How to Assign Fiber Channel LUMs to a Hyper-V VM in VMM

Read this guide to learn how to assign Fiber Channel LUMs directly to a Hyper-V Virtual Machine by employing the N_Port ID virtualization (NPIV) technology.

NPIV Overview and Requirements

N_Port ID virtualization (NPIV) is a Fiber Channel technology that allows a hypervisor host to virtualize its Fiber Channel adapter. In essence, with NPIV, a hypervisor host like ESXi or Hyper-V supports creating multiple virtual Fiber Channel adapters using the host’s adapter.

Most FC adapters allow you to create up to 32 virtual FC adapters.

To utilize this technology, the following conditions must be met:

1. The Fiber Channel adapter on the hypervisor must support NPIV
2. Secondly, the FC storage array must also support FC virtualization
3. NPIV must be enabled on the FC storage and the hyperviror host
4. For a Hyper-V clustered configuration, all hosts must support NPIV. Also, the virtual FC adapter must be created with the same name on all hosts.

Step 1: Create a Virtual Fiber Channel SAN

The first step to assigining a VM FC LUMs is to enable the Hyper-V Virtual Fiber Channel virtual SAN in the Hyper-V Manager.

If the VM is a Hyper-V cluster, you must create the Fiber Channel virtual SAN on all hosts. Otherwise, the VM will not support live migration post FC LUM configuration.

Meanwhile, to create a Virtual Fiber Channel SAN on the Hyper-V hosts:

Open the Properties of a Hyper-V host in VMM by double-clicking the host. Then, from the host’s Hardware menu, click New Virtual SAN, and give the new VSAN a name and description.

Finally, assign the virtual FC SAN a WWPN number on the host by checking the checkbox next to an available WWPN – then, click OK to save the changes.

If your Hyper-V host is in a cluster, you must create the virtual FC SAN with the same name on all hosts. Otherwise, the VM’s Live Migration will fail.

Step 2: Enable VirtualizationBasedSecurityOptOut on the VM

Before adding a virtual FC adapter to a Hyper-V VM, you must enable the VirtualizationBasedSecurityOptOut feature. Follow the steps below to enable this feature on the VM:

1. Open PowerShell as administrator from a Hyper-V host where the VM is hosted. If you manage a Windows Server Core configuration, open PowerShell on the host via Server Manager: All Servers, right-click the server, and select Open PowerShell.

2. To enable VirtualizationBasedSecurityOptOut on a VM, run the command below – change to the name of the VM.

Get-VM -Name  | Set-VMSecurity -VirtualizationBasedSecurityOptOut $true

Step 3: Create a Virtual Fiber Adapter on the VM

If you proceed with the steps in this section without enabling VirtualizationBasedSecurityOptOut on the VM (Step 2), adding the virtual FC adapter will fail.

1. Shut down the VM.
2. Then, open its properties in VMM: VMs and Services > on the cluster node and double-click the VM. Then, on the VM’s Hardware Configuration node, click New and select Fiber Channel Adapter.

2. On the settings page of the Fiber Channel Adapter, click the Virtual SAN Name drop-down and select the virtual SAN you created in step 1. When you finish, click OK to save the changes.

3. Power up the VM

Step 4: Perform a Test Live Migration

To confirm that the VM can still be migrated to another host, perform a Live Migration of the VM to another host. If you did not create the virtual SAN with the same name on all Hyper-V cluster nodes, a Live Migration attempt will fail.

Step 5: Assign a Virtual Fiber LUM to the VM

Open the Properties of the VM and click the assigned virtual Fiber Channel adapter card to get its WWPN and WWNNs.

Then, use the WWPN or WWNN to assign the VM a Fiber Channel LUM.

Step 6: Configure the FC Storage

Finally, install MPIO, claim the FC LUM, and configure the disk in Disk Management

Conclusion

Some VMs require direct assignment of Fiber Channel LUMs. Thankfully, this is possible with the N_Port ID virtualization (NPIV) technology in Hyper-V and VMware.

This guide explained the steps to create a virtual Fiber Channel SAN on a Hyper-V host that supports NPIV, then, enable VirtualizationBasedSecurityOptOut on a VM.

Finally, I explained how to add a virtual Fiber Channel adatper to a VM, assign the VM an FC LUM, and configure the disks for use.

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