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. Table of Contents Introduction RequirementsLimitationsInteroperability with other Hyper-V featuresIs Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) supported?What is the virtual port creation process?Sample event log entries Virtual machine startup Example event log where LUN’s failed to appear as available on virtual machine startupExample event log when LUN’s successfully appear as available on virtual machine startup.Virtual machine running Example event logs showing LUN addition for a running virtual machineExample event log showing LUN removal for a running virtual machineVirtual machine power off Example event log showing virtual machine PowerOffVirtual machine save Example event log showing the successful completion of a save operationVirtual machine pauseVirtual machine resetVirtual machine restore Example event logs showing a successful restore operation of a virtual machineExample event logs showing Failure in discovering LU mappings on VM restoreVirtual Fibre Channel and Live MigrationVirtual Fibre Channel and Quick MigrationTroubleshooting samples Before you continue
· Understand and experience configuring Fibre Channel technologies.
· Understand and experience configuring Hyper-V.
· Familiarity with reading Windows Server event logs.
· 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.
· 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.
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
· 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.
· UI: “This device or driver does not support virtual Fibre Channel.”
· Event Log: Warning 32170 logged by VMMS at startup
· WMI: Msvm_ExternalFcPort property IsHyperVCapable = False upon running the following query :
· gwmi -n root\virtualization\v2 Msvm_ExternalFcPort -Property InstanceId, WWPN, IsHyperVCapable
· If Querying for MSFC_FibrePortNPIVMethodsEx or MSFC_FibrePortNPIVAttributes returns Invalid Class then Rebuild portion of WMI store Mofcomp /i c:\windows\system32\wbem\npivwmi.mof
· If the HBA is from Emulex, use OneCommand to set Host Driver Parameter “EnableNPIV” to Enabled, then reboot
· If the above remediation steps are not applicable or do not work, contact the server or HBA vendor for driver, firmware updates
· HBA failing to remove virtual port
· Host unresponsiveness
· The failure of the HBA to remove the virtual port can be confirmed by:
o Verifying that no running VM is using same WWPN
o Checking for virtual port removal failures in event log (see below in example event logs)
· Mitigation: Remove the port using HBA management tools or by using a WMI call or by rebooting the host. Escalate the issue with the HBA and fabric vendors
· If a host hang is confirmed by identifying fabric ports using fabric management tools, reboot connected host or disable the offending fabric port
· WWPN “A” and “B” not included in zones and masking sets
· Virtual SAN on remote node missing
· Destination host has fewer paths to target than the origin host
· LUNs associated with the VM do not appear as available at the destination node
· Analyze the event logs on the destination:
o If Virtual SAN missing, log will have specific details. Create SAN to fix
o If LUNs are missing:
§ Double check Virtual SAN’s assigned HBAs are connected to same fabric
§ Confirm WWPN “A” and “B” are included in zones and masking sets
§ Confirm the number of paths to target will be the same