HPE Storage Users Group

3par MPIO for Windows 2003 and Co-locating with EVA MPIO DSM:

I have a v800 frame I need to present space from. It is being assigned to a Windows 2003 x64 server that already has space presented from an EVA 8x00 series san array. The HP EVA DSM version 4.00 is installed for MPIO.

I need 3par mpio installed also. For windows 2003 3par provides an executable to be install. THe 3par MPIO User guide says this:

CAUTION:
■ Before installing 3PAR MPIO for Microsoft Windows on a host, you must remove
any Dynamic Multipathing (DMP) drivers provided by other vendors who are not
using Microsoft MPIO framework to develop MPIO solution.

■ Per Microsoft’s guidance, Microsoft MPIO architecture supports the co-existence of
multiple DSMs by design. The 3PAR MPIO solution is MPIO framework compliant
and follows the Microsoft recommendation to install the complete Microsoft MPIO
driver package as part of the 3PAR MPIO solution deliverable. Other vendors who
also deliver the Microsoft MPIO solution should be compliant to the Microsoft
MPIO framework and follows the same recommendation from Microsoft. 3PAR is
not responsible to support other vendor’s DSM in the coexistence environment. If
the host is currently running Microsoft MPIO software installed by another vendor,
installing the 3PAR MPIO package will overwrite the Microsoft MPIO driver
package. Therefore it is customer’s responsibility to ensure the Microsoft MPIO
driver versions they install from 3PAR and other vendors are always at the same Microsoft MPIO DDK level.



My question is, do I need to remove the HP EVA DSM before I install the 3par MPIO package or can they play nice together?

Has anybody ever had the same scenario/situation and can provide insite?

Thanks,

Nick

I am pulling out of memory from 2006 when we did some POC benchmarks between 3PAR and Netapp which both used the Microsoft MPIO + their own DSM.... my memory is not perfect so test for yourself.

I believe that if the MS MPIO for the 2 products is the same core MSMPIO version, the 3PAR mpio installer detects that MPIO is already up to date on the host and will skip the MPIO portion and just add the DSM.

At that time, it wasn't supported and our 3PAR engineers shook their fingers at me, but it worked in our lab and we were able to connect single hosts to both 3PAR and Netapp at the same time with full multipathing.

Test somewhere safe first.

_________________
Richard Siemers
The views and opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

I installed the 3par MPIO for Windows 2003 along side the HP DSM for the EVA 8x00 series array without issue.

I proceeded with the install after digging for more info on the EVA DSM was based on and using the Microsoft MPIO framework. Therefore they can play nice together per documentation I read on the MS MPIO framework itself.

Thanks,

Nick