Scale Logic NX ver.1.0 up29r2 Release Notes

Release date: 2022-07-06

Build: 48155

Performance tuning

iSCSI Target with VMware ESX performance tuning

     In case of low iSCSI Target performance with VMware ESX, a few parameters need to be changed in VMware ESX iSCSI Initiator. Go to Storage Adapters -> iSCSI Software Adapter -> Advanced Options and the change the following settings:

           
                MaxOutstandingR2T      change the default 1              to 8

                FirstBurstLength       change the default 262144         to 65536

                MaxBurstLength         change the default 262144         to 1048576

                MaxRecvDataSegLen      change the default 131072         to 1048576

Write cache sync requests performance tuning

     Write cache sync requests (sync) set to “always” for zvol is the safest option and is set by default. However, it can cause write performance decreases since all operations are written and flushed directly to the persistent storage. In case of using sync=always, it is strongly recommended using mirrored write log devices (very fast random writes devices).
     Sync=standard or sync=disabled zvol options provide huge performance improvement but the most recent (up to 5 seconds) cached data can be lost in case of a sudden power failure. Use this option only in environments equipped with UPS.
     For NFS shares the Synchronous data record is enabled by default. This option causes performance to be worse, but data can be safely written. In order to improve the NFS performance you can use Asynchronous data record but in such case, it is strongly recommended to use UPS.

Known issues

Browser recommendations

     It is strongly recommended to use Mozilla Firefox browser to navigate the system’s GUI. When using other browsers some slight problems with displaying content may occur.

Web browser’s cache

     After updating from previous versions, some problems with WebGUI content and navigation may occur. To resolve this problems, please clear Web browser cache.

System as a guest in virtual environments

     Hyper-V:
     In case of installing the system as a Hyper-V guest please use the following settings:
       - Number of virtual processors: 4
       - Memory: Minimum 8GB
       - Boot Disk: 20GB IDE Disk
       - Add at least 6 virtual disk

 
     VMware ESXi:
     In case of installing the system as a VMware ESXi guest please use the following settings:
       - Guest OS: Other 2.6.x Linux ( 64bit )
       - Number of Cores: 4
       - Memory: Minimum 8GB
       - Network Adapter: VMXNET 3
       - SCSI Controller Type: Paravirtual or LSI Logic SAS
       - Boot Disk : 20GB Thick Provision Eager Zeroed
       - Add at least 6 virtual disk
       - Edit Settings->Options->Advanced-General->Configuration-> Add row: disk.EnableUUID : TRUE

Reclaim deleted blocks on thin-provisioned LUNs in various systems

     In case of deleting large amounts of data, reclaimed deleted blocks on thin-provisioned LUNs in Windows 2012 can significantly slow down system performance. If you predict frequent deletions of large amounts of data, we recommend turning off the automatic reclaim function in Windows 2012. This can be done by disabling the "file-delete notification" feature in the system registry. To do so, follow the steps below:
       - start Registry Editor.
       - locate the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem       
       - double-click DisableDeleteNotification.
       - in the Value data box, enter a value of 1, and then click OK.
 
     In order to reclaim the free space in Windows 2012 please change the    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem\DisableDeleteNotification key value back to 0 and use "Optimize" tool located in Disc Management->[disk]->Properties->Tools. As the operation can generate a very high load in the system, it is recommended to perform it after-hours.  
In case of VMware ESXi, the automatic reclaim feature is disabled by default. To reclaim the space of deleted blocks on thin-provisioned LUNs, please use vmkfstools. For details, please refer to the VMware Knowledge Base:

For VMware ESXi 5.0: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2014849
For VMware ESXi 5.5 and newer: https://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2057513
For VMware ESXi 6.7 and newer: search in Internet for “Space Reclamation Requests from VMFS Datastores” and read vendor documentation.

In case of using Windows 2008 there is no possibility to reclaim the space released by deleted data of thin-provisioned LUNs.

Deduplication issues and recommendations

     Please be aware that deleting the zvol with deduplication enabled can generate a very high load in the system and lead to unstable behavior. It is strongly recommended to perform such operation only after-hours. To avoid this issue, please use (if possible) single zvol on zpools dedicated for deduplication and delete the zpool which includes the single zvol.
   
