Dell Emulex Family of Adapters - Manual (Page 994)

Emulex Drivers Version 10.2 for VMware ESXi User Manual P010087-01A Rev. A
2. Installation
Installing the FC/FCoE Driver
994
Installing the FC/FCoE Driver
This section provides installation information for the driver and the Emulex CIM
Provider using the FC/FCoE interface on ESXi systems. Before using this product, you
need a working knowledge of FC/FCoE and network storage devices.
Installing the FC/FCoE Driver and Management Software
The Emulex driver is available through the VMware support site. Refer to the VMware
support website for further details.
For VMware ESXi 5.0, 5.1, and 5.5 hosts, you can manage adapters using the
OneCommand Manager application on Windows or the OneCommand Manager
application for VMware vCenter application, but you must install and use the
appropriate Emulex CIM Provider. See the OneCommand Manager Application User
Manual and OneCommand Manager Application for VMware vCenter User Manual for
instructions on installing the respective applications. The installation requires that the
CIM Provider be installed. For more information on installing the CIM Provider, see the
appropriate CIM Provider Installation Guide.
Note: Before installing the management application, you must install the LPFC driver
from the VMware website and then reboot the server.
Note: Before installing the FC/FCoE drivers and CIM Provider, verify that the
firmware version is correct. If it is, proceed with the installation. If it is not,
update the firmware using the OneCommand Manager application from a
Windows server or the OneCommand Manager application for VMware
vCenter, and reboot the system before proceeding with the installation.
ExpressLane Support
Host servers do not distinguish between lower and higher priority workloads being
sent to LUNs. For flash storage deployed in mixed storage environments, the
combination of data from rotating media and flash devices can cause congestion on the
network and reduced performance for the flash storage devices.
ExpressLane enables special priority queuing for selected LUNs (ExpressLane LUNs).
ExpressLane LUN performance is superior to that of regular LUNs. Mixed storage
environments can use ExpressLane to alleviate congestion, reduce latency, and
improve throughput, ensuring that key applications receive highest priority.
The following requirements must be met in order to use ExpressLane:

ExpressLane is only supported on LPe16000-series and LPe16202/OCe15100
adapters.

ExpressLane is only supported on ESXi 5.5 or later.

An ExpressLane LUN must be enabled in the driver before it can be used by
OneCommand Manager for VMware vCenter. Additionally, the priority value
to mark each of the ExpressLane frames must be specified to the FC/FCoE
driver through the appropriate driver parameters.

ExpressLane is not supported for LUNs attached to virtual ports.