Page 3 - Contents
Contents 3 Contents About this guide ........................................................................................................................... 6 Contents summary ...........................................................................................................................
Page 6 - About this guide; Contents summary
About this guide 6 About this guide Contents summary • Instructions on downloading and installing the approved driver and utilities • Instructions on maintaining the IO Accelerator • Description of the following IO Accelerator models: o HP IO Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class o HP PCIe IO Accelera...
Page 7 - Introduction; Overview
Introduction 7 Introduction Overview Designed around ioMemory, a revolutionary storage architecture, HP IO Accelerator is an advanced NAND flash storage device. With performance comparable to DRAM and storage capacity on par with hard disks, the IO Accelerator increases performance so that every ser...
Page 8 - Performance attributes
Introduction 8 • QK762A: HP 785GB IO MLC Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class • QK763A: HP 1.2 TB IO MLC Accelerator for BladeSystem c-Class IMPORTANT: Generation 2 IO accelerators for BladeSystem c-Class are only compatible with Gen8 and later server blades. • 673642-B21: HP 365GB Multi Level Cell G...
Page 9 - Required operating environment; Supported firmware revisions; Supported hardware
Introduction 9 NOTE: MSI was disabled to obtain these statistics. Required operating environment The IO Accelerator is supported for use in the following operating environments: • Windows Server 2003 (x86_64-bit only) SP2 (not supported on Gen8 servers) • Windows Server 2008 (x86_64-bit only) R1 wit...
Page 12 - Windows Server environments; Installation overview; Uninstalling a previously-installed driver
Windows Server environments 12 Windows Server environments Installation overview CAUTION: The firmware for all IO Accelerator devices in a system running HP IO Accelerator VSL 3.1.x or later must be upgraded to the latest version of the firmware. CAUTION: If you have IO Accelerator devices configure...
Page 14 - Using the Setup Wizard
Windows Server environments 14 Using the Setup Wizard 1. Download the IO Accelerator installation program. The Welcome screen appears. 2. Click Next. The Installation Recommendations screen appears.
Page 20 - Upgrading procedure
Windows Server environments 20 The –o overformat option is not supported in the 3.x.x VSL software. All upgraded HP IO Accelerator devices are formatted to the maximum advertised capacity, regardless of whether the device was overformatted prior to the upgrade. Upgrading procedure Be sure to follow ...
Page 21 - Manual installation on Windows Server
Windows Server environments 21 d. To select a different folder for the installation, browse to the folder and click OK. The default folder is C:\Program Files\HP IO Accelerator. The uninstaller file is placed in the root of the HP IO Accelerator (default install folder). e. Follow the onscreen promp...
Page 22 - Manually installing on Windows Server 2003
Windows Server environments 22 Manually installing on Windows Server 2003 The Windows® Driver Wizard automatically detects the new IO Accelerator and begins to locate its driver after you restart the system. First, Windows® prompts you to locate the software driver. 1. If you have not done so, downl...
Page 23 - Upgrading the device firmware using Windows; Viewing the firmware version; Performing the upgrade
Windows Server environments 23 Manually installing on Windows Server 2008 and 2012 The Windows Driver Wizard automatically detects the new IO Accelerator and begins to locate its driver after you restart the system. First, the OS prompts you to locate the software driver. 1. Click Browse next to the...
Page 24 - Upgrading driver software using Windows
Windows Server environments 24 CAUTION: Do not turn off the power during a firmware upgrade, because this might cause device failure. If a UPS is not in place, consider adding one to the system before performing a firmware upgrade. NOTE: You might be required to upgrade the IO Accelerator driver if ...
Page 25 - Upgrading driver software using Windows in a RAID
Windows Server environments 25 CAUTION: Be sure to read the Release Notes document that comes with each new release as well as these installation instructions to ensure no loss of data when performing upgrades. 2. Follow the steps in "Uninstalling the IO Accelerator driver" uninstall the exi...
Page 26 - Defragmentation; Outdated firmware check
Windows Server environments 26 Your Windows® operating system now detects the devices in the RAID configuration with the upgraded software. Defragmentation The IO Accelerator does not need to be defragmented. However, some Windows® versions automatically run defragmentation as a scheduled task. If n...
Page 27 - Enabling PCIe power
Windows Server environments 27 You can use the (optional) HP IO Accelerator Management Tool GUI program to check for outdated firmware. To check for outdated or old firmware: 1. Launch the IO Accelerator Management Tool application and look for any devices that have a warning symbol. 2. To ensure th...
Page 28 - Adding a file system, formatting, and performing
Windows Server environments 28 2. Expand HP StorageWorks IO Accelerators, and then double-click HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator. The Properties dialog box appears. The Location field shows the bus number for your device ( fct8 in the following example). NOTE: HP assigns bus numbers, which begin at 0....
