays the average latency for each I/O performed,
measured in microseconds. The lower (farther to the right) the latency, the better.
◆ On the Y axis, the chart displays the hit rate ratio, that is, the percentage of I/O
that the cache served. The higher the number (closer to the top), the better.
The size of each bubble represents the amount of IOPS served. Smaller bubbles
indicate source devices that are less relevant to the overall results. Devices with no
IOPS are not displayed in the chart.
Under ideal conditions, the largest bubbles will be in the top (high hit rate), right (low
latency) quadrant.
Pass the pointer over a bubble to see its name and statistics.

For a better view of a specific source device, select that device from the list on the
right of the graph.
Viewing performance statistics

You can view performance statistics from the Performance tab.
To view performance statistics, perform the following steps:
1. From the Managed System window (in the Management Center, from the machine
details drill-down view), select the Performance tab.
The performance charts are displayed.
Figure 26 Performance statistics
2. Select the cache or source device whose performance statistics you want to see.
3. You can choose which statistics to see by selecting or clearing the desired boxes.
The following table describes the performance statistics:
Table 23 Performance statistics description
Total Read/sec Total amount of read requests received, per second
Read Hits/sec Amount of read requests that were found in the cache, per
second
Total Writes/sec Total amount of write requests received, per second
Viewing a managed system 257

Table 23 Performance statistics description (continued)
Write Hits/sec Amount of write requests that were found in the cache, per
second
Total IOs/sec Total amount of IOs received, per second
Skipped IOs/sec Total number of IOs that are not cached, per second, either
because they are larger than the max I/O size or because the
cache device is in passthru mode
Average Write Response The average time that it took each write I/O (both hits and
Time misses) to be served, in milliseconds
Average Read Response The average time that it took each read I/O (both hits and
Time misses) to be served, in milliseconds
Viewing source device raw counters

You can view raw counters for a selected device from the Counters tab.
To view raw counters, perform the following steps:
1. From the Managed System window (in the Management Center, from the machine
details drill-down view), select the Counters tab.
Figure 27 Counters statistics—XtremSW Lite Client
2. Select a device from the drop-down list.

The statistics are explained in Table 9 on page 153.

3. You can filter the counter display by adding text to the Filter for box.
Viewing alerts
The Alerts window displays information on all alerts in the managed systems.
To open the Alerts window, click the Alerts tab.
The Alerts window displays the following information:
Table 24 Alerts window field description
State of alert An icon that shows the state of the alert
System The IP or host name where the card is located
Message A message from the system that describes the alert
Resolved Shows whether the alert has been resolved
You can filter the displayed alerts in the following ways:

◆ choosing the alert state icons
◆ entering text in the filter field
◆ choosing a date range
In addition, you can select whether to display alerts that have already been resolved.
Viewing alerts 259

Viewing log messages

You can view system log messages from the Log window.
To view system log messages, choose Log from the main menu.
The Log window appears.
Figure 28 Log Window—XtremSW Lite Client
The following information is displayed for each system log entry:
Table 25 System log messages field description
Level Debug, Info, Warn, Error, or Fatal
Timestamp The time the log entry was made
Class For Support use
Message The text of the log entry

◆ Enter filter text in the Filter for field
◆ Select a log level to display in the UI Log Level box
To the right of each log entry, you can scroll up and down to see the full text of the log
entry.

APPENDIX D
Troubleshooting
This appendix describes the activities that can be performed to troubleshoot

problems that may arise. Topics include:
General issues
◆ Adding a cache device.................................................................................... 262
◆ Adding GPT source devices in Microsoft Cluster Service environment.............. 262
◆ Partitioning source devices ............................................................................ 265
◆ VMAX support ................................................................................................ 265
◆ Card issues .................................................................................................... 265
◆ Error messages .............................................................................................. 274
VSI plug-in and VMware

◆ Activating XtremSW Cache administration ...................................................... 279
◆ Connecting to XtremSW Cache remote agent on a virtual machine .................. 280
◆ Certificate issues............................................................................................ 281
◆ Performance issues ........................................................................................ 282
◆ Using the support tool.................................................................................... 282
◆ Log files ......................................................................................................... 283
◆ Remote monitoring issues .............................................................................. 284
XtremSW Management Center

◆ Configuring IPv6 support for the XtremSW Management Center ...................... 285
◆ Cannot locate a shared LUN ........................................................................... 286
General issues
When you have any concern about caching performance, check these issues first:
◆ Confirm that I/O is flowing through the cached source device.
◆ Verify that the cache source device(s) are those being used by the application.
◆ Verify the application access pattern to make sure it can be accelerated with
XtremSW Cache:
Troubleshooting 261
Troubleshooting
• Use OS tools to confirm that request sizes are smaller than 64k, and that
read-write ratio is around 70% and higher.
• If the application does mostly reads, but the statistics show more writes, it
may be that most of the reads are satisfied by the application caching. Use the
application tools to verify this.
• Verify that the card is operating correctly. For more information, refer to “Card
issues” on page 265.

