ESXi 5, NTFS, LUN

Similar Questions

• NTFS LUN with VMDK conversion methods

  I have a number of Server 2008 vm that are connected to NTFS formatted LUNS via the initiator Microsoft iSCSI in virtual machine, I would now like to drop these connections and convert virtual disks that I would then add the virtual server computer.

  One of you have recommendations on how would you do it doing? any help you can give would be much appreciated.

  I am running company vSphere 4.1

  See http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1005241

  André

• ESXi 4 lost LUN... Help!

  All of a sudden both my ESXi lost connection to one of SAN storage.

  All the VMS on this SAN become inaccessible. The virtual machine appears to be turned on, but hard drives are lost.

  It seems that only this storage LUN is missing.

  Vsphere-> Config-> storage I no longer see that LUN (S02DS05), but the other unit logic on this SAN number is still there and functioning.

  The LUN appears on the ESXi when I do ls-l/vmfs/volumes that I get in the list with all the other LUNS:

  root drwxr-xr-x 1 root 8 1 January 1970 b-b665783fa67d 1bd3ca79-a92d52ae-679

  drwxr-xr-t 1 root root 1120 6 Feb 19:16 4a927f4d-662f02c7 - 1 c 45-001018564cdc

  drwxr-xr-t 1 root root 2380 7 Feb 12:35 4a927f93-024f133a-d624-001018564cdc

  drwxr-xr-t 1 root root 2520 Dec 29 20:02 4a927fd0-6c6cc79a-490-c-001018564cdc

  drwxr-xr-t 1 root root 1540 Feb 9 06:03 4a93ddea - 157C 2948-55 c 1-001018564cdc

  root drwxr-xr-x 1 root 8 1 January 1970 4aa505c5-adb24296-8bc5-0024e87635da

  root drwxr-xr-t 1 root 7 980 Sep 13:08 4aa505d6-10868926-7732-0024e87635da

  root drwxr-xr-x 1 root 8 1 January 1970 50ce1573-fd9ff22f - 099 b-0bbeede6c61e

  l----

  ---

  0 root root 1984 1 January 1970 External01 (1)-> d4c0c593-bb854445

  l----

  ---

  0 root root 1984 1 January 1970 Hypervisor1-> 1bd3ca79-a92d52ae-679-b-b665783fa67d

  l----

  ---

  0 root root 1984 1 January 1970 Hypervisor2-> 50ce1573-fd9ff22f - 099 b-0bbeede6c61e

  l----

  ---

  0 root root 1984 1 January 1970 Hypervisor3-> efd8efe3-03bc1cbf-15e0-080efd9e7379

  l----

  ---

  0 root root 1984 1 January 1970 Local-> 4aa505d6-10868926-7732-0024e87635da

  l----

  ---

  0 root root 1984 1 January 1970 S01DS02-> 4a927f4d-662f02c7 - 1 c 45-001018564cdc

  l----

  ---

  0 root root 1984 1 January 1970 S01DS03-> 4a927f93-024f133a-d624-001018564cdc

  l----

  ---

  0 root root 1984 1 January 1970 S01DS04-> 4a927fd0-6c6cc79a-490-c-001018564cdc

  l----

  ---

  0 root root 1984 Jan 1 1970 S01NFS01-1--> db3a1c08 - 9120861 b

  l----

  ---

  0 root root 1984 1 January 1970 S02DS05-> 4a93ddc2-7e3dcff0-dea7-001018564cdc

  l----

  ---

  0 root root 1984 1 January 1970 S02DS06-> 4a93ddea - 157C 2948-55 c 1-001018564cdc

  l----

  ---

  0 root root 1984 1 January 1970 S02NFS01-> fdce5791-7564eac1

  drwxrwxrwx 1 root users 4096 7 Feb 08:45 db3a1c08 - 9120861b

  root drwxr-xr-x 1 root 8 1 January 1970 efd8efe3-03bc1cbf-15e0-080efd9e7379

  drwxrwxrwx 1 root users 4096 Nov 6 20:41 fdce5791-7564eac1

  But I can't see the content:

  ls-l S02DS05.