Page 29 - Creating a RAID configuration; SNMP details for Windows operating systems
Windows Server environments 29 3. After the device is initialized, you can add partitions or volumes. For more information, see the Disk Management documentation. You can create dynamic volumes, which can be used in multi-disk RAID configurations (spanned, striped, or mirrored). For more information...
Page 30 - Using test mode registry values
Windows Server environments 30 NOTE: To use SNMP test mode, you must have installed the SNMP option with your PCIe IO Accelerator. Using test mode registry values The following table shows the registry entries included for SNMP test values. Entries marked by an asterisk (*) generate SNMP traps when ...
Page 31 - SNMP MIB fields supporting Windows Server
Windows Server environments 31 SNMP test registry entry Description • formatting(8) • updating(9) • attach(10) • detach(11) • format(12) • update(13) cpqioDrvInfoWearoutIndicator* Boolean: True = device has surpassed the wearout threshold. cpqioDrvTestMode Set test mode on or off cpqioDrvTestModeInd...
Page 33 - Using installation logs; Windows Installer logging options
Windows Server environments 33 • cpqIoDimmExtnBytesReadL • cpqIoDimmExtnBytesWrittenU • cpqIoDimmExtnBytesWrittenL • cpqIoDimmExtnFormattedBlockSize • cpqIoDimmExtnCurrentRAMUsageU • cpqIoDimmExtnCurrentRAMUsageL • cpqIoDimmExtnPeakRAMUsageU • cpqIoDimmExtnPeakRAMUsageL • cpqIoDimmWearoutTrap • cpqI...
Page 34 - Creating an installation log; Creating an uninstall log
Windows Server environments 34 Option Description *x Extra debugging information *+ Append to existing log file *! Flush each line to the log ** Log all information except for v and x options Creating an installation log 1. Determine the path of the MSI file (for example, C:\MyPackage\Example.exe )....
Page 35 - Automated logging with the Windows Installer Logging Policy; Troubleshooting event log messages
Windows Server environments 35 1. Open the Installer project of your installation package. 2. Go to the Media page and select the Bootstrapper tab. 3. Select the Create EXE setup file option. 4. Set the MSI Command Line field to /L*V "C:\package.log" . When the user launches the installation...
Page 37 - Maintenance; Maintenance tools; Common maintenance tasks; Uninstalling the IO Accelerator driver package; Disabling AutoAttach
Maintenance 37 Maintenance Maintenance tools The IO Accelerator includes both software utilities to maintain the device and external LED indicators to display the status. You can also install SNMP as a monitoring option. The following are the most common tasks for maintaining your IO Accelerator. Yo...
Page 38 - Unmanaged shutdown issues; Enabling PCIe power override
Maintenance 38 4. When you finish troubleshooting the driver issue, use the IO Accelerator Management Tool to attach the IO Accelerators and make them available to Windows® operating system. Enabling Autoattach 1. Open the IO Accelerator Utilities folder. The default location is C:\Program Files\HP ...
Page 39 - Enabling the override parameter
Maintenance 39 CAUTION: If the PCIe slot is not capable of providing the needed amount of power, then enabling full power draw from the PCIe slot might result in malfunction or even damage to server hardware. The user is responsible for any damage to equipment due to improper use of the override par...
Page 41 - Utilities; Utilities reference
Utilities 41 Utilities Utilities reference The IO Accelerator installation packages include various command line utilities, installed by default to the C:\Program Files\HP IO Accelerator\Utils folder. These utilities provide a number of useful manners to access, test, and manipulate your device. Uti...
Page 54 - Monitoring IO Accelerator health; NAND flash and component failure; Health monitoring techniques
Monitoring IO Accelerator health 54 Monitoring IO Accelerator health NAND flash and component failure The IO Accelerator is a highly fault-tolerant storage subsystem that provides many levels of protection against component failure and the loss nature of solid state storage. However, as in all stora...
Page 55 - Flashback substitution events; Software RAID and health monitoring
Monitoring IO Accelerator health 55 ... Media status: Healthy; Reserves: 100.00%, warn at 10.00%; Data: 99.12% Lifetime data volumes: ...Physical bytes written: 6,423,563,326,064 ...Physical bytes read: 5,509,006,756,312 The following Health Status messages are produced by the fio-status utility: • ...
Page 57 - Trim support; Introduction to Trim; Trim platforms; Using Trim
Trim support 57 Trim support Introduction to Trim Trim is used to address a unique property of solid state drives. The issue occurs when a user deletes a file, and then the drive that contains the file does not recognize that it can reclaim that space. Instead, the drive reads the data as valid unti...
Page 58 - Starting and stopping Trim; Controlling Trim aggressiveness
Trim support 58 Starting and stopping Trim To start or stop the Trim service through the Windows® Services Manager: 1. Search for IO Accelerator Trim Service. 2. Click Start service or Stop service. Stopping the service only stops it for that session. Trim begins running again when the computer is r...
