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Wiki  >  TechNet Articles  >  Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel Troubleshooting Guide  >  Original
Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel Troubleshooting Guide
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This article is to provide the information that can help when troubleshooting Hyper-V virtual Fibre Channel issues. This article covers topics on configuration and runtime that are needed to troubleshooting issues that might arise.

Before you continue

You should be familiar with the following before continuing.

·         Understand and experience configuring Fibre Channel technologies.

·         Understand and experience configuring Hyper-V.

·         Familiarity with reading Windows Server event logs.

Introduction

With Hyper-V virtual Fibre Channel you can connect to Fibre Channel storage from within a virtual machine. This allows you to use your existing Fibre Channel investments to support virtualized workloads. Support for Fibre Channel in Hyper-V guests also includes support for many related features, such as virtual SANs, live migration and MPIO. With virtual Fibre Channel customers are able to run clustered guests leveraging their existing Fibre Channel investments.  

Requirements

·         One or more installation of Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V role installed.

·         A computer with one or more Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs) that have an updated HBA drive that supports virtual Fibre Channel.

·         The HBA must support N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV).

·         Virtual machines configured to use a virtual Fibre Channel adapter, must be running one of the following guest operating systems:

o   Windows Server 2008

o   Windows Server 2008 R2

o   Windows Server 2012

o   Windows Server 2012 R2 Preview

·         Storage accessed through a virtual Fibre Channel adapter supports devices that resent logical units.

Limitations

·         Virtual Fibre Channel does not work with client SKU’s of Windows.

·         Each virtual machine can have no more than 4 virtual HBAs.

·         Hardware may limit the number of virtual ports per physical HBA. This would restrict the number of virtual machines that can be associated with each physical HBA installed on the host.

·         Hardware may limit the number of logical units per physical port. 

Interoperability with other Hyper-V features

The following is a list of Hyper-V features that are compatible with virtual Fibre Channel.

·         Live migration

·         Quick migration

·         Virtual machine Save and Restore

·         Virtual machine Pause and Resume

·         Virtual machine Export and Import

o   Note: The storage associated with the virtual machine in a Fibre Channel SAN are not part of the Export / Import operations. The operations will be shallow and restricted to the virtual machine and its configuration state.

·         Host initiated backup

o   When the incremental backup change tracking VSSD setting is turned off (default) the backup will succeed with a warming message in the event log.

o   When the incremental backup change tracking VSSD setting is turned on, the backup operation will fail.

The following is a list of Hyper-V features that are not compatible with virtual Fibre Channel

·         Checkpoints (formerly known as Snapshots)

·         Hyper-V Replica

 

Is Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) supported?

Yes, FCoE is supported with a certified Converged Network Adapter (CNA).  

Are tape libraries supported by virtual Fibre Channel?

Microsoft works with many storage partners who are actively testing and certifying their products with Windows Server 2012. A virtual machine with a tape drive connected to a virtual Fibre Channel adapter should work the same as when the tape drive is connected to a Fibre Channel HBA.  Consult with your hardware vendors to ensure that their tape drives are supported and certified for Windows Sever 2012.

What is the virtual port creation process?

The following are the steps taken by Hyper-V when creating a virtual port after a virtual Fibre Channel adapter has a virtual SAN configured:

·         Hyper-V calls the HBA driver to create a virtual port.

·         A physical port is assigned to the virtual SAN is performed using a round robin scheme.

·         If a virtual port fails to be brought online using the assigned physical port, another physical port will be will be attempted.

·         If the virtual machine cannot successfully connect to the virtual port, the virtual machine will fail to start.

·         Once a virtual port has successfully connected to the physical port, Hyper-V removes that virtual port from the list of ports available until the virtual machine releases it. 

Event log entries

The following section are examples of event log entries that can be created during various states of a virtual machine.

Virtual machine startup

Virtual machine startup involves a transition from the stopped state to the running state through to the starting state.
For a virtual machine with virtual Fibre Channel enabled, the port creation process is initiated when the virtual machine enters the starting state. Each Logical unit that is discovered generates an event that is logged to the event log. A bus rescan is performed if no Logical Units are discovered within a stipulated timeout window. The default timeout windows is 60 seconds.

Example event log where LUN’s failed to appear as available on virtual machine startup

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFC-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFcVdev
Date:          7/15/2013 12:20:35 PM
Event ID:      32213
Task Category: None
Level:         Warning
Keywords:     
User:          NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F
Computer:      32-4611K2612L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
'TempVm1': No LUNs have appeared for Synthetic Fibre Channel HBA Fibre Channel Adapter (F5F8DD0B-5EF9-4958-9AF3-48FBF3A6C505). The VM has been started after the timeout period (90 seconds). Please review the LUN mappings for the virtual port. (Virtual machine ID E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F)
 

Example event log when LUN’s successfully appear as available on virtual machine startup.

