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For Oracle databases on PowerFlex, Dell Technologies recommends using the Storage Data Client, or SDC-presented volumes. SDC is a lightweight device driver that exposes PowerFlex volumes as block devices to the host on which SDC is installed. PowerFlex presents SCSI devices through the SDC similar to FC or iSCSI. As there is no special integration in KVM for the SDC, it is necessary to use the Fibre Channel option when creating a storage domain.
Begin by installing the SDC package on each Oracle Linux KVM host following the PowerFlex deployment guide. Be sure that each KVM node has network access to the MDM IPs of the PowerFlex. This may require configuring additional IPs on the KVM hosts. Perform the following steps:
export MDM_IP=172.16.100.1
rpm -ivh EMC-ScaleIO-sdc-4.5-2000.137.el8.x86_64.rpm
The package installs and configures the scini service. No reboot is required. Upon completion, the PowerFlex cluster automatically registers the new KVM hosts. The four Oracle hosts in this configuration are shown in Figure 21 in the PowerFlex UI.
Figure 21. KVM hosts in PowerFlex UI
The hosts all show no mapped volumes. Prior to creating and mapping a new volume, however, an additional configuration for multipathing is required on each KVM host as detailed next.
The PowerFlex does not use, nor require, Linux multipathing functionality; however, for the purposes of Fibre Channel device discovery, Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager does. The storage domain wizard requires that for a device to be recognized as FC, the multipath daemon must recognize it. Unfortunately, by default the multipath.conf file is configured to filter out most devices by exception. This includes PowerFlex devices which have the moniker /dev/scini<x>. In order for the multipath daemon to recognize the PowerFlex devices, the user must add an exception. A new directory and file should be created under the /etc/multipath directory. Using an editor like vi, add the following syntax to the configuration file:
mkdir -p /etc/multipath/conf.d
vi /etc/multipath/conf.d/powerflex.conf
Enter the following information and save.
blacklist_exceptions {
devnode "scini*"
The file entry should appear as in Figure 22:
Figure 22. Multipath blacklist exceptions
After modifying the file, restart the multipath daemon so that is picks up the changes:
systemctl restart multipathd
Once complete, the user can provision PowerFlex volumes to the Oracle Linux KVM nodes for use as FC storage domains.
To provision the volume, follow these steps:
Figure 23. Volume creation
Figure 24. Map volume to host
The volume should now be available on each KVM node. To check, list the available volumes on any of the nodes by running multipath -l. The 240 GB volume is highlighted in Figure 25.
Figure 25. PowerFlex device using multipath command
With the volume recognized by multipath, create the FC storage domain.
Figure 26. FC storage domain
Note: Although it is possible to select multiple devices for use in a single storage domain, Dell Technologies does not recommend doing so. The user should rely on the PowerFlex array for performance and therefore present a single volume of the total size required.
Oracle Linux Virtualization Manager initiates the FC storage domain, locking it until completion. When done, the storage domain displays as active in Figure 27.
Figure 27. Active FC storage domain