📖 ~1 min read
Table of contents
Symptom & Impact
VIO Server reports queue_depth full and client LPAR sees slow I/O on vSCSI hdisk.
Environment & Reproduction
Mapped backing devices exceed vhost queue depth on VIOS 7.3.
Root Cause Analysis
queue_depth on vtscsi target lower than aggregate client demand.
Quick Triage
Run lsmap -all on VIOS and iostat -D on client for service times.
Step-by-Step Diagnosis
Use viostat and chdev -l hdiskN -a queue_depth=32 on VIOS.

Solution – Primary Fix
Increase queue_depth on backing hdisk and reboot client to pick up.
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Solution – Alternative Approaches
Migrate workload to NPIV vfchost path with dedicated zoning.
Verification & Acceptance Criteria
iostat avgsv on client drops below baseline and no FC queue errors.
Rollback Plan
Revert queue_depth with chdev -l hdiskN -a queue_depth= -P.
Prevention & Hardening
Size queue_depth using DS8K/SAN vendor guidance and monitor.
Related Errors & Cross-Refs
FCP_ARRAY_ERR, slow vSCSI service times.
Related tutorial: View the step-by-step tutorial for aix-7.1.
View all aix-7.1 tutorials on the Tutorials Hub →
Browse all common problems & solutions on the Tutorials Hub.
References & Further Reading
PowerVM VIOS performance and tuning guide.
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