When adding a cache device on a Windows machine, the following message may
appear:
Command to create or delete OEM partition failed.
The Windows diskpart command also fails. This is caused by a Windows issue.
Workaround:
◆ On a virtual machine, delete the VMDK, recreate it, and try again.
◆ On a physical machine, use the vfcmt secure erase command, then try again. If
this doesn’t work, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2539626.
Adding GPT source devices in Microsoft Cluster Service environment

To add GPT source devices in Microsoft Cluster Service environment, perform the
following:
1. Log in to the Windows server as Administrator.
2. From the Failover Cluster Manager, perform the following:
a. On a node where XtremSW Cache is installed, from the Disk Drives list, locate
the resource (disk drive) that matches your physical disk in the MSCS resource
by right-clicking the resource (disk drive) and choosing Properties.

Troubleshooting
The physical disk appears as Disk: DiskX, as illustrated in the following figure:
b. Add a generic script:

1. From the Actions pane, choose Add a resource > Generic Script. The wizard
begins.
2. In the Script file path, type C:\Program
Files\EMC\VFC\EmcVfcacheMscsClusterVbs.vbs.
3. Click Next, Next, and then Finish.
The new resource, EmcVfcacheMscsClusterVbsScript, should appear in the
Other Resources section. The resource is currently offline.
Note: You will need to copy the EmcVfcacheMscsClusterVbsScript file on all
cluster nodes, even if XtremSW Cache is not installed on that node. If
XtremSW Cache is not installed, you will need to create the folder structure
first, before putting the script there.
4. Manually create a dependency to the shared disk by right-clicking the new
resource and choosing Properties.
5. Select the Dependencies tab, add the shared disk resource (like "cluster
disk 13"), then click OK.
3. From the Windows PowerShell Modules (not Windows PowerShell), perform the
following:
a. Run the following command: Get-WMIObject Win32_DiskDrive |
Where {$_.DeviceId -eq "\\.\PHYSICALDRIVEX"} |
Select-Object serialNumber
General issues 263

Troubleshooting
where X is the number of the drive discovered in step 2 on page 262

A serial number should be output, similar to this:
serialNumber
------------
6000c29696d72d7ac2aead1a1a91046c
b. Run the following command: Import-Module "FailoverClusters"

No output is expected.
c. Run the following command: Get-ClusterResource
"EmcVfcacheMscsClusterVbs Script" |
Set-ClusterParameter -name scsi_id -Value "X" -create
where X is the entire serial number displayed in step a on page 263
No output is expected.
d. Run the following command: Get-ClusterResource
"EmcVfcacheMscsClusterVbs Script" |
Get-ClusterParameter
Output, similar to the following, is expected:
Before adding the serial number, the value would appear blank.
4. From the Failover Cluster Manager, bring the new resource online by right-clicking
it and choosing Bring this resource online.
The resource should now appear as being online.
5. Create a new file, vfcManualSingleApp.def, in
C:\ProgramData\EMC\VFC\system.
Note: This folder is hidden. Navigate there by entering

C:\ProgramData\EMC\VFC\system at the Windows Start menu.
6. Add the source device by running this command: vfcmt add -source_dev
harddiskX
where X is the number of the drive discovered in step 2 on page 262

Troubleshooting
7. Delete vfcManualSingleApp.def (the file created in step 5 on page 264 )

from C:\ProgramData\EMC\VFC\system.
Partitioning source devices

In Linux, once a source device has been started it cannot be partitioned or
re-partitioned.
To partition the device, first stop the device, then create the partition, then restart the
device.
VMAX support
You may encounter a device is busy error in the error log, when attempting to add a
source device or if caching for a source device is not started after reinstalling.
It is likely that a VMAX LUN has been locked by XtremSW Cache. The lock is created
when using XtremSW Cache with VMAX LUNs in order to prevent data corruption.
This error is likely to appear if the server was reinstalled.
To verify if the LUN is locked, try to start it manually. If a busy error is returned, it is
locked.
To unlock the LUN, use the vfcmt release -source_dev command.
Card issues
This section describes the following card issues:
◆ “Operational states” on page 266
◆ “Flash device health” on page 266
◆ “Unplanned shutdown” on page 269
◆ “Finding the card’s serial number” on page 269
◆ “Replacing cards” on page 269
General issues 265

Troubleshooting
Operational states
The XtremSF Cache device can be one in the following operational states:
Table 26 XtremSW Cache driver operational states
State Description
Started Reads and writes are being processed by the cache device. This
is the normal state.
Stopped The device has been stopped.
PT-RD New source reads bypass the cache. This state would be
entered if the cache encounters more than 64 read I/O errors on
cache device.
PT-WR New source writes bypass the cache. This state would be
entered if the cache encounters more than 64 write I/O errors.
PT-RW New reads and writes bypass the cache. This state would be
entered due to health of the device. For more information, refer
to “Flash device health” on page 266. Check the log for
additional information.
You can manually change the operational state of a cache device or source device
using the vfcmt set -opmode command.
Flash device health

Flash devices have a finite life, usually determined by the program erase cycles (e.g.
writes). In addition, flash devices can overheat if they sustain a high level of write
requests.
XtremSW Cache performs periodic health check-ups to prolong the life of your device.
In some cases, XtremSW Cache may slow the rate of I/O or bypass the device
altogether.

