C: Configuring Microsoft’s own MPIO for SANsymphony Virtual Disks

For Windows Hosts that are not using DataCore Windows Integration Kit but using Microsoft's own 'built-in' MPIO the following steps are required for Windows MPIO to work with SANsymphony Virtual Disks.

  1. On the Windows Host server, install the ‘Multipath I/O’ Feature.

    A reboot of is not usually needed after installing the Multipath I/O feature, but if prompted by Windows to reboot, please reboot before continuing.

  2. Open Microsoft’s 'Multipath I/O Configuration Tool' (mpiocpl.exe) and select the 'MPIO Devices' tab.

  3. Click the ‘Add’ button.

  4. Enter the string "DataCoreVirtual Disk" in the 'Add MPIO Support' window.

    Please enter the string exactly as it appears above. The Vendor and Product IDs are case sensitive and there must only space between the strings 'Virtual' and ‘Disk’.

    If the configuration was ever upgraded from ‘SANsymphony 7.x’ or ‘SANmelody’, additional IDs should be entered.

  5. Click OK. Reboot when prompted.

    It is possible to enter more than one Vendor/Product ID and ignore the reboot request until the last entry has been added.

Verifying MPIO is Configured for SANsymphony Virtual Disks

For Windows Hosts that are not using DataCore Windows Integration Kit but using Microsoft's own 'built-in' MPIO. This section shows how to verify that the settings made in the previous section are working as expected.

Via Windows Device Manager

  1. Under ‘Disk drives’ locate a 'DataCore Virtual Disk Multi-Path Disk Device'; right- click the device and select 'Properties' from the context menu.

    Each Virtual Disk served to the Host will create a single 'DataCore Virtual Disk Multi-Path Disk Device' regardless if the Virtual Disk is mirrored (or not) and regardless of how many paths the Virtual Disk is served to/from i.e. for 3 Virtual Disks, expect to see 3 DataCore Virtual Disk Multi-Path Disk Device' entries.

  2. Select the ‘MPIO’ tab.

    The example above indicates that there are two paths to the Virtual Disk.