Powerpath and Unisphere Host Agent

EMC Host Connectivity Guide for Windows  -- A47

1. No.  You do not need to install either.
   1. You can use non-EMC Multi-Pathing solutions, though I will say EMC is the best and easiest to configure.  This gives you native capability yo use ALUA; a good thing.
   2. The host agent is the piece that communicates the Disk/Lun/SAN details between the Host and the Array.  It is also responsible for Host Based Self Registration which is a major time saver.
      1. Be sure to use the AgentID.txt file settings to define the Host. (FDQN on one line and IP on the other)
      2. Be sure to use and Agent.config file to define the array conenctions (I find this easier to have one file pre-defined and just copy it).
   3. Your issue above is probably related to the AgentID.txt file.  Give it a try.

You AgentID.txt file needs to look like:

hostname.int.asurion.com

10.10.10.10

You will place that file in the location: C:\Program Files (x86)\EMC\HostAgent

Once it is there, restart the host agent service. (Navisphere Agent)

Ted

Thanks all for your help. I going to work on PP next and will post back the outcome.

Hi TKJOFFs,

Thank you for responding. Are you able to post an example of agent.config file entries.

Thanks

Sultan

Yes it was manually registered before installing Host Agent and PowerPath software. This was done so I could install Window OS.

I can't see the connectivity status page so I cannot be sure, but with PP not showing both HBAs, that means one of two things.

1. The HBAs (WWNs) are not properly registered (logged in and in a storage group)...
2. The Second HBA is not Zoned in the Fiber Fabric or has no path to the Storage Array.

Go into the connectivity status of the Array and check all the initiators (even the ones in existing hosts) and see if the WWNs for the second HBA are registered to the array.  If they are, verify they are in the correct host.  If not, remove them from the host they are attached to (possible these HBAs were in another host or previously connect to the Array?) and clean them up -- you may have to de-register them.  Then once that is done, re-run the host agent, and try again.  You could also use the UniSphere/NaviSphere Server Utility to manually register the array (first radial option once you run it) with the Host Agent Disabled and then reun the Host Agent again.

Ted

PP is licensed. When I installed PP it was unlicensed during the install and it was licensed after the install manually.

Cheers

Sultan

You want to do something like this:

clarDescr

clarContact

poll 60

baud 9600

eventlog 2048

device auto auto

user system@IPADDRESS-SPA

user system@IPADDRESS-SPB

Make sure you put in all your arrays that the clariion/VNX will attach to.

agent.config set correctly and also added AgentID.txt still no luck.

Hi

On first part of the image as you can see host entry has explanation mark which is the Windows 2008 R2 hosts. Whats odd since installing Host Agent and PP software all the Initiators entries has disappeared. I can confirm these initiators were there before these software was installed. Second screen shot shows PP within Windows OS again I can see the storage but some reason I cannot understand why its not displaying second HBA. If you can put me in right direction I would be greatful. This server is standalone box and not part of Microsoft Clustering. Before I go down the route unzoning and rezoning back again want to make sure I am not going down the wrong path.

Thanks

Sultan

Did you install a licensed version of PowerPath? If you give me a few minutes I will login and check the screenshot.

Ted

I am going to send you a PM... hang on.

When I logon to VNX UniSphere UI I get following alter might explain why there is explanation against that host.

I have changed system and host names for security reason.

Severity : Warning

System : XXX-VNX-001

Domain : Local

Created : Mar 20, 2012 7:10:00 PM

Message : HBA (20:02:00:25:B5:00:00:0F:20:02:00:25:B5:BB:00:0F) on Host (HOST2008R2.FQDN(c814135b-814e-4e94-b0c4-0c4c2ea30451)) may not be connected to a storage group.

Full Description : HBA (20:02:00:25:B5:00:00:0F:20:02:00:25:B5:BB:00:0F) on Host (HOST2008R2.FQDN(c814135b-814e-4e94-b0c4-0c4c2ea30451)) may not be connected to a storage group. This HBA is not able to access LUNs that belong to its server.

Recommended Action : Manually register the initiator or stop I/O from the server and remove/re-add it to the storage group. See online help for guidance.

Event Code : 0x721b

Ah, did you manually register these once before you added the host agent and/or PowerPath?

in Unisphere click on Hosts, select your server and then press "Connectivity Details". If your zoning is correct, you might see the missing path and need to select "Reconnect".  Once that is done run "powerm check reconfig", if the second path does not show up after that you might need to reboot the server.