How to use FC-attached SCSI devicesEdit online Configure, operate and troubleshoot Linux® on z Systems™ attached to a SAN environment. PDF file for How to use FC-attached SCSI devices with Linux on z SystemsYou can view and print this information in PDF format.IntroductionYou can attach Linux on z Systems to a SAN environment by using the Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP).Using N_Port ID virtualizationDevices attach to the SAN fabric by logging in to it. The device ports are called target ports or also N_ports. Configuring FCP devicesTo configure FCP devices you must configure the IODF, define zones in the switch or fabric, control access to the LUN with LUN masking, and configure the zfcp device driver. Under z/VM®, you might also need to attach the FCP device.Naming SCSI devices persistently using udevWith udev you can create persistent SCSI device names. Improving system availability by using multipathingMultipath I/O provides failover and might improve performance. You can configure multiple physical I/O paths between server nodes and storage arrays into a single multipath device. Booting the system by using SCSI IPLSCSI IPL (initial program load) is the ability to load a mainframe operating system from an FCP-attached SCSI device.Using SCSI tape and the lin_tape driverTo manage IBM® TotalStorage or System Storage® devices, use the lin_tape Linux device driver. Logging using the SCSI logging featureThe SCSI logging feature is of interest primarily for software developers who are debugging software problems. It can also be useful for administrators who track down hardware or configuration problems.Statistics available through sysfsThe zfcp device driver provides statistics through sysfs. This information is given for each FCP device.I/O tracing using blktraceThe Linux kernel can collect events about all state changes of I/O requests. Later, the blktrace utilities can derive data from these events.Collecting FCP performance data with ziomonThe performance monitor ziomon collects data relevant to FCP performance, such as the FCP I/O configuration, I/O workload, and the utilization of FCP resources. Creating FCP performance reportsUsing the output from ziomon, you can create three performance reports by using the report commands.Investigating the SAN fabricAs of version 2.1 the HBA API package includes two commands, zfcp_ping and zfcp_show that help you to investigate your SAN fabric. Hints and tipsSome common problems and ways to steer clear of trouble.Parent topic: Administration and configuration