  LS: S02DS05 /: wrong address

  The unpacking shows waaaay to many things and I can't even begin to locate the problem.

  I tried a new analysis and he finds the logic unit number but it wants to format.

  How do I browse this LUN and extract confidential data?

  How can I re - register the LUN without formatting?

  Help...

  Hello

  the LVM Options are moved in the Add Storage Wizard in vSphere, as described above.

  When your ESX host is unable to read from the lun, he could not mount your data store.

  Either open an SR with EMC to verify if the storage array doesn't have a problem that correctly represents the logical unit number.

  Additional option would be to use vmkfstools to perform a lunreset or a breaklock operation.

  I hope this helps a little.

  Greetings from the Germany. (CET)

• Controller SCSI Raid ESXi 5.5 recommendation

  I'm moving the ESXi 5.5 to another server by using the following:

  
  

  Server Dell R610 with 12G of ram and a Dell PowerVaul 220 s Raid 5 with 12, space 1, 5 - T HD sata

  The Raid Controller is a Intel SRCU42E Ultra320 SCSI PCI-Express X 8 with ext 2 x 68pin ports.

  
  

  I get the error ' call 'HostDatastoreSystem. " 'Of object' CreateVmfsDatastore 'ha-datastoresystem' on ESXi when you try to add storage. I even installed 5.1 but with the same results.

  
  

  Later, after much research and troubleshooting, as well as headaches, I discover that the SCSI Raid card was not compatible with ESXI 5.1, 5.5 only with 4.1 or 4.0

  I begin to scan the cards SCSI RAID but difficult to get one with the above specifications that could be compatible with ESXI 5.5

  
  

  Run out of tricks and do not have the ability to turn the Dell PowerVault 220 s

  May suggest a SCSI Raid PCI - e card with a port Ext. 68pin compatible 5.1 to 5.5? All of the recommendations, difficulty, work around?

  Thank you

  ESXi 5.5 system requirements

  When you install or upgrade to ESXi 5.5, ensure that the host meets these minimum hardware configurations supported by ESXi 5.5:

  1. Your equipment is compatible on the VMware Compatibility Guide. This includes:
  • Systems compatibility
  • Compatibility I/O (network adapters and HBAS)
  • Storage compatibility
  • Backup software compatibility
• You have a 64-bit processor. VMware ESXi 5.5 only installs and runs on 64-bit x 86 CPU servers. He argues also that LAHF and SAHF CPU instructions.
• You have a computer with at least two hearts 5.5 ESXi host.
• The NX/XD bit is set for the CPU in the BIOS.
• Your processor is supported. ESXi supports a wide range of x 64 of multicore. For a complete list of taken processors supported,
• You have 4 GB of RAM. This is the minimum required to install ESXi 5.5. Provide at least 8 GB of RAM to take full advantage of the features of ESXi and run virtual machines in typical production environments.
• Support for hardware virtualization (Intel VT - x or AMD RVI) is enabled on x 64 CPU (to support 64-bit virtual machines). For a complete list of operating systems that are supported with ESXi, hosts running virtual machines with 64-bit operating systems have these hardware requirements:
  • For AMD Opteron systems, processors must be Opteron Rev E or later.
  • For Intel Xeon systems, processors must include support for Intel Virtualization Technology (VT). Many servers which may include processors with VT support VT disabled by default, so you have to manually enable VT. If your CPU support VT, but you do not see this option in the BIOS, contact your provider to request a version of BIOS that allows to enable VT support.

    Note: to determine if your server has 64-bit VMware support, download The utility of Identification of CPU on the VMware site.