Troubleshooting
The following table summarizes the preventative measures that XtremSW Cache will
take to keep your flash device in good shape:
Table 27 Flash device health measures
If this happens… XtremSW Cache will do this…
All flash program erase cycle (“life”) have Change cache status from started to PT-RW.
been consumed.
Drive enters write protect mode because the Change cache status from started to PT-RW
internal temperature is getting too hot
Life consumed reaches 90% Write the following message to the log: - %s:
Attention! - XtremSW Cache cache device
Approaching End of Specified Lifetime.
Continued usage may lead to loss of data
and/or degraded performance”
%s is replaced with the actual OS device
name
Life consumed reaches 100% Write the following message to the log:
%s: Attention!
XtremSW Cache cache device
End of Specified Lifetime has been Reached.
Any Additional Usage will Invalidate Warranty
and Data Retention Specification.
name
The flash device reaches 100 degrees C Write the following message to the log:
%s: Attention!
XtremSW Cache cache is Now in Decreased
Performance Mode due to Thermal Limiting.
name
The flash device exceeds 120 degrees C The flash device is taken offline, and
XtremSW Cache writes the following message
to the log:
%s: Attention!
XtremSW Cache cache is Now in Thermal
Shutdown mode to Prevent Over Heating.
name
General issues 267

Troubleshooting
The following table describes error messages relating to flash device health.
Error message Solution
Attention! - XtremSW Cache cache device - Prepare to replace the card.

Approaching End of Specified Lifetime.
Continued usage may lead to loss of data
and/or degraded performance.
Attention! - XtremSW Cache cache device - Prepare to replace the card.

End of Specified Lifetime has been Reached.
Any Additional Usage will Invalidate Warranty
and Data Retention Specification.
Attention! - XtremSW Cache cache device - If you are using the card for caching, nothing
Approaching Write Protect (Read Only) Mode. needs to be done. If you are using the card for
Please Ensure Any Pending Data is Saved DAS, you should copy your data to another
Prior to Repurposing the Drive as Read Only card as the card will soon be in read-only
or Retiring the Drive. mode.
Attention! - XtremSW Cache cache device is If you are using the card for caching, nothing
Now in Write Protect (Read Only) Mode. Any needs to be done. If you are using the card for
Pending Data Should be Saved to an DAS, you should copy your data to another
Alternative Storage Device. card as the card is now in read-only mode.
Attention! - XtremSW Cache cache is Now in The card overheated, and has stopped
Decreased Performance Mode due to Thermal working. To return the card to normal
Limiting. functionality, run the following command:
vfcmt set -opmode pt-normal
<cache device>.
If this message recurs, check the cooling in
the area, or reduce the amount of source
devices being accelerated to reduce the load.
Attention! - XtremSW Cache cache is Now in The card overheated, and has stopped
Thermal Shutdown mode to Prevent Over working. To return the card to normal
Heating. functionality, run the following command:
vfcmt set -opmode pt-normal
<cache device>.
If this message recurs, check the cooling in
the area, or reduce the amount of source
devices being accelerated to reduce the load.

Troubleshooting
Unplanned shutdown
An unplanned shutdown of the cache device, for instance from a power interruption,
can cause the P320 device to enter into a metadata rebuild state. Rebuild can take up
to 7 minutes. After the rebuild completes, you must restart XtremSW Cache manually.
XtremSW Cache checks for the occurrence of an unplanned shutdown upon the
execution of the start -cache_dev command.
If an unplanned shutdown is identified, XtremSW Cache sends the following message
to the log:
SfcMtStartCache:: Cache(<cache dev>, sn <serial# string> Rebuild <0/1, 0==the card is
rebuilding> err <SfcMtError_t>
Finding the card’s serial number

If you need service on your card, you should gather the following information before
contacting EMC:
◆ Serial number (SN): ____________________________________
◆ Part number (PN) : ____________________________________
◆ Revision number (REV) : ____________________________________
This information is located on a sticker on the flash device and should have been
written down as part of the installation process.
To determine the serial number, type the following command:
vfcmt display -serial <device>
where device is the operating-system specific device name or XtremSW Cache handle.
Note: The vfcmt display -serial command is not supported on ESX machines.
Replacing cards
Before replacing an XtremSF card, perform the following steps:
◆ Before changing your system configuration, back up your data.
◆ If your XtremSF card is partitioned and used for storage (DAS), back up this data
before replacing the device.
The procedure for replacing XtremSF cards is documented in the Replacing Cards
technical note on the EMC Support site.
General issues 269

Troubleshooting
This section describes how to replace a VFCache card. Be sure to review the entire
section before replacing a card.
To replace a card, you must perform the following steps:
◆ “Replacing the physical card” on page 270
◆ “Updating drivers and firmware” on page 272
◆ “Migrating the source devices to the new card” on page 272
Replacing the physical card

To replace the physical card, perform the following steps:
1. Shut down the host and remove the power cord from the power supply.

