StarWind Software

Hello,

I'm new to this forum. I searched for a hint but I found nothing.
Starwind 8 (VSphere version, free license ) gives me errors when I try to use physical disks.

This is my configuration:
server HP DL580G5, 32Gb RAM, Emulex FC. Sysop: W2008r2+sp1, MPIO
Storage: HP MSA1000, controller Active/active

Storage and server has updated firmware.

Problem:

1) When I start starwind, in the logs I see the following:

10/16 9:44:11.493 3e8 error: assertion failed: c:\_starwind\_release_8_0_r2\starwind\service\common\fn_common.cpp:28 (isEmpty())
10/16 9:44:11.524 3e8 SPTI: '\\?\mpio#disk&ven_hp&prod_msa_volume&rev_7.20#1&7f6ac24&0&3630303830354633303030373344323041343531373730353841444230303133#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}': 'HP MSA VOLUME 7.20': adapter 4, bus 0, target 0, LUN 1; maxTransferLength 16777215, alignmentMask 0x0
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 Srv: Found SPTI device '\\?\mpio#disk&ven_hp&prod_msa_volume&rev_7.20#1&7f6ac24&0&3630303830354633303030373344323041343531373730353841444230303133#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}': 'HP MSA VOLUME 7.20'
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 error: assertion failed: c:\_starwind\_release_8_0_r2\starwind\service\common\fn_common.cpp:28 (isEmpty())
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 SPTI: '\\?\mpio#disk&ven_hp&prod_msa_volume&rev_7.20#1&7f6ac24&0&3630303830354633303030373344323041343531373730414446313230303134#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}': 'HP MSA VOLUME 7.20': adapter 4, bus 0, target 0, LUN 4; maxTransferLength 16777215, alignmentMask 0x0
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 Srv: Found SPTI device '\\?\mpio#disk&ven_hp&prod_msa_volume&rev_7.20#1&7f6ac24&0&3630303830354633303030373344323041343531373730414446313230303134#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}': 'HP MSA VOLUME 7.20'
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 error: assertion failed: c:\_starwind\_release_8_0_r2\starwind\service\common\fn_common.cpp:28 (isEmpty())
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 SPTI: '\\?\mpio#disk&ven_hp&prod_msa_volume&rev_7.20#1&7f6ac24&0&3630303830354633303030373344323041343531373731353636393630303133#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}': 'HP MSA VOLUME 7.20': adapter 4, bus 0, target 0, LUN 2; maxTransferLength 16777215, alignmentMask 0x0
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 Srv: Found SPTI device '\\?\mpio#disk&ven_hp&prod_msa_volume&rev_7.20#1&7f6ac24&0&3630303830354633303030373344323041343531373731353636393630303133#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}': 'HP MSA VOLUME 7.20'
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 error: assertion failed: c:\_starwind\_release_8_0_r2\starwind\service\common\fn_common.cpp:28 (isEmpty())
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 SPTI: '\\?\mpio#disk&ven_hp&prod_msa_volume&rev_7.20#1&7f6ac24&0&3630303830354633303030373344323041343531373731464132464530303134#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}': 'HP MSA VOLUME 7.20': adapter 4, bus 0, target 0, LUN 3; maxTransferLength 16777215, alignmentMask 0x0
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 Srv: Found SPTI device '\\?\mpio#disk&ven_hp&prod_msa_volume&rev_7.20#1&7f6ac24&0&3630303830354633303030373344323041343531373731464132464530303134#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}': 'HP MSA VOLUME 7.20'
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 error: assertion failed: c:\_starwind\_release_8_0_r2\starwind\service\common\fn_common.cpp:28 (isEmpty())
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 SPTI: '\\?\scsi#disk&ven_hp&prod_logical_volume#7&726dfaf&0&000400#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}': 'HP LOGICAL VOLUME 7.22': adapter 2, bus 0, target 4, LUN 0; maxTransferLength 524288, alignmentMask 0x3
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 Srv: Found SPTI device '\\?\scsi#disk&ven_hp&prod_logical_volume#7&726dfaf&0&000400#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}': 'HP LOGICAL VOLUME 7.22'
10/16 9:44:11.555 3e8 error: assertion failed: c:\_starwind\_release_8_0_r2\starwind\service\common\fn_common.cpp:28 (isEmpty())
10/16 9:44:11.571 3e8 SPTI: '\\?\ide#cdromhl-dt-st_dvdram_gsa-t40l________________ks03____#5&3c5e1cb&0&0.0.0#{53f56308-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}': ' HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T40L KS03': adapter 0, bus 0, target 0, LUN 0; maxTransferLength 131072, alignmentMask 0x1
10/16 9:44:11.571 3e8 Srv: Found SPTI device '\\?\ide#cdromhl-dt-st_dvdram_gsa-t40l________________ks03____#5&3c5e1cb&0&0.0.0#{53f56308-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}': ' HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-T40L KS03'