• You have one or more Gigabit or 10 GB Ethernet controllers. For a list of network adapter models supported, refer to the VMware Compatibility Guide.
• You with any combination of one or more storage controllers are:
  • Basic SCSI controllers. Adaptec Ultra-160 or Ultra-320, LSI Logic Fusion-MPT and most NCR/Symbios SCSI.
  • RAID controllers. Reference Dell PERC (Adaptec RAID and LSI MegaRAID) RAID HP Smart Array or IBM ServeRAID controllers (Adaptec).
• You have a SCSI drive or a local, off-grid, RAID LUN with unpartitioned for VMS space.
• For Serial ATA (SATA), a drive connected through taken SAS controllers supported or supported integrated SATA controllers. SATA drives are supposed to be remote, no premises. These discs are not used as a partition to scrape by default because they are too far away.

  Note: you cannot connect a SATA CD-ROM device to a virtual machine on a host ESXi 5.5. To use the SATA CD-ROM device, you must use the IDE emulation mode.

• You use a supported storage system. ESXi 5.5 supports the installation and start-up of these storage systems:
  • SATA drives. SATA drives connected behind the SAS controllers supported or SATA controllers support built-in.
    • LSI1068E (LSISAS3442E)
    • LSI1068 (SAS 5)
    • IBM ServeRAID 8K SAS controller
    • Smart Array P400/256 controller
    • 5.0.1 Dell PERC controller
  • SATA drives. Support SATA edge include:
    • Intel ICH9
    • NVIDIA MCP55
    • ServerWorks HT1000

  Note: ESXi does not support using SATA internal disks local to the host server to create VMFS stores of data that is shared between multiple ESXi hosts.

• You have disks Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) supported for ESXi 5.5 installation and to store virtual machines in VMFS partitions.
• You have dedicated disk SAN Fibre Channel or iSCSI.
• You have USB devices supported for ESXi installation.
• You can install and start ESXi a FCoE LUN using VMware software FCoE adapters and network with FCoE adapters discharge capacity
. See the documentation for storage for more information about installing and initializing ESXi with vSphere FCoE software.

• VMWare ESXi 5.5 - VMotion & HA supported MDM physical or virtual

  Hello

  Hope someone can shed some light on the survey below:

  1. can you VMWare ESXI 5.5 HA and Vmotion supported with vmdk files located in front of multiple vmfs datastore 3/5? I have problems with VMotion or HA?
  
  2. can you VMWare ESXI 5.5 HA and Vmotion (not storage Vmotion) support with a VM scenario below:

  3 three nodes with iSCSI SAN storage

  VM1
  -Drive C-> vmfs Datastore1
  -Drive D-> RDM (is this support on a physical or virtual compatibility mode)
  

  VM2

  -Drive C-> vmfs Datastore 1

  -Drive D-> vmfs Datasore 2

  
  IV ' e seen these link below no mention if need pyshical or virtual mode
  http://KB.VMware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US & cmd = displayKC & externalId = 1005241
  https://pubs.VMware.com/vSphere-55/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.VMware.vSphere.storage.doc%2FGUID-D9B143D8-9F93-41D1-A32F-9FF4DE4CDF14.html
  
  3. can you multiple access by 5.5 ESXi host the same data store (located on a San) vmfs using the free version of ESXi 5.5?
  Can I use this in a production environment? I have seen some companies test this on a non-production environment. Technically, it works.
  
  Thank you
  Paul

  Welcome to the community-

  (1) as long as the DRS HA cluster hosts see data even warehouses there will be no problem

  (2) once more, also longer than the nose can see data warehouses including the LUNS as the RDM it home should be without issue.

  (3) Yes multiple instances of the free version of ESXi can access LUNS shared - Yes it can be used in a production environment, but remember you can not handle the free hypervisor with vCenter.

• 9 - ESXi 5.1 workstation reviews and 10 GbE NIC

  OK, I have a beefy machine running Windows Server 2012 VMW Workstation 9. The machine has a dual 1 GB NIC and dual port 10GBe NIC

  All the features of the CPU are enabled in the i7 CPU 3820, so everything is running 64-bit stuff.