     To determine the amount of System RAM required for deduplication, use this formula:
 
                                                                                                                    (Size of Zvol / Volume block size) * 320B / 0.75 / 0.25
 
Where:
320B - is the size of entry in DDT table
0.75 - Percentage of RAM reservation for ARC (75%)
0.25 - Percentage of DDT reservation in ARC (25%)
 
     Example for 1TB data and 64KB Volume block size:
 
                                                                                                       (1099511627776B / 65536B) * 320B / 0.75 / 0.25 = 28633115306.67B
                                                                                                                       28633115306.67B / 1024 / 1024 / 1024 = 26.67GB
 
so for every extra 1TB of storage, system needs extra 26.67GB RAM.

     Example for 1TB data and 128KB Volume block size:
 
                                                                                                       (1099511627776B / 131072B) * 320B / 0.75 / 0.25 = 14316557653.33B
                                                                                                                        14316557653.33B / 1024 / 1024 / 1024 = 13.33GB
 
so for every extra 1TB of storage, system needs extra 13.33GB RAM.

     Example for 1TB data and 1MB Volume block size:

                                                                                                      (1099511627776B / 1048576B) * 320B / 0.75 / 0.25 = 1789569706,66B

                                                                                                                        1789569706,66B / 1024 / 1024 / 1024 = 1.66GB

 

     so for every extra 1TB of storage, system needs extra 1.66GB RAM.

IMPORTANT: The above calculations only apply to the worst case scenario, when data is completely unique and will not be deduplicated. For the deduplicable data, the need for RAM drastically decreases. If SSD based Read Cache is present, part of deduplication table will be moved to the SSD and deduplication will work with good performance using less RAM.

IMPORTANT: With SAN (iSCSI) it is CRITICAL to match User-File-System format block size with the zvol volume-block-size. A simple example is a Windows file system NTFS with default format block size 4k and zvol default volume-block-size is 128k. With defaults like this deduplication will mostly NOT match because files can be aligned in 32 (128/4) different positions on the pool. If the NTFS format is increased to 64k and the zvol default volume-block-size is 128k, deduplication match can fail only one time because a file can be aligned to 2 (128/64) different positions on the pool. Every next write will match already as both alignment options already exist on the pool. In order to achieve all files matching and efficient memory usage NTFS must use 64k format block size and the zvol volume-block-size must equal 64k. Another option is that the NTFS=32k and zvol=32k, but in this case the deduplication table will be twice as large. That is why the NTFS=64k and zvol=64k is the most efficient setting for deduplication.

IMPORTANT: With NAS (NFS, SMB/CIFs) deduplication matching works always due to the data blocks being aligned by ZFS natively.

IMPORTANT: De-duplication is working on the pool level in the pool-range. This is why zvol-Physical size cannot show de-duplication benefit. In order to prove that deduplication saved space run the scrub and notice the current physical data space on the pool reported by the scrub. Next copy of new data and run the scrub again. Now scrub will show new physical data space. Comparing the data size from storage client side with the data space growth from the scrub will give the deduplication advantage. The exact pool of the deduplication ratio can be found in LOGs in zfs.log.

Zvols configuration issues and recommendations

     It is strongly recommended to set the client file system block size same as the zvol volume block size. For example, when using 64k zvol volume block size, the Windows Allocation unit size of NTFS should be set to 64k.

Target number limit

    In case of more than 60 targets, GUI will not be displayed correctly. This issue will be fixed in the next releases.

Targets with the same name are not assigned correctly

    Having two or more targets with the same name but belonging to various Zpools, will cause that all targets with the same name will be assigned to one Zpool during the import process.

Installation on disks containing LVM metadata

     There is no possibility to install the system on disks containing LVM metadata. You will need to clear those disks before installation. To do so, use the “Remove ZFS data structures and disks partitions” function located in the Extended tools. To access this function, boot the system from a temporary media like a USB drive or DVD.

