Storage integration MPIO?

[kwinsor]

Hi,
We have a new EMC Unity array and have added it to Veeam. During backup we get warnings from Unity that the proxy servers are connected on a single path. Does Veeam storage integration know anything about MPIO? If the proxy servers have Microsoft MPIO installed for iSCSI will Veeam attempt to connect on multiple paths? Currently our proxy servers has a NIC on each storage subnet for iSCSI.

Thank you.

[foggy]

Hi Kent, currently Veeam B&R adds a single iSCSI target IP on the proxy and uses a single path, but we have this written down for future versions. Should work for FC though, if configured on the proxy.

[kwinsor]

Hi, thanks. I went onto each proxy and configured MPIO manually. I assume once configured manually, Veeam will have no issue with that?

[foggy]

No issues, but only a single path will still be used (there's no logic to connect to multiple IQN).

[amosperrins]

Hi Kent, currently Veeam B&R adds a single iSCSI target IP on the proxy and uses a single path, but we have this written down for future versions. Should work for FC though, if configured on the proxy.

Just to clarify, for iSCSI, at what point does the proxy select the path and what is the path selection policy i.e. would different jobs/datastores/VMs at any point use a different path? Thanks for your time.

[janezk]

Hi,

I would like some additional info on MPIO configuration, and I think it makes sense to continue this thread.

As foggy wrote:

Hi Kent, currently Veeam B&R adds a single iSCSI target IP on the proxy and uses a single path, but we have this written down for future versions. Should work for FC though, if configured on the proxy.

If I understand correctly if we have a FC connected storage, multipath should work...
1. Is MS MPIO ok to use or better to go with free EMC MPIO driver?
2. What configuration should be done on proxy

for a clearer picture of setup on one site:
multiple blade servers
two physical proxy-es with direct FC access
EMC VNX,UNITY for production
EMC DataDomains for repository

now configuring an EMC UNITY for intermediate target repository with LUNS directly presented to Windows on proxy formatted to ReFS v3.x 64k block size.
The question is should we install MPIO on windows or leave it as it is?
What impact does it have on Veeam?

I googled a lot, but can't find any usable info about config.

thanks for the help.

BR Janez

[foggy]

Hi Janez, in case of FC, MPIO is absolutely transparent to Veeam B&R - we just need the disk available from the proxy server, how data will flow doesn't matter. To enable MPIO, you need to enable Multipath I/O (MPIO) feature in Server Manager on the proxy and specify vendor ID in MPIO Properties.