Whats the technical differences between PowerPath with license vs PowerPath Unlicensed?

323379 : What is the difference between PowerPath Base and PowerPath Basic Failover?            

https://support.emc.com/kb/323379

basically states that 

PowerPath Base is a license key that became available with initial PowerPath for CLARiiON release.  PowerPath Base protects against HBA and CLARiiON SP failures, Symmetrix FA port failures, and back-end storage-system failures.  Load balancing, auto-restore, and path management functionality is not available.  Request (RE) is the default policy when the PowerPath Base license key is added.

PowerPath Basic Failover is a Load-Balancing policy.  With Basic Failover, it protects against CLARiiON SP failures, Symmetrix FA port failures, and back-end storage-system failures.  It does not provide protection against HBA failures as it is supported in single HBA environments only.  With the PowerPath 4.4.x releases, it is the default policy for CLARiiON and Symmetrix arrays when no license key is present.  Please check the most current Release Notes for more Host specific information.

another way to describe it is Powerpath supports upto 32 paths from multiple HBA's to multiple storage ports when multipathing license is applied. without the multipathing license, Powerpath will utilize only  single port on one adapter. in this mode the single active port can be zoned to maximum of 2 storage ports. this config provides storage port failover only and not host based load balancing or host based failover. this config is supported, but not recommended. to get true IO load balancing at host and also hba failover Powerpath must be licensed.

Hi zanae,

There is one exception to what Dustin said - with PowerPath/VE for VMware, there is no "Basic Failover" policy, the ESXi hosts are protected (failover) and the IOs are load-balanced, however you can't manage PPVE on this host without the license (i.e. with RTOOLs). For all the other OS'es, it works as stated above - without the license your failover policy is "Basis Failover" which protects you only from SP or FA failure, but not link/HBA failure.

Thank you,

Pawel

Hi dstratton,

First of all, thanks for your prompt replay.

If I am using Powerpath with no license, it means that it work like native multipathing software?

All the information that you mentioned before, relevant if I work with XtremIO also?

Thanks a lot.

Best regards,

Eliran Zana

Hi Pawel,

First of all, thanks for your prompt replay.

What does it mean: “there is no "Basic Failover" policy, the ESXi hosts are protected (failover) and the IOs are load-balanced”?

If I am using Powerpath with no license, it means that it work like native multipathing software?

All the information that you mentioned before, relevant if I work with xtremIO also?

Thanks a lot.

Best regards,

Eliran Zana

Hi Eliran,

I am not sure what do you mean by "works like native multipathing software" - but in general, PPVE without the license works normally and you are fully protected with appropriate failover policy - you just can't manage/view PPVE status, for example using 'rpowermt' - for that you need a license.

You can read more in PowerPath/VE Installation Guide:

PowerPath/VE behaves in the following ways when operating in different licensed states:

Unlicensed state
When PowerPath/VE is installed but not licensed, the default policies are Symmetrix Optimized, CLARiiON Optimized, or Adaptive, as appropriate for the storage array. However, until a valid PowerPath/VE license is installed, rpowermt server is not able to see the information for the vSphere host.

Licensed state
Upon installation of a valid PowerPath/VE license, host display and management capabilities are enabled through the rpowermt server. When the PowerPath/VE license is installed, PowerPath/VE operates with full functionality and normal PowerPath/VE behavior.

Expired license state
When an existing device functions on an expired license, PowerPath/VE functions the same as a device in a licensed state; that is, with full functionality, until the next reboot. If a new device is added to the PowerPath/VE environment where the license is expired, the device behaves the same as a device in an unlicensed state. If you install a new license, the device then operates with full PowerPath/VE functionality, as in the licensed state.

Yes, it doesn't matter what kind of storage it is.

Best,

Pawel

Hi Pawelw,

I am not sure what do you mean by "works like native multipathing software":

If I using powerpath with no license ,Is there any added value to powerpath?

Thanks.

Best regards,

Eliran Zana

Hi Eliran,

PowerPath/VE gives you better performance, comparing to NMP, as it's more intelligent and routes IO basing on SP/FA information, not just by RR mechanism. But you should use it with a license anyway - you can see much more information, like VM performance stats, LUN info etc.

Best,

Pawel

Eliran - sorry to be joining late to the conversation, it looks like you are getting good technical answers from the EMC Community.

I just wanted to add that PowerPath/VE needs a license file to be fully functional, there is no "unlicensed" version of PP/VE. The PowerPath Management Appliance comes with a built-in 45 day trial license. Please check that out and if you are satisfied with the benefits the product offers consider purchasing a license.

Bob Lonadier

PowerPath Product Manager