Import Zpool with broken write log

     There is no option to import Zpool with a broken write log disk using the system’s functions. This is why it is STRONGLY recommended to use mirrored disks for write logs. In case it is necessary to import Zpool with a broken write log, please contact technical support.

Replacing disks in data groups for larger ones can cause your storage license capacity to be exceeded

     In case of replacing damaged disks for larger ones, the size of the entire Zpool will increased. Make sure that the new size will not exceed your purchased storage license.

Periodically after some operations, the GUI needs to be manually refreshed

     After performing some operations, e.g. resilvering, the GUI will show outdated information. In this case refresh the web page manually by pressing F5 on your keyboard. This issue will be fixed in next releases.

Replacing disks in data groups for smaller ones can cause an error and make the disk disappear from the list of available disks

     Operation of replacing a disk in a data group for a smaller one will cause an error "zpool unknown error, exit code 255", and the disk will become unavailable. In order to reuse this disk, please use function "Remove ZFS data structures and disks partitions" located in the Extended tools on the Console screen.

It is strongly recommended to use 64KB or higher Volume block size

     Smaller than 64KB block sizes used with deduplication or read cache will cause very high memory consumption.

RAM recommendations for Read Cache

     To determine how much System RAM is required for Read Cache, use the following formula:

 
                                                                      RAM needed = (Size of Read Cache - reserved size and labels) * bytes reserved by l2hdr structure / Volume block size
 

     For 8KB Volume block size and 1TB Read Cache:

                                                                           RAM needed = (1099511627776B - 4718592B) * 432B / 8192B = 57981809664B
                                                                                                        57981809664B / 1024 / 1024 / 1024 = 54GB
 
Where:
1099511627776B - 1TB Read Cache
4718592B - reserved size and labels
432B - bytes reserved by l2hdr structure
8192B - Volume block size
 
                                                                                                  For 64KB Volume block size and 1TB Read Cache:
                                                                    RAM needed = (1099511627776B - 4718592B) * 432B / 65536B = 7247726208B
                                                                                                       7247726208B / 1024 / 1024 /1024 = 6.75GB


                                                                                                  For 128KB Volume block size and 1TB Read Cache:
                                                                    RAM needed = (1099511627776B - 4718592B) * 432B / 131072B = 3623863104B
                                                                                                       3623863104B / 1024 / 1024 /1024 = 3.37GB

Multiple GUI disk operations may result in an inaccurate available disks list

     Multiple operations of adding and detaching disks from groups can cause that the next operation of detaching will fail, but the disk will be shown on a list of available disks. When trying to add this disk to one group it will fail with the following error "[zfslib-wrap-zpool-ZpoolCmdError-1] invalid vdev specification". In this case, detach this disk once again.

After removing disks from groups they may not be displayed on a list of available disks

     Sometimes after removing disks from groups, Spare/Read Cache/Write Log disks are displayed on a list of unassigned disks, but they are not on a list of available disks. In this case, click the rescan button located in the adding group form.

Reusing disks from an exported and deleted Zpool

     After deleting an exported Zpool, not all disks which were a part of a Zpool become immediately available. Before you can reuse disks, which were previously used as a Spare or a Read Cache, you must first clean them. Use “Remove ZFS data structures and disks partitions” function located in the “Extended tools”.

Negotiated speed of network interfaces may not display correctly

     For some network interfaces, the negotiated speed field may display an incorrect value in GUI and Console. This issue will be fixed in next releases.

Limited possibility to display a large number of elements by the GUI

     After creating multiple snapshots, clones or zvols some forms in GUI work very slow. If you need to create many snapshots, clones or zvols, it is strongly recommended to use CLI in order to perform operations on them.

Scale Logic VSS Hardware Provider system recommendations

     It is strongly recommended to use Windows Server 2012. On the other Windows systems, Scale Logic VSS Hardware Provider Configuration works unstable.

Exceeded quota for dataset does not allow to remove files

     Files located on datasets with exceeded quota cannot be removed. In this case, please resize quota and then remove unnecessary files.