To avoid electrical shock, disconnect the computer from the main power and
from any networks before installing the controller card.
2. Remove the cover from the chassis, and remove the old card.
3. Remove the bracket screw, if applicable, or disengage the system retention
mechanism.
4. Unpack the new card and inspect it for damage. Unpack the card in a static-free
environment and follow good antistatic grounding procedures. Remove the card
from the antistatic bag and carefully inspect the device for damage. If you notice
any damage, or if any component is missing, replace with a different card.
5. Replace the mounting bracket (system dependent). If required for your system,
replace the full-length mounting bracket that ships on the card with the shorter
bracket supplied. Save and reuse the two screws that attach the long bracket to
attach the short bracket.

Troubleshooting
IMPORTANT
Before continuing the installation, it is highly recommended that you record the
following information, found on the blue label that is affixed to the card:
◆ Serial number (SN): ____________________________________
◆ Part number (PN) : ____________________________________
◆ Revision number (REV) : ____________________________________
Recording this information before installing the card into your system can ease future
troubleshooting needs.
6. Insert the new card in the same slot where the old card was mounted (or in
another available PCI Express slot). Press down gently, but firmly, to properly seat
the card in the slot. The following figure illustrates how to insert the card in a PCI
Express slot.
Bracket
Screw
Press
Here
Press
Here
32-bit Slot
(3.3 V Only)
Edge of
Host Board PCI Express x8 Slot
64-bit Slot
3_00200-00 (3.3 V Only)
Note: The card shape, size, and locations of components might vary from this figure.
General issues 271

Troubleshooting
7. Secure the bracket to the system's chassis. Install the bracket screw, if applicable,
or engage the system retention mechanism to secure the card to the system's
chassis.
8. Replace the system's cover, reconnect the power cord and any network cables.
Turn on the power.
Updating drivers and firmware

To update device drivers and firmware, see the XtremSF User Guide.
Migrating the source devices to the new card

The migration procedure transfers the configuration from the old card to the new card.
If the old device was partitioned to be used as DAS, then partition the new device, in
the same way that the old device was partitioned, before migrating.
To migrate, perform the following steps:
1. Stop all source devices by executing the following command: vfcmt stop
-source_dev
2. Determine the handles of the old and the new card by executing the following
command: vfcmt display -all
The following information appears:
3. Run the following command:

vfcmt migrate -existing_hd <old device handle> -new_hd
<new device handle>
where old device handle is the handle of the old card
where new device handle is the handle of the new card
4. Delete the old device by executing the following command:
vfcmt delete -handle <old device handle>

Troubleshooting
where old device handle is the handle of the old card
Log files
By default, XtremSW Cache logs errors, warnings, and information messages.
You can increase the log level to debug by setting the environment variable to debug
mode "SFC_LOG_LEVEL=Debug". Note that doing so will affect performance and may
dramatically increase your system log requirements. Set this only on the
recommendation of EMC Technical Support.
You can find the log files in the following locations:
◆ Windows
• C:\ProgramData\EMC\VFC\ECOM_logfile
• C:\ProgramData\EMC\VFC\vfcmtsvc
• C:\ProgramData\EMC\VFC\logs
• C:\Program Files\EMC\VFC\toolkit\prog\log\cimomlog
• C:\Program Files\EMC\VFC\toolkit\prog\log\securitylog
• C:\ProgramData\EMC\VFC\logs - for driver log extract feature logs
• Messages intended for the user are sent to the Windows Application Event log,
together with a unique message ID
◆ Linux
• /opt/ECOM/toolkit/prog/log/VFC_log.txt
• /opt/ECOM/toolkit/prog/log/cimomlog.txt
• /opt/ECOM/toolkit/prog/log/securitylog.txt
• /var/log/messages - for VFC driver messages
◆ ESX
• /scratch/log - for management logs
“Please re-run start cache <cache_device> manually” error message

When using the PCIEHHS-3XXL card in a Linux environment, you may encounter the
following message: "Please re-run start cache <cache_device> manually." This
indicates that the device was added, but it failed to start.
Workaround: Start the cache device manually by executing the vfcmt start -cache_dev
<cache_device> command.
General issues 273

Troubleshooting
Slow response times in the CLI

Heavy loads in the Windows environment may cause slow response times in the CLI.
Workaround: Press CTRL+C.
Cache counters (read hits and read IOs) may be incorrect

Cache counters (read hits and read IOs) may be incorrect when the cache did not
receive any IO requests. This can happen after cluster failover.
Cache devices enter passthru mode unexpectedly