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFC-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFcVdev
Event ID:      32200
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
'TempVm1': Synthetic Fibre Channel HBA Fibre Channel Adapter (F5F8DD0B-5EF9-4958-9AF3-48FBF3A6C505) started successfully. (Virtual machine ID E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F)
 

Virtual machine running

When a virtual machine is running, the addition and removal of logical units generates an event that is logged in the event log. The new logical units are unmasked to the virtual machine. Link state changes (link loss/gain) will cause the HBA to log logical unit removal and additions.

Example event logs showing LUN addition for a running virtual machine

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS
Date:          7/18/2013 4:50:08 PM
Event ID:      32186
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
Synthetic FC PNP Lun add event for Instance Name \\?\SCSI#VMLUN&Ven_HP&Prod_HSV300#7&330739ef&0&070300#{6f416619-9f29-42a5-b20b-37e219ca02b0} for Virtual Machine Id (E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F) and VDEV Instance Id (F5F8DD0B-5EF9-4958-9AF3-48FBF3A6C505).
 
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFC-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFcVdev
Date:          7/18/2013 4:50:08 PM
Event ID:      32210
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
'TempVm1': A new LUN '\\?\SCSI#VMLUN&Ven_HP&Prod_HSV300#7&330739ef&0&070300#{6f416619-9f29-42a5-b20b-37e219ca02b0}' has been added for the Synthetic Fibre Channel HBA Fibre Channel Adapter (F5F8DD0B-5EF9-4958-9AF3-48FBF3A6C505). (Virtual machine ID E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F)
 

Example event log showing LUN removal for a running virtual machine

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS
Date:          7/18/2013 5:11:18 PM
Event ID:      32185
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
Synthetic FC PNP Lun removal event for Instance Name \\?\SCSI#VMLUN&Ven_HP&Prod_HSV300#7&330739ef&0&070300#{6f416619-9f29-42a5-b20b-37e219ca02b0} for Virtual Machine Id (E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F) and VDEV Instance Id (F5F8DD0B-5EF9-4958-9AF3-48FBF3A6C505).
 
 
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFC-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFcVdev
Date:          7/18/2013 5:11:18 PM
Event ID:      32211
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
'TempVm1': LUN '\\?\SCSI#VMLUN&Ven_HP&Prod_HSV300#7&330739ef&0&070300#{6f416619-9f29-42a5-b20b-37e219ca02b0}' has been removed from the Synthetic Fibre Channel HBA Fibre Channel Adapter (F5F8DD0B-5EF9-4958-9AF3-48FBF3A6C505). (Virtual machine ID E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F)
 

Virtual machine power off

When a virtual machine is powered off (shutdown), Hyper-V removes the logical units associated with virtual ports and deletes the virtual ports. The virtual ports can now be used by another virtual machine. Events correspond to each logical unit do not occur in the event log.

Example event log showing virtual machine PowerOff

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker
Date:          7/15/2013 12:22:47 PM
Event ID:      18502
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
'TempVm1' was turned off. (Virtual machine ID E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F)

Virtual machine save

When a virtual machine is saved, all I/O operations on the LUNs exposed to the virtual Fibre Channel adapter are queued and are allowed to complete before the virtual machine is put into a saved state. The list of LUNs exposed to the Virtual FC HBA is stored in the saved state file. The virtual ports associated with the virtual machine are deleted.

Example event log showing the successful completion of a save operation

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker
Date:          7/18/2013 5:15:24 PM
Event ID:      18510
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
'TempVm1' saved successfully. (Virtual machine ID E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F)

Virtual machine pause

When the virtual machine state transitions to a pause or pause critical state, the virtual machines virtual ports will be maintained on the host. Pending I/Os completion on the host will be sent to the target and their completion status will be saved in the host’s memory.
There are no event log entries when a virtual machine enters a pause or pause critical state for virtual Fibre Channel. 

Virtual machine reset

A VM reset operation is comprised of a power-off operation followed by startup.

Virtual machine restore

When a virtual machine is restored from its saved state, Hyper-V resumes the virtual machine even if LUN’s are unavailable.
After a virtual port is created on a physical HBA, unmasked LUNs may take non-deterministic amounts of time to appear on the host. The successful discovery of each available LUN is associated with an event that is logged in the event log. If LUN’s fail to appear as available within a stipulated timeout window, a timeout occurs and the list of unavailable LUNs are logged in the event log.