Slow WebGUI with multiple datagroups

     Zpool with more than 20 datagroups causes that some forms on WebGUI work very slow. If you need to create many datagroups, it is strongly recommended to use CLI API.

Slow WebGUI with multiple datasets

     More than 25 datasets cause that WebGUI works slow.

ZFS Upgrade

     For Scale Logic NX users, it is recommended to upgrade Zpools to the latest ZFS file system. Although the file system upgrade is absolutely safe for your data, and takes only few minutes, please be aware that this operation cannot be undone. In order to upgrade a single Zpool, please use "WebGUI -> Zpool options -> Upgrade file system" from Zpool's option menu.

Intel® Ethernet Controller XL710 Family

     In case of using Scale Logic NX with Intel® Ethernet Controller XL710 Family, it is necessary to update firmware’s network controller to the version: f4.33.31377 a1.2 n4.42 e1932.

Motherboards with x2APIC technology

     In case of using a motherboard with x2APIC technology enabled, it is necessary to disable x2APIC in BIOS. Otherwise, problems with CPU cores will occur.

NFS FSIDs and Zpool name

     One of the factors that have been taken into account when NFS FSIDs are generated is Zpool name. It indicates that when Zpool name is changed, e.g. during export and import with different names, FSIDs for NFS Shares located on this Zpool will also be changed.

Disks with LVM data cannot be used with the created Zpool

     Attempt to create Zpool with drives that contain LVM data will fail with the following error:

"cannot open 'lvm-pv-uuid-R25lTS-kcDc-eiAN-eAlf-ppgi-rAqu-Oxy1Si': no such device in /dev must be a full path or shorthand device name"

In this case, if you want use those disks, please use “Remove ZFS data structures and disks partitions” function located in “Extended tools”.

Activation may be lost after update

     In some environments, after update to up11 system may require re-activation. This issue will be removed in the future releases.

Bonding ALB and Round-Robin do not work in Hyper-V and VMware environments

     In case of using NX as Hyper-V or VMware guest, bonding ALB and Round-Robin is not supported. Please use another type of bonding.

Continuous writing in VMware guest can cause that deleting VMware snapshot can take long time

     Using ODPS on zvol/dataset with VMware guest where many I/O operations are performed can cause that the process of deleting VMware snapshot can take long time. Please take this into consideration while you set up the scheduler for Off-site Data Protection Service task.

Enabling quota on dataset can cause file transfer interrupt

     Enabling quota functionality on a dataset can cause file transfer interrupt. Before using it in production environment, please enable quota on dataset, or make sure that no file transfers are active.

Share can not be named the same as Zpool

     In case of share with the same name as Pool connections problem will occur. Please use different names.

No persistent rules for network cards in virtual environment

     Changing settings of virtual network cards (delete, changing MAC, etc.) can cause unstable system behaviour. Please do not change settings on production system. This issue will be fixed in next releases.

Downgrade to up17 or earlier is not possible

     Starting from up18 bootable medium has always SW RAID structure. Attempt to come back to earlier version is impossible. If you need come back to earlier version, you must reinstall version again.

System cannot be installed on cciss based controllers

     This issue will be fixed in next releases.

Interrupt the process of adding second disk to SW RAID (bootable medium) can cause run system from disk with uncompleted data

     Performing operation like: reboot, shutdown, power off, etc. during mirroring data on new added disk can cause that system will be booted from new disk which has incomplete data. In this case, SW RAID function shows empty status and wrong number of RAID members. To resolve this issue, please plug off disk which has incomplete data, boot system, plug in disk and add it once again to SW RAID.

On- & Off-site Data Protection backward compatibility problem

     In case of using On- & Off-site Data Protection functionality in up21 or earlier, it is strongly recommended to remove all backup tasks created by CLI API and re-create it using GUI.

Problem with maintenance in case of disk failure

     In case of disk failure, please remove the damaged disks from the system, before starting administrative work to replace the disk. The order of actions is important.