Heavy load scenarios with low memory may cause cache device to enter passthru
mode.
Workaround: Stop and restart the cache device.
Error messages
The following table describes common run-time error messages:
Table 28 Common run-time error message
Action Error Message Possible Reason Solution
Adding a cache cmdAdd:: Cache for /dev/rssdb failed, Error: In this case, Use an existing,
device, for 0xe /dev/rssdb is a supported flash
example, vfcmt SFCMT Add Command error (14): Cache Device non-existent device device.
add is invalid, not connected or discovered yet.
-cache_dev
/dev/rssdb
vfcmt add cmdAdd:: Cache for /dev/sdf failed, Error: 0x7 This error occurs when Use a supported
-cache_dev SFCMT Add Command error (7): Device not the device specified for XtremSW Cache flash
/dev/sdf found or is unknown to VFC the cache device is not device
supported by XtremSW
Cache.

Troubleshooting
Table 28 Common run-time error message (continued)
vfcmt add cmdAdd:: Cache for /dev/rssda1 Succeeded, Supported cache sizes Increase the size of
-cache_dev hd=4 are 20GB – 300GB the cache partition.
/dev/rssda1 Proceeding to start cache device
cmdStart:: Cache for /dev/rssda1 failed, Error:
0x26
SFCMT Add command error(38): The size of the
cache device does not meet minimum
requirements.
vfcmt start SFCMT Start command error(7): Device not Here, /dev/rssda1 is Unmount the
-cache_dev found or is unknown to VFC. hosting a mounted filesystem and retry
/dev/rssda1 SFC-Cache Error: XtremSW Cache was unable to filesystem the start command.
gain exclusive access to cache device
The following table describes log error messages:
Table 29 Log error messages
Windows event
ID (decimal) Log message Description
8 Device %1 successfully configured Windows specific. This message is logged each time the
XtremSW Cache agent recognizes and configures a disk
device. The %1 is replaced by “harddiskX” where X is
the disk number.
9 Device %1 was not configured Windows specific. This message occurs if the Windows
successfully, due to: %2 XtremSW Cache agent is unable to configure disk device
%1. %2 is replaced with the specific reason in text
string format.
16 XtremSW Cache Agent transition to Logged when the XtremSW Cache agent enters the
running state normal running state.
17 XtremSW Cache Agent transition to Logged when the XtremSW Cache Agent is stopped
stopped state
18 Admin privileges required! Logged when a user with insufficient privileges

attempts to run an XtremSW Cache function.
19 Cache Device %1 successfully added to Logged when a cache device was successfully added.
XtremSW Cache configuration, with %1 refers to the cache device name and %2 is the
handle %2 numeric handle.
20 Cache Device %1 was not added to Logged when an error occurs during the cache add
XtremSW Cache configuration, due to: operation. %1 specifies the cache device name and %2
%2 provides additional error text.
General issues 275

Troubleshooting
Table 29 Log error messages (continued)
Windows event
21 Source Device %1 successfully added to Logged when source device %1 has been successfully
XtremSW Cache configuration, with added. %2 is the assigned handle.
handle %2
22 Source Device %1 was not added to Logged when a problem occurs adding a source device.
XtremSW Cache configuration, due to: %2 is replaced with a detailed message.
%2
23 Source Device %1 successfully started Logged when source %1 is successfully started
24 Source Device %1 was not started, due Logged when source device %1 fails to start. %2 is
to: %2 replaced with detailed reason.
25 Cache Device %1 successfully started
26 Cache Device %1 was not started, due Logged when cache device fails to start. %2 contains
to: %2 details.
27 Cache Device %1 successfully stopped
28 Source Device %1 was not stopped Logged when attempt to stop source device %1 fails.
successfully, due to: %2
29 Cache Device %1 successfully stopped
30 Cache Device %1 was not stopped, due Logged when attempt to stop cache device failed.
to: %2
31 Source Device handle %1 successfully

deleted
32 Source Device handle %1 was not

deleted, due to: %2
33 Cache Device handle %1 successfully

deleted from XtremSW Cache
configuration
34 Cache Device handle %1 was not

deleted, due to: %2
35 Disabling I/O for Device %1 succeeded Logged when I/O functionality has been disabled.
36 Disabling I/O for Device %1 failed, due

to: %2
37 The configuration for Cache Device %1 %1 is the existing cache device and %2 is the new
successfully migrated to Device %2 cache device.

Troubleshooting
Table 29 Log error messages (continued)
Windows event
38 Cache Device %1 was not Migrated, due

to: %2
39 Cache Purge for Device %1 succeeded
40 Cache Purge for Device %1 failed, due

to: %2
41 XtremSW Cache Configuration Load Logged when automatic boot configuration starts.
started
42 XtremSW Cache Configuration Load Logged at conclusion of boot time load.

