Setup Guide

Validation Impact Severity Refer to Section
ESXi configuration:
Disk.DiskMaxIOSize = 1024
Stability & Performance Mandatory Setting Maximum I/O
ESXi configuration: Keep the UNMAP
priority for the host at the lowest
possible value (default value for ESXi
6.5).
Stability & Performance Mandatory Confirming UNMAP Priority
Path selection policy: VMW_PSP_RR Stability & Performance Mandatory Configuring vSphere Native
Multipathing
Alignment: Guest OS virtual machines
should be aligned.
Storage efficiency &
Performance
Warning Disk Formatting
iSCSI configuration: Configure end-
to-end Jumbo Frames.
Performance Recommended Jumbo Frames
iSCSI configuration: Disable Delayed
ACK on ESXi.
Stability Recommended Delayed ACK
iSCSI configuration: Adjust
LoginTimeOut to 30.
Stability Recommended Login Timeout
Path switching: Switch for every I/O. Performance Recommended Configuring vSphere Native
Multipathing
Virtual Disk Provisioning: Use thin
provisioned virtual disks.
Performance Recommended Virtual Machine Formatting
Virtual machine configuration:
Configure virtual machines with
Paravirtualized SCSI controllers.
Stability & Performance Recommended VMware Paravirtual SCSI
controllers
RDM volumes: In Guest OS, span
RDM volumes used by the virtual
machine across SCSI controllers.
Performance Recommended Virtual Machine Guest OS
Settings
NOTE: For information on virtualization and Virtual Volumes, refer to the PowerStore Virtualization Guide and the Best
Practices Guide.
Fibre Channel HBA Configuration
This section describes the recommended configuration that should be applied when attaching hosts to PowerStore cluster using
Fibre Channel .
NOTE: This section applies only to Fibre Channel. If you are using only iSCSI, go to iSCSI HBA Configuration.
NOTE: Review Fibre Channel SAN Guidelines before you proceed.
Pre-Requisites
Before installing HBAs on an ESXi host, the following pre-requisites should be met:
● Refer to the E-Lab Interoperability Navigator (https://elabnavigator.emc.com) for supported FC HBA models and drivers.
● Verify that all HBAs have supported driver, firmware and BIOS versions.
● Verify that all HBAs BIOS settings are configured according to E-Lab recommendations.
18
Host Configuration for VMware vSphere ESXi