Different Write Cache default setting for zvols in early beta versions of NX up25

     In the early beta versions of NX up25 the default value of the Write Cache Log bias of zvols was set to “In Pool (Throughput)”. In the final release of NX up25 the Log bias is set to “Write log device (Latency)”.
Please note, that “In Pool (Throughput)” setting may cause a drop in performance in environments with a lot of random access workloads which is a common factor for a majority of production environments.

New default value for qlini_mode parameter for FC kernel module qla2xxx_scst

     In order to configure FC Target, kernel module parameter qlini_mode should be set to “exclusive” (in some early beta versions of NX up25 qlini_mode was set up to “enabled”). In order to verify the value of this parameter open NX TUI and use CTRL+ALT+W key combination to launch Hardware configuration. Press "Yes" to acknowledge the initial warning message. Type in the password. Choose option: Kernel module parameters. Select qla2xxx_scst QLogic Fibre Channel HBA Driver and make sure the value of this parameter is set to “exclusive”.

Very low performance of FIO/WT in case of mixed FIO/WT and FIO/WB zvol configurations over Fiber Channel

     In case of the mixed FIO/WT and FIO/WB zvol configurations over FC one can observe significantly decreased performance on FIO/WT.

More than one zvol with FIO/WB mode can cause instability of the Fiber Channel connection

     If there's more than one FIO/WB zvol or a FIO/WB zvol is coexisting with other types of zvols it can cause an instability of the FC connection with client machines. As a result client machines may unexpectedly lose FC connected resources.

In certain situations system page cache is not able to flush File I/O errors by itself and cache flushing has to be performed manually

     Under certain conditions (like overfilling zvol and then expanding its size) some File I/O errors may be held by the system page cache and it requires manual flushing (in GUI use Storage -> Rescan).

Synchronization of a large LDAP database can last for a long time (e.g. 10h for 380K users) and can be associated with high system load

     This problem will be solved in future releases.

In case of large number of disks, zpool move can take a long time

     In certain environments in case of large number of disks (about 100 and more) the zpool move operation can take a long time.

No support for VMD option in BIOS leads to a problem with listing PCI devices

     On some servers, an enabled VMD option in BIOS causes that PCI devices are not listed properly. If this is the case please disable the VMD option in BIOS. This problem will be solved in the future release.

Rolled back data are not properly refreshed both in Windows and Vmware systems

     Before using rollback operation on zvol please detach iSCSI or FC target, perform rollback operation and reattach target.

User gets deleted from share access list after changing its username on AD server

     If the AD user is assigned to a share and later the username is changed we should let NX know about it. Using the "Synchronize and update shares configurations" operation on NX leads to a situation where the changed user gets deleted from the share’s access list. The new username needs to be added to the share’s access list manually.

QLogic 32Gbit FC HBA is no longer supported

     Starting from NX up29 we no longer support QLogic 32Gbit FC adapters.

Certain 16Gbit FC HBAs are no longer supported

     Starting from NX up29 we no longer support certain 16Gbit FC adapters. If you are using a 16Gbit FC adapter based on the Qlogic chipset using the qla2xxx_scts driver, please refer to our online hardware compatibility list (HCL) to verify if that particular adapter is supported.

E-mail password cannot contain special non-ASCII characters

     The following special characters # : + cannot be used in a password used in an e-mail notification feature. They can break the authentication process.

LSA e-mail notifications does not work with SMTP servers requiring SSL/TLS authentication

     E-mail alert configuration in LSI Storage Authority Software does not work with SMTP servers which require SSL/TLS authentication

Moving IP address of the NFS share’s IP read only access list to read/write access list cannot be performed in one step

     If an IP address is already present on the NFS access list and you would like to move it to another access list, it has to be performed in two steps. First delete the IP address from the current list and apply the changes. Next edit the NFS share again and add the IP address to the other access list.

If the used space on zpool reaches more than 80%, the system may generate high load and become unstable

     If the used space on the zpool reaches more then 80%, the system is trying to utilize the available space to the maximum. As a result, the system load may increase, especially waiting I/O and cause its unstable work. Expanding the pool size space is recommended.