Completed.
43 %1: XtremSW Cache cache device - Logged when the flash device is getting close to running
Approaching End of Specified Lifetime. out of program erase cycles. Prepare to replace the flash
Continued usage may lead to loss of device.
data and/or degraded performance
44 %1: XtremSW Cache cache device - End Logged when the flash device has completely run out of
of Specified Lifetime has been Reached. program erase cycles. The device needs to be replaced.
Any Additional Usage will Invalidate
Warranty and Data Retention
Specification
45 %1: XtremSW Cache cache device -

Approaching Write Protect (Read Only)
Mode. Please Ensure Any Pending Data
is Saved Prior to Repurposing the Drive
as Read Only or Retiring the Drive
46 %1: XtremSW Cache cache device is

Now in Write Protect (Read Only) Mode.
Any Pending Data Should be Saved to
an Alternative Storage Device
47 %1: XtremSW Cache device is Now in This message is logged when the flash device exceeds
Decreased Performance Mode due to 100 degrees C.
Thermal Limiting
48 %1: XtremSW Cache cache device is This message is logged when the flash device used for
Now in Thermal Shutdown mode to caching is no longer available. When this event occurs,
Prevent Over Heating all I/O is rerouted directly to the source devices.
General issues 277

Troubleshooting
VSI plug-in and VMware

Installation issues
After installing the plug-in, there should be an XtremSW section in the Features area
of the EMC VSI tab for ESX, virtual machine, and cluster.
If this link is not displayed, either the plug-in is disabled or it was not installed fully.
To correct this, perform one of the following:
◆ In the Feature Manager, enable the plug-in, as described in the following section.
◆ If the plug-in does not appear in the Feature Manager, reinstall it.
Enabling features
You use the Feature Manager to enable, disable, and remove features. The Feature
Manager is available only if there are features installed.
To open the Feature Manager, perform the following steps:
1. From the vSphere client, click Home, and then, from the Solutions and
Applications section, click the EMC VSI icon.
2. Select Feature Manager from the Settings tree menu.

Troubleshooting
Installed VSI features appear. The following figure shows an example.
Figure 29 VSI Feature Manager
To disable or uninstall a particular feature, right-click it and choose Disable or

Uninstall.
Disabled features remain fully installed and can be enabled, via the right-click menu,
at any time.
Uninstalled features are permanently removed once the vSphere client is closed and
must be reinstalled before future use.
To enable a feature that was previously disabled, right-click the feature and select
Enable.
Activating XtremSW Cache administration

The first time you open the EMC VSI tab, you need to activate XtremSW Cache
administration for the virtual machines upon which you want to use XtremSW Cache.
Activate XtremSW Cache administration by clicking the activation link displayed in the
XtremSW tab.
VSI plug-in and VMware 279

Troubleshooting
If the activation fails, indicated by an insufficient privileges message, ensure that you
are logged in with a user with the Global:set custom attribute permission
on the selected virtual machine.
If the activation fails after checking permissions, close the vSphere client, then
re-enter it with a user that has the Global:manage custom attributes
permission on the VCenter (for example, an administrator user). This creates the
custom attribute that stores the activation data.
Connecting to XtremSW Cache remote agent on a virtual machine

After activating XtremSW Cache administration for a virtual machine, the following
error message may appear:
Unable to connect to the agent on the virtual machine. Ensure that the agent is
running and then refresh the device list.
This means that the VSI plug-in failed to connect to the XtremSW Cache remote agent
on the virtual machine.
Follow the steps listed below. After each step, click Refresh.
◆ In the Summary tab for the virtual machine, ensure that the IP address of the
virtual machine appears. If it does not, it is likely that the VMTools software is not
running on the virtual machine. Install the VMTools software on the virtual
machine, then click Refresh.

Troubleshooting
◆ Check for the following connection errors:

• Basic connection errors
– Ensure that the XtremSW Cache remote agent is started on the virtual
machine. In Linux, run ps -elf | grep -i ecom. In Windows, check
that the EMC XtremSW Cache Agent Service is running in the Service
Monitor.
– Use netstat or another network monitoring tool to test the EMC
XtremSW Cache remote agent connectivity. The remote agent should be
listening to port 5989.
– Ensure that all firewalls between the server and client are forwarding the
connections on all of these ports.
• Incorrect security credentials. Ensure that the authentication details are
correct by performing the following step:
– Rerun the set_credentials script or batch file. This deletes all CST
lock box users previously created for the usage of XtremSW Cache. In
addition, the script overwrites the default password, as well as any other
previously-defined passwords.
Certificate issues
You may not be able to trust a certificate.
This could be caused by a time gap, where the server that is running the XtremSW
Cache remote agent has a later time then the client that is running the vSphere client.
As the certificate has a start date in the future, you will not be able to accept it.
You can solve this in either of the following ways:
◆ Synchronize the client clock to the server.
◆ Wait to trust the certificate until the client's clock reaches the same time that the
server clock was when the XtremSW Cache remote agent installation took place.