Then, when I create a device using physical disk (DISKS ARE FORMATTED in NTFS with a letter associated. Same error with disks unformatted):

10/16 10:01:08.285 3e8 Tgt: : parameter 'file', value '\\?\mpio#disk&ven_hp&prod_msa_volume&rev_7.20#1&7f6ac24&0&3630303830354633303030373344323041343531373730353841444230303133#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}'.
10/16 10:01:08.285 3e8 Tgt: : parameter 'asyncmode', value 'No'.
10/16 10:01:08.285 3e8 Tgt: : parameter 'readonly', value 'No'.
10/16 10:01:08.285 3e8 Tgt: : parameter 'CacheMode', value 'wb'.
10/16 10:01:08.285 3e8 Tgt: : parameter 'CacheSizeMB', value '128'.
10/16 10:01:08.285 3e8 SCSI: Failed to create 'DiskBridge1' device.
10/16 10:01:08.285 3e8 Srv: Device 'DiskBridge1' - open failed!
10/16 10:01:08.285 3e8 conf: Device [0x000000010BC8AD10] 'DiskBridge1' has been created.
10/16 10:01:08.472 3e8 Tgt: : parameter 'file', value '\\?\mpio#disk&ven_hp&prod_msa_volume&rev_7.20#1&7f6ac24&0&3630303830354633303030373344323041343531373730353841444230303133#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}'.
10/16 10:01:08.472 3e8 Tgt: : parameter 'asyncmode', value 'No'.
10/16 10:01:08.472 3e8 Tgt: : parameter 'readonly', value 'No'.
10/16 10:01:08.472 3e8 Tgt: : parameter 'CacheMode', value 'wb'.
10/16 10:01:08.472 3e8 Tgt: : parameter 'CacheSizeMB', value '128'.
10/16 10:01:08.472 3e8 Tgt: : parameter '#_TargetName_#', value 'iqn.2008-08.com.starwindsoftware:rmin833.nts.ipnet.omnitel.it-rmin833-target-1'.
10/16 10:01:08.472 3e8 SCSI: Failed to create 'DiskBridge1' device.
10/16 10:01:08.472 3e8 Srv: Device 'DiskBridge1' - open failed!
10/16 10:01:08.472 3e8 Tgt: : * cannot open the device 'DiskBridge1'. It is not active.
10/16 10:01:08.472 3e8 SCSI: Failed to create 'DiskBridge1' device.
10/16 10:01:08.472 3e8 Tgt: iqn.2008-08.com.starwindsoftware:rmin833.nts.ipnet.omnitel.it-rmin833-target-1: attached device DiskBridge1 (LUNs found: 0).

And disk is not presented as iSCSI Device.

Any suggestion is very appreciated.

Thanks in advance to all!


Davide

You're on the wrong path in general... What you're trying to do is performance-limited and features-limited way to go. Create data store on that physical disk, put VMDK for StarWind VM on it and use that space for StarWind-managed images (FLAT or LSFS).

Hi,

I'm currently having the same issue, being new to using iSCSI, too.
Could you please clarify on the downside of using a whole disk as iSCSI target?
I would like to try and compare myself. Could you please explain, what's going wrong when adding a physical disk as iSCSI device?

Thank you!

the relevant log:

Hi!
From the logs it looks like the device that you are trying to export is busy by some process, not related to StarWind.
That is actually exactly why using virtual disks is better than exporting entire hard drive. I would add mentioned above possible performance issues. Also using virtual disks gives better flexibility (general SAN sizing, thin provisioning) and additional functionality, such as Deduplication, HA, assunchronous replication, etc.
I hope that makes sense.

Anatoly (staff) wrote:Hi!
From the logs it looks like the device that you are trying to export is busy by some process, not related to StarWind.
That is actually exactly why using virtual disks is better than exporting entire hard drive. I would add mentioned above possible performance issues. Also using virtual disks gives better flexibility (general SAN sizing, thin provisioning) and additional functionality, such as Deduplication, HA, asynchronous replication, etc.
I hope that makes sense.

Other than no HA, I do not see a disadvantage. Deduplication is nice but slows down hard drive access. If the drive space is accessed directly that would bypass the need to have SW manage LSFS data which means better performance. Because LSFS uses extra space, there is also less drive space lost to LSFS. No LSFS also means the storage will be available immediately upon startup.

VMWare's Thin Provisioning actually works better so I'd rather use that.

Only thing I'm wondering is if I need to expand the RAID array, will SW detect the added space and allow VMWare to detect it?

Hi Francesco,

I have already commented a similar case here https://forums.starwindsoftware.com/vie ... 279#p24147 today. Disk-bridge never seemed to be a solution for me

Hi Francesco,

Please use FLAT device on top of a physical drive and you won't encounter such issues.