Example event logs showing a successful restore operation of a virtual machine

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFC-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFcVdev
Date:          7/18/2013 5:15:53 PM
Event ID:      32212
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
'TempVm1': LUN '\\?\SCSI#VMLUN&Ven_HP&Prod_HSV300#7&330739ef&0&070000#{6f416619-9f29-42a5-b20b-37e219ca02b0}' has been restored successfully for the Synthetic Fibre Channel HBA Fibre Channel Adapter (F5F8DD0B-5EF9-4958-9AF3-48FBF3A6C505). (Virtual machine ID E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F)
 
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-VMMS
Date:          7/18/2013 5:15:53 PM
Event ID:      32186
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          SYSTEM
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
Synthetic FC PNP Lun add event for Instance Name \\?\SCSI#VMLUN&Ven_HP&Prod_HSV300#7&330739ef&0&070000#{6f416619-9f29-42a5-b20b-37e219ca02b0} for Virtual Machine Id (E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F) and VDEV
 
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFC-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFcVdev
Date:          7/18/2013 5:15:53 PM
Event ID:      32200
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
'TempVm1': Synthetic Fibre Channel HBA Fibre Channel Adapter (F5F8DD0B-5EF9-4958-9AF3-48FBF3A6C505) started successfully. (Virtual machine ID E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F)
 
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker
Date:          7/18/2013 5:15:54 PM
Event ID:      18500
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
'TempVm1' started successfully. (Virtual machine ID E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F)
 

Example event logs showing Failure in discovering LU mappings on VM restore

Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFC-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFcVdev
Date:          7/19/2013 11:02:33 AM
Event ID:      32206
Task Category: None
Level:         Error
Keywords:     
User:          NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
Error while restoring virtual machine 'TempVm1': There are 4 LUNs missing for Synthetic Fibre channel HBA Fibre Channel Adapter (F5F8DD0B-5EF9-4958-9AF3-48FBF3A6C505) since the VM was saved. (Virtual machine ID E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F)
 
 
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFC-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-SynthFcVdev
Date:          7/19/2013 11:02:33 AM
Event ID:      32200
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
'TempVm1': Synthetic Fibre Channel HBA Fibre Channel Adapter (F5F8DD0B-5EF9-4958-9AF3-48FBF3A6C505) started successfully. (Virtual machine ID E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F)
 
Log Name:      Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker-Admin
Source:        Microsoft-Windows-Hyper-V-Worker
Date:          7/19/2013 11:02:33 AM
Event ID:      18500
Task Category: None
Level:         Information
Keywords:     
User:          NT VIRTUAL MACHINE\E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F
Computer:      37-4611K2611L.hyper-v.selfhost.corp.microsoft.com
Description:
'TempVm1' started successfully. (Virtual machine ID E53F0DB7-42F3-4ED2-A017-ADA49EB5CA5F)
 

Virtual Fibre Channel and Live Migration

Before a virtual machine that has a virtual Fibre Channel adapter configured can be moved (migrated) to another host, Hyper-V checks to ensure that all of the SAN resources used by virtual machine are accessible from the destination host. This behavior also ensures that the SCSI reservation states are unaffected after the live migration occurs, to avoid any cluster failovers.
To work around the time sensitivity of blackout times in live migration, each virtual Fibre Channel port needs to be configured with 2 sets of World Wide names (2 WWPN’s and WWNN’s). Only one of them is active on the source machine, and the other one is used when the virtual machine is migrated to the target machine. Hyper-V automatically alternates between the two address pairs during a live migration.
As a part of preliminary live migration checks, the virtual SAN on the target host is compared with the same name as that of the source host. The operation that involves checking for LUN connectivity using the second configured WWN pair for the virtual machine is performed after the virtual machine is migrated to the destination host and power-on is attempted on the destination host. If this check fails, the Live Migration operation will fail.

Virtual Fibre Channel and Quick Migration

A Quick Migration is essentially a virtual machine Save on the source host followed by a virtual machine Restore operation on the destination host.
On the source host, all I/O operations on the LUNs exposed to the Virtual Fibre Channel adapter are queued and all outstanding I/O on all the LUNs exposed to the virtual Fibre Channel adapter are allowed to complete. The list of LUNs exposed to the virtual Fibre Channel adapter are stored in the saved state file. Subsequently the virtual ports associated with the virtual machine are torn down.
On the destination host, a virtual port is created on a physical HBA. Unmasked LUNs may take non-deterministic amounts of time to appear on the host. The successful discovery of each available LUN is associated with an event that is logged in the event log. If LUN’s fail to appear as available within a stipulated timeout window, a timeout occurs and the list of unavailable LUNs are logged in the event log.
It is important to note that quick migration succeeds even if LUN’s are unavailable on the destination host, which is not the behavior when using live migration.