Troubleshooting
Performance issues
Problem: XtremSW Cache is configured properly, but there is no noticeable
performance boost for the load on the virtual machine.
Solutions:
◆ View the statistics in the XtremSW Cache feature to determine the effectiveness of
XtremSW Cache and the type of load running on the device to be accelerated.
XtremSW Cache is most effective with loads with a high proportion of read vs.
write access.
◆ Ensure that you have provisioned enough space on the cache device to contain
the ‘hot’ working set on the source device to be accelerated.
Using the support tool

The XtremSW Cache support tool collects information about the vSphere host
machine environment and the XtremSW Cache and required components
installations.
This information can be helpful if the need for troubleshooting arises.
The following information is collected:
◆ Environment properties: information such as machine and user names
◆ Environment variables
◆ XtremSW Cache files and file information
◆ XtremSW Cache required components registry entries and assemblies
◆ Certificate files
◆ Migration log files
The support tool is installed during the installation process. If you did not install the
support tool during the initial installation, you can reinstall the plug-in, and choose to
install the support tool only.
The support tool is installed, by default, in the \Program Files
(x86)\EMC\VFCache\Support folder.
By default, the support tool gathers information into a ZIP file named
VFCacheSupportInfo-<time stamp>.zip.

Troubleshooting
Usage:
EMC.VFCache.SupportTool.exe [-ovph] [output directory]
You can run the support tool in the following modes:
◆ Normal (no flags)
Output is located in the folder from where the support tool was run.
◆ Output -o
Directs the output to a different folder that you specify.
◆ Verbose -v
Includes additional debugging information.
◆ Prerequisite -p
Checks whether the prerequisites are installed. Results are displayed in the
command line and written to a log file named
EMC.VFCache.SupportTool.Prerequisites.log, in the current
directory.
◆ Help -h
Shows help for the tool.
Log files
The following table describes the log files that are useful for troubleshooting:
Table 30 Log files
Machine Folder File
Client %AppData%\EMC\Virtu • XtremSW Cache log file

al Storage Integrator\ EMC.VSI.VSphere4.Features.VFCache.txt
vSphere4\Logs • XtremSW Cache Agent Client log file
EMC.VSI.VSphere4.Features.VFCache.AgentClient.txt
• VSI logs
EMC.VSI.VSphere4.txt EMC.VSI.txt

Troubleshooting
Table 30 Log files (continued)
Machine Folder File
Server Linux • XtremSW Cache Agent log file

/opt/ECOM/toolkit/ cimomlog.txt
prog/log • XtremSW Cache Agent Security log file
securitylog.txt
• XtremSW Cache Agent Provider log file
VFC_log.txt
Installation log files are located in /var/log/messages
Windows • XtremSW Cache Agent log file

C:\Program cimomlog.txt
Files\EMC\VFC • XtremSW Cache Agent Security log file
\toolkit\prog\log' securitylog.txt
Windows • XtremSW Cache Agent provider log file

C:\ProgramData\EMC\ ECOM_logfile.txt
VFC (hidden folder) • XtremSW Cache Agent service messages written to
the standard output
Vfcmtsvc.log
.dat files %AppData%\EMC\Virtu • EMC.VSI.VSphere4.Features.VFCache.Plugin.dat

al Storage Integrator\ • EMC.VSI.VSphere4.Features.VFCache.Migration.<vm-id
vSphere4\Data >.dat
The logs generated via the log extract feature are located in the log.zip file located in
C:\ProgramData\EMC\VFC\logs.
The XtremSW Cache Agent certificates are located in the following folder:
%AppData%\EMC\Virtual Storage Integrator\vSphere4\Data
\EMC.VSI.VSphere4.Features.VFCache.Certificates
You can also view the certificate folder via the VSI plug-in. Select Home > EMC VSI >
XtremSW and click Certificates Store.
Remote monitoring issues

This section describes issues that may arise when attempting to log in to the VSI
plug-in, the XtremSW Management Center, or the XtremSW Lite Client.
For proper connectivity, the following pieces must all be in place:
◆ The XtremSW Cache remote agent must be installed on the remote machine.
This is done during the installation process.

Troubleshooting
◆ Authentication credentials must be configured on the remote machine.

This is done during the installation process.
◆ Authentication credentials must be entered on the management machine.
This is part of the management utility configuration process.
If any part was not completed successfully, you will not be able to connect to the
remote machine.
Note: It is much easier to configure remote connectivity during the installation process
rather than trying to fix it afterwards. For this reason, it is highly recommended to
enable remote monitoring and authentication during the installation process, even if
you do not know if you will be using it.
XtremSW Management Center

Configuring IPv6 support for the XtremSW Management Center
The OVF template does not support IPv6 address configuration as part of the
deployment process.
In many cases, IPv6 address auto-configuration is enabled when connecting to an
IPv6 network. If it is not, you can configure an IPv6 address by performing the
following, while the machine is running:
1. Log in as root.
2. Run the following command:
papi_clust_set.sh ipv6_conf "<mode> <ipv6> <prefixLength>
<gw>"
where:
• mode is the address configuration mode (disable, slaac, static, or
unconfigured)
• ipv6 is the address to be configured
• prefixLength is the IPv6 address prefix length
• gw is the gateway address
XtremSW Management Center 285

