Hyper V virtual fiber adapter not appear on Linux VM

Hythim Ali El Hadad · ‎06-13-2016

Hi,

I have ucs 2.2.6e. And we hyper v win 2012 R2 on the hosts

we create a Windows VM with 2 network ports and 2 fiber channel ports

then we successfully map a LUN to the VM after zoning the VM pwwn with the storage

Now we need to do the same with a Linux VM. That all the applications is on Linux

but on the Linux VM only the network ports appear and can ping the gw

but the problem is that the fiber adapter isn't appear so no ports available

We think it is driver issue

we tried the compatible cisco drivers for Linux but not help

I think the driver should be received from Microsoft as the network card type is hyper v and it is expected for the fiber channel adapter

so what do you think ?

thanks

Walter Dey · ‎06-14-2016

I don't think that Linux VM supports virtual FC !

see eg.

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831413(v=ws.11).aspx

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn551169(v=ws.11).aspx

Updated: May 18, 2016

Applies To: Hyper-V Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Hyper-V Server 2012 R2

The virtual Fibre Channel feature has the following prerequisites:

......

Virtual machines that are configured to use a virtual Fibre Channel adapter must use Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2008 R2, or Windows Server 2008 as the guest operating system. No other guest operating systems are currently supported for use with virtual Fibre Channel.

.......

Walter.

Hythim Ali El Hadad · ‎06-14-2016

Hi Walter,

Thanks for your care and reply

Plz find link below

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/mt126277(v=ws.11).aspx

It is with newer date.

But the issue is that I can't find compatibility matrix between all the solutions [ UCS, Hyper-V and Linux ]

Do you think if we go with VM-FEX, it could help or we'll face the same issue . Or we should check with Microsoft bout this driver again. They insist that it is vendor issue but I see as I told before that Linux see Hyper-V as the vendor for the virtual cards

Thanks

Haitham

Walter Dey · ‎06-14-2016

Hi Haitham

I checked with MSFT gurus ! No one knows anything about future virtual FC support for Linux; it seems that SMB V3 is MSFT strategic storage protocol !

My personal experience with VM-FEX: mostly used in VMware environments! very seldom seen with Hyper-V.

Not clear if and when VM-FEX will become available with W2016 ?

What is your I/O requirement for the Linux VM ?

Cheers Walter.

Hythim Ali El Hadad · ‎06-14-2016

Hi Walter,

Thanks again for your care

Cisco have a link for VM-FEX with Hyper-V configuration

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/servers-unified-computing/ucs-manager/116374-configure-vmfex-00.html

our setup is each application is formed as cluster of 2 Linux VMs

So we install the 2 VM Linux OS

Then we need to Map a shared LUN for these 2 VMs only

We do so by zoning the VM fc ports pwwn ith the storage controller

Then on the storage, we assign a LUN for both VMs as a cluster

So it is zoned for both VMs only

The issue is that there is no fiber channel adapter on the Linux VMs.

Thanks

Haitham

Walter Dey · ‎06-14-2016

Hi Haitham

Be aware, that VM-FEX is Ethernet only, no FC !

VM-FEX is implemented in a Windows Hyper-V environment with the use of Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) and Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) technologies.

With VM-FEX, you create dynamic vnic's, which are bypassing the hypervisor, and then can be attached to the VM.

With VM-FEX, you could use IP storage, eg. Linux with NFS !

Forget FC and Linux !

Walter.

Hythim Ali El Hadad · ‎06-14-2016

Hi Walter,

Also I didn't find the link mentioning fc

but I think he say vNIC to represent both vNIC and vFC

So VM-FEX with VMware mention both vNIC and vfc ?

Thanks

Walter Dey · ‎06-14-2016

VM-FEX (for VMware, Hyper-V or KVM) is strictly only for Ethernet, not Fiberchannel.

In the UCS Service profile you have veth's (Ethernet) and vhba's (FC), and VM-FEX only refers to veth's.

see eg. thread

https://supportforums.cisco.com/discussion/11873456/vm-fex-and-nexus-1000v-relation