  I have 2 machines virtual esxi connected to the card of 1 GB automatically filled. The virtual NETWORK card is "el1000" are in a Cluster, 2 nodes of course vCenter.

  Each esxi is connected to a target iSCSI with a 200 GB LUN.

  In each of the 2 VM esxi, I have 1 Windows 2008 R2 VM, one in each VM esxi. The two Windows 2008 R2 VM are on the iSCSI LUN.

  The Windows 2008 R2 VM 2 is connected to the each host esxi, the 1 GB vswitch vswitch.

  Launch t Windows 2008 R2 VM fine. Performance is as expected because they are only connected iSCSI LUNS to the 1 GB card.

  While the configuration works as expected.

  Since it worked, I decided, we will use 10GBe NIC so I disassembled all the iSCSI LUN and removed the adpter iSCSI iSCSI target in both machines virtual esxi. I'm to a 'Raw' build if you want.

  Because I don't have a DAC SFP connection + 10GBe switch, I put a looping SFP + and everything was now pings to 10GBe port.

  Since my objective was the LUN to a 1 GB NIC/subnet, I redirected the LUN target to the subnet in the subnet/10GBe NIC.

  Everything was to pings to the 10GBe. Great huh?

  Next, I added a new vmnic6 in workstation 9 in "Virtual Network Editor" and "Bridged" vmnic6 to the 10GBe NIC, then I added a NETWORK card as a 'vmxnet3"to each VM esxi, then configured a vswitch in each VM esxi. No problem. I see a "FULL 10000" synch/connection. Cool.

  Then I configured the iSCSI initiators in each VM esxi to connect to the 200 GB iSCSI LUN. The update occurs and the two machines virtual esxi see the LUN and it goes up.

  At this point, all connections are there and the iSCSI is connected to 10 Gbps.

  So I import the virtual machine residing in the iSCSI LUN, one in each VM esxi. They import very well.

  So I turn on one of the Windows 2008 R2 VM that is hosted on the first esxi host and... GROUP!

  I have attached the screenshot.

  

  Can we do anything out it?... lol

  I can repeat it each time.

  I'm laughing because I'm probably using WS incorrectly or something.

  However, I have flash the 10GBE optical is QLogic/HP lates BIOS.

  Thank you

  Do not use the for the VM ESXi vmxnet3 adapter.  The pilot of ESXi 5.1 for vmxnet3 as a 'physical' NETWORK card has some problems.  Use rather e1000.

  Note that you can always use vmxnet3 for any nested VMs, with no problems.

• Storage capacity of the material shows less LUN capacity

  We have created a 350 GB LUN (shown as 349,9 GB in the SAN management software). When it is presented to the host of the ESXi5, the ability is showing that 325,96 GB. This is about a difference of 25GB, which willl add up while we present more LUNS. Is this normal? ESXi resembles the LUN capacity differently than does the SAN?

  Thank you very much in advance for any help. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

  Your SAN management software not interpret "350GB" as a binary multiple (2 ^ 10) but as a multiple of base 10 (10 ^ 3), so it has a LUN with a size of 350000000000 bytes. ESXi, like any good piece of software, using binary notation, which means 350000000000 equal to 326 G 'binary' (i) B bytes

  See:

  http://en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary_prefix

• the iSCSI LUN mapping

  How ESXi is mapped LUN vmfs iSCSI extends? The reason why I ask, is that in my opinion, he should do a mapping to make it persistent after a reboot?

  fajarpri wrote:

  @Rikard, similar like that. How ESX knows that Lun0 will extent1 and Lun1 goes to extend2 in this store a data?

  Wouldn't there is possibility that ESX detects Lun1 first than Lun0 and thus risk recognizing as extent1?

  I guess it's a bit 'Internal ESXi', but it should be the NAA or T10 number reported by the SAN and no id LUN itself using ESXi to recognize discs. Given that these numbers never change, there is risk of errors between reboots. I have a vague memory of which is a kind of question on the 3.x versions, but do not these days.