Troubleshooting
For example: papi_clust_set.sh ipv6_conf "static

3FFE:80C0:22C:817E:250:56ff:feba:6fd2 64
3FFE:80C0:22C:817E::0"
Cannot locate a shared LUN

You are unable to find a shared LUN on which to create a datastore, but you are sure
that one exists.
Workaround: Use the vSphere client to manually create the datastore.
1. From the ESX on which to create the datastore, select the Configuration tab and
click Storage.
2. In the Datastores section, click Add Storage.
3. Select Disk/LUN, click Next, and select the desired LUN.
4. Select VMFS-5, and enter the name XtremSW_Cache_DS (you must use this
name).
5. Select maximum capacity.
Flash device cannot be added to local cache pool

When trying to add a flash device to a local cache pool, it may appear greyed out
(unavailable), showing that there is a datastore on it.
Workaround: If there is data on the device, back it up, then perform the following:
1. Use the vSphere client to remove the datastore.
2. Refresh the view.
3. Add the device again.
XtremSW Cache data from a Windows managed system does not appear in
Unisphere
XtremSW Cache data from a Windows managed system does not appear. This can
happen when the following conditions are all met:
◆ The VNX storage to which the managed system is connected can't see the
machine IP.

Troubleshooting
◆ The managed system is connected via SCSI (not iSCSI).

◆ The Windows machine is a member in an Active Directory domain.
◆ The Windows machine has Users Account Control activated
Workaround: Create a DWORD value named "LocalAccountTokenFilterPolicy" with
value 1 in the managed system registry key:
[HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Polici
es\System]
Note: Setting this value has security implications. It is highly recommended to study
the implications before setting this value.
Plug and play devices must be rebooted

When creating XtremSW Cache devices on plug and play devices (such as in RHEL 6.1
or Win2008), a message is displayed that you must reboot before using the new
device.
Workaround: In most cases, you can simply refresh the XtremSW Cache view.
Cache disks cannot be created

If the config.UUID variable is missing, you cannot create cache disks.
Workaround: Ensure that disk file mapping to guest has been enabled. For more
information, refer to the XtremSW Cache User Guide.
XtremSW Cache tabs do not appear

If the XtremSW Cache tabs do not appear, XtremSW Cache may need to be enabled.
Workaround: Use the Feature Manager (Home > Solutions and Applications > EMC VSI)
and enable the XtremSW plug-in.
Statistics grid and graphs do not appear

Clearing the Auto refresh box before the statistic grid and graphs appear will prevent
their appearance.
Workaround: Select the Auto refresh box, allow the grids and chart to appear, then
you can clear the auto refresh option later.
XtremSW Management Center 287

Troubleshooting
False IO errors may appear

When performing live vMotion, false IO errors may appear. These errors can be
ignored.

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EMC® Xtrem Family

Published November, 2013

2 EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1

Part 1 XtremSW Cache Basics

Chapter 1 Introduction to Managing XtremSW Cache

Chapter 2 Before You Begin

Part 2 Using the Command Line Interface (CLI)

Chapter 3 Getting Started—CLI

EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1 3

Linux example ......................................................................... 66

Chapter 4 Managing XtremSW Cache—CLI

Chapter 5 Advanced Management Topics—CLI

Appendix A Command Reference—CLI

Part 3 Using the VSI Plug-in for VMware

4 EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1

Chapter 6 Getting Started—VSI Plug-In

Chapter 7 Managing XtremSW Cache—VSI Plug-In

Chapter 8 Advanced Configuration—VSI Plug-In

Part 4 Using the XtremSW Management Center

Chapter 9 Getting Started—XtremSW Management Center

Chapter 10 Monitoring and Managing Systems

EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1 5

Chapter 11 Managing Cache and Source Devices

Chapter 12 Configuring XtremSW Management Center Settings

Appendix B Servicing the XtremSW Management Center

Appendix C XtremSW Management Center REST API

6 EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1

Part 5 Using the XtremSW Lite Client

Chapter 13 Getting Started—XtremSW Lite Client

Chapter 14 Configuring the XtremSW Lite Client

Chapter 15 Viewing Statistics and System Information

EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1 7

Connecting to XtremSW Cache remote agent on a virtual machine

8 EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1

1 Supported source devices ............................................................................. 25

EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1 9

10 EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1

1 XtremSW Cache deployment in an Oracle RAC environment ........................... 43

EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1 11

12 EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1

EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1 13

Conventions used in this document

Note: A note presents information that is important, but not hazard-related.

14 EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1

Where to get help

EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1 15

16 EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1

Understanding XtremSW Cache

Understanding XtremSW Cache 19

Note: XtremSW supports the following cluster environment solutions:

XtremSW Cache management utilities

20 EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1

Management utility comparison

XtremSW Cache management utilities 21

22 EMC XtremSW Cache User Guide v2.0.1

Supported devices and multi-pathing

Multi-pathing and cache devices

PowerPath and LVM