Page 59 - Trim configurations
Trim support 59 Trim configurations Trim can be used with the following configurations and features: • RAID volumes (mirrored, spanned, or striped). NOTE: RAID 5 (striped with parity) is not currently supported. • Simple volumes (no RAID). • Any combination of the above RAID levels across multiple d...
Page 60 - Introduction to Windows page files; RAM consumption
Using Windows page files with the IO Accelerator 60 Using Windows page files with the IO Accelerator Introduction to Windows page files This section describes how to effectively use paging (swap) files on IO Accelerator devices with Windows® operating systems. Using a page file with a traditional di...
Page 61 - Non-paged memory pool; Enabling and disabling paging support
Using Windows page files with the IO Accelerator 61 On Windows® operating systems, NTFS will generally use a cluster size of 4K, so formatting to 512 is not useful except for applications that are compatible only with 512-byte sector sizes (such as Windows® XP and Windows Server® 2003). The indicate...
Page 62 - Windows page file management; Setting up page files
Using Windows page files with the IO Accelerator 62 An alternate method to manage (enable or disable) paging support is to use the IO Accelerator Management Tool. NOTE: You must reload the IO Accelerator driver for the new preallocation setting to take effect. Typically this can be done by restartin...
Page 63 - System drive paging file configuration
Using Windows page files with the IO Accelerator 63 System drive paging file configuration By default, Windows® operating systems create and manage a page file on the system boot drive (typically a hard disk), which is where the operating system is installed. Maintaining a regular page file on the s...
Page 64 - Verifying page file operation; Virtual Memory performance
Using Windows page files with the IO Accelerator 64 Verifying page file operation To verify that a page file is actively placed on an IO Accelerator, you can browse for hidden files at the drive root. For example, run the following command at a prompt: dir c: /ah In the output listing there should b...
Page 65 - Performance and tuning; Introduction to performance and tuning; Disabling DVFS
Performance and tuning 65 Performance and tuning Introduction to performance and tuning HP IO Accelerator devices provide high bandwidth and high IOPS and are specifically designed to achieve low latency. As IO Accelerator devices improve in IOPS and low latency, the device performance may be limite...
Page 66 - Setting NUMA affinity
Performance and tuning 66 Setting NUMA affinity Servers with a NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) architecture require special installation instructions in order to maximize ioMemory device performance. These servers include the HP ProLiant DL580 and HP DL980 Servers. On servers with NUMA architecture...
Page 67 - NUMA configuration; Introduction to NUMA architecture
NUMA configuration 67 NUMA configuration Introduction to NUMA architecture Servers with NUMA (Non-Uniform Memory Access) architecture require special installation instructions in order to maximize IO Accelerator device performance. These servers include the HP DL580 and the HP DL980 server. On serve...
Page 68 - Advanced configuration example
NUMA configuration 68 Advanced configuration example This example server has four NUMA nodes with eight hyper-threaded cores per node (16 logical processors per node, a total of 64 logical processors in the system). This system also uses the expansion configuration and has 11 PCIe expansion slots. D...
Page 69 - Checking the log for errors
NUMA configuration 69 processors in the specified nodes. To fine tune the configuration, you can stipulate the hex mask in each <affinity specification> and specify the processors for each device. Checking the log for errors If you enter a configuration that is not valid, the settings will be ...
Page 70 - Resources; Subscription service
Resources 70 Resources Subscription service HP recommends that you register your product at the Subscriber’s Choice for Business website
Page 71 - Support and other resources; Before you contact HP; HP contact information
Support and other resources 71 Support and other resources Before you contact HP Be sure to have the following information available before you call HP: • Active Health System log (HP ProLiant Gen8 or later products) Download and have available an Active Health System log for 3 days before the failu...
Page 79 - Regulatory information; Safety and regulatory compliance; Turkey RoHS material content declaration
Regulatory information 79 Regulatory information Safety and regulatory compliance For safety, environmental, and regulatory information, see Safety and Compliance Information for Server, Storage, Power, Networking, and Rack Products , available at the HP website
Page 80 - Acronyms and abbreviations
Acronyms and abbreviations 80 Acronyms and abbreviations ACPI Advanced Configuration and Power Interface DVFS dynamic voltage and frequency scaling FAT file allocation table IOPS input/output operations per second LEB Logical Erase Block LFM linear feet per minute MIB management information base MSI...
Page 81 - SSD; VSL
Acronyms and abbreviations 81 SMI-S Storage Management Initiative Specification SSD solid-state drive VM Virtual Machine VSL virtual storage layer
Page 82 - Documentation feedback
Documentation feedback 82 Documentation feedback HP is committed to providing documentation that meets your needs. To help us improve the documentation, send any errors, suggestions, or comments to Documentation Feedback
Page 83 - Index
Index 83 A about this guide 6 Adding a file system 28 authorized reseller 71 automated logging 35 B battery replacement notice 79 before you contact HP 71 C checking for outdated firmware 26 configuring IO Accelerator paging support 60 configuring RAID 29 contact information 71 contacting HP 71 cont...