In certain situations WebGUI is not showing the current state of the system

     There are situations when the system is performing actions taking too long for the WebGUI to refresh the values in the web browser. In such a case the system is showing the old value taken directly from cache memory. We recommend using the F5 key to refresh the WebGUI.

An ongoing O&ODP process involving small zvol block size or dataset record size generate high load and render the system unstable

     O&ODP backup tasks involving small zvol block sizes as well as small dataset record sizes (4KB - 16KB) are known to generate very high load rendering the system unstable. We recommend using at least 64KB sizes for zvols and datasets.

Runtime UPS calibration in the client-server configuration unexpectedly shutdowns NX

     In the client-server configuration of the UPS, the runtime UPS calibration process returns an improper value interpreted by NX as being on battery. When it timeouts it shuts the system down.

Starting from up29 (including updating from previous version), system cannot boot up in UEFI mode if your boot medium is controlled by LSI SAS 9300 HBA with outdated firmware

     Make sure your LSI SAS 9300 HBA has the latest firmware installed. A quick workaround is changing the booting mode from UEFI to Legacy.

Bonded Mellanox network cards show negative values on the network usage chart

     This issue will be solved in the future release.

In case of hundreds of thousands of LDAP users system starts very slowly

     LDAP database is stored on the boot medium. If you have that large LDAP database we recommend using ultra fast NVMe disk for boot medium.

After update to NX up29 write back cache on some hardware RAID volumes can be unintentionally disabled

     Starting from NX up29 we disable write-back cache on all HDD disks by default, but we do not disable write-back cache on SSD drives and hardware RAID volumes. It can happen however that the write-back cache on some RAID volumes can be turned off. Hardware RAID volume performance can be heavily impacted by the lack of the write-back cache, so please make sure it's enabled after update. Open TUI and invoke Extended tools by pressing CTRL+ALT+t, then select Disk write-back cache settings.

Restarting or disconnecting JBOD with the write-back cache enabled on disks can lead to the data inconsistency

     If write-back cache is enabled on disks in JBOD then restarting or disconnecting JBOD can lead to data inconsistency. Starting from NX up29 we disable write-back cache on HDD disks by default during bootup procedure. We do not disable write-back cache on SSD drives and hardware RAID volumes.

Snapshots are not displayed after a system reboot if there are more than a few thousands of snapshots

     In case there is a large number of snapshots (more than a few thousands) there might be a significant delay in listing them in WebGUI after a system reboot. Depending on how big the number of snapshots is, it may take a few minutes or up to several dozen minutes to populate the list in WebGUI.

It is not recommended to use the gzip-9 compression algorithm.

     In case of using the gzip-9 compression algorithm the system can behave unstable when copying the data to storage. It is possible to use this compression algorithm only in environments where very efficient processors are being used.

It is not recommended to use more than 500 zvols.

     In case of using more than 500 zvols in the system, the responsiveness of the Web-GUI may be low and the system may have problems with the import of zpools.

The Internet Connection Check functionality has been removed.

     In order to check the internet connection, try to get the date and time from the NTP server using the Web-GUI (System Settings -> System -> Time and date settings).

After upgrading the system to a newer version, the event viewer reported an error message: An unexpected system reboot occurred.

     After upgrading the system to a newer version, the event viewer reported an error message: "An unexpected system reboot occurred. Run the 'Scrub scanner' on all pools to check the system integrity. Analysis of logs and previous events can help to find the cause of this problem and prevent the issue in the future. For more information, refer to the help article.". This information should be ignored.

Low performance on remote disks in case of new installation of NX up29r2.

     The source for this problem is the zfs_vdev_max_active parameter set to 1 on a new installation of NX up29r2. To resolve this problem, please change the value of the zfs_vdev_max_active parameter from 1 to 1000 in TUI.  In order to change the zfs_vdev_max_active parameter to 1000 open NX TUI and use CTRL+ALT+W keys combination to launch Hardware configuration. Press "Yes" to acknowledge the initial warning message. Type in the password. Choose option: Kernel module parameters. Select the zfs module, then the zfs_vdev_max_active parameter and change its value to 1000. This operation requires a restart of the NX. This should be done by selecting the Reboot option in the TUI.