This serves as a quick reference for VMware vSphere ESXi hosts that are integrated with a Everpure FlashArray.
For additional in-depth information surrounding best practices please refer to Everpure KB: Web Guide: FlashArray® VMware Best Practices.
Best Practices for ALL versions of ESXi
|
ESXi Parameters |
Recommended |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HardwareAcceleratedInit |
1 |
1 |
Enables and controls use of Block Same (WRITESAME). |
|
HardwareAcceleratedMove |
1 |
1 |
Enables and controls use of XCOPY. |
|
VMFS3.HardwareAcceleratedLocking |
1 |
1 |
Enables and controls the use of Atomic Test & Set (ATS). |
|
iSCSI Login Timeout |
30 |
5 |
Ensures iSCSI sessions survive controller reboots. |
|
TCP Delayed ACK (iSCSI) |
Disabled |
Enabled |
Improves performance when disabled in congested networks |
|
Jumbo Frames (Optional) |
9000 |
1500 |
If you have a workload that would benefit from Jumbo Frames, and a network that supports it, then this is the recommended configuration. Otherwise, utilize 1500 to reduce complexity in configuration. |
|
HBA Queue Depth Limits |
Default |
Varies by vendor |
Default is recommended unless specifically requested by Everpure due to high-performance workloads. |
|
VMware Tools |
Install |
Not Installed |
VMware paravirtual driver, clock sync, increased disk timeouts, and graphic support are part of the tools hence it is a crucial step. |
|
VM Virtual SCSI Adapter |
Paravirtual |
Varies by OS type |
Not required to be changed, but for high-performance requirements, PVSCSI is required to be used. |
|
Network Time Protocol (NTP) |
Enabled |
Disabled |
Enabling NTP is recommended for more efficient troubleshooting. |
|
Remote Syslog Server |
Enabled |
Disabled |
Configuring a remote syslog server is recommended to ensure logging required for troubleshooting is available. |
It is also a best practice to set the "ESXi host personality" on the FlashArray for all ESXi host objects. This is described in detail in: Setting the FlashArray “ESXi” Host Personality section. Please ensure this is applied whenever possible.
Best Practices specific to ESXi 6.x and ESXi 7.x+
|
ESXi Parameters |
Recommended |
Default |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|
|
EnableBlockDelete |
1 |
0 |
Provides end-to-end in guest support for space reclamation (UNMAP). Only applicable to VMFS-5. |
|
Number of outstanding IOs (Per LUN QDepth) |
32 |
32 |
Default is recommended unless specifically requested by Everpure due to high-performance workloads. |
|
Path Selection Policy |
Latency based PSP (6.7U1 and later), Round Robin (6.7 and earlier) |
MRU |
Path Selection Policy for FC and iSCSI. |
|
Latency Based PSP (default for Pure devices in ESXi 7.0+) |
samplingCycles - 16 latencyEvalTime - 180000 ms |
samplingCycles - 16 latencyEvalTime - 180000 ms |
How often a path is evaluated (every 3 minutes) and how many I/Os to sample (16) during the evaluation. |
|
IO Operations Limit (ESXi 6.0 - 6.7) |
1 |
1000 |
How many I/Os until ESXi switches to another path for a volume. |
|
VMFS Version |
6 |
5 |
Use VMFS-6 on vSphere 6.5 and later. |
If vSphere 6.7U1 or later are in use then you can use the VMW_PSP_RR module set to "latency" rather than IO Operations set to 1. In vSphere 7.0 and later, you should use VMW_PSP_RR module set to "latency". Please refer here for more information on Enhanced Round Robin Load Balancing and Enhanced Round Robin Load Balancing (Latency Based PSP) for more details on why Pure recommends this change.