• Help Setup RAID SATA for ESXi 4.1

  Hello

  It is the first time that you try to use vmware.  Any help is greatly appreciate!

  I just built a server around the Intel s5500hcvr mother. I have 6 SATA HDD I want to set up in a RAID. The integrated RAID controller seems to be very limited and does not seem to be supported by ESXi 4.1 (when I run ESXi 4.1 installation and it asks for a location for installation, all my discs are individually listed instead of virtual drives that I created with the RAID controller)

  My questions:

  (1) what is the suggested configuration of HDD (RAID levels / number of berries) for ESXi 4.1?  Can I create 1 RAID 10 array and set everything up to that?  or take one of my disks and install esxi 4.1 on it and then create a RAID with the rest of my discs and use it to store data?

  (2) anyone can provide links to some SATA RAID controllers that are known to work with ESXi 4.1 (and is the supposed to recognize virtual readers created by the RAID controller setup ESXi 4.1)

  Your motherboard has a RAID controller software which, as you have discovered, is completely not taken in charge by ESX/ESXi... You will need to get a RAID controller that is on the HCL for SAS and SATA hard drives (not one with battery backup write cache) so you can use any type of RAID configuration.

  My preference for Internal RAID configurations (on the host) are two drives mirrored for ESX/ESXi to reside (preferably being SAS 10 k or 15 k RPM, 73 GB or 146 GB in size) and then another table for the data store. You'll want to keep the data slot store table 2 TB-512 b size in order to present to ESX/ESXi as a LUN. Or you will need to get a RAID card this split of the support to the top of the table in the smaller of the virtual drives that can be presented for ESX/ESXi and LUNS.

  Search for controllers using the LSI MegaRAID chip as a good first lap. Some Adaptec cards should work, but I've seen people post questions on those recent (more recent than in the past). MANY manufacturers rebrand/efficiency the LSI MegaRAID Controllers server, such as the Dell PERC 6 series cards.

  For the use of 4 disks SATA, RAID 10 (on a BBWC, fully supported, controller) will give you the best performance. It will compare with SAS drives however. IF you do not plan on any virtual machine running with anything beyond light IOPS / s then you should be ok (or with very light loads)... If this is going to be a production server, then get the SAS drives all around.

  VMware VCP4

  Review the allocation of points for "useful" or "right" answers.

• Dynamic disks across multiple LUNS

  It is advisable to extend a drive Windows across multiple LUNS? What would be the impact on snapshots?

  What product you use VMware?

  Are automatically using RDM as you talk covering NTFS LUN partitions? This is not the case if you use virtual disks on VMFS volumes.

  AWo

  VCP 3 & 4

  Author @ vmwire.net

  \[:o]===\[o:]

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• Storage Server 2012 issue (I'm confused thoroghly)

  Hello all and thanks in advance for any help or suggestions you can provide.  I'll make this as brief as possible.  I have a simple virtual machine environment.  ESXi 2 hosts the two 5.5 running.  I also have a Dell SAN with approximately 30 TB of space.  We currently have a Dell physical file server which has about 5 TB of storage on Board of on this - we use as a file server with multiple layers of security NTFS.  We want to virtualize this server and be done with the physical server.  My plan is to build a 2012 R2 Datacenter Server VM.  And then migrate the data over manually.  My problem is that I can't get my head around the "Storage" of the 2012 server part configuration.  Because the VM 2012 goes to live in a data store on the San - I just add a virtual disk to the server itself and make 5 TB or more big?  Or can I create a Volume to 5 on the SAN, mark it as only having a single source to avoid corruption and then use iSCSI initiator to turn up the volume.  Are there problems VMotion by the presence of a drive that big in a virtual machine?

  Thanks to you all!

  In both directions.
  A few thoughts from my recovery biased point of view.
  For a 5 TB vmdk, you need a data store that is still greater than those 5 to.
  I often see cases where a data store needs to be rebuild from scratch - means copy everything out - reformat - and fill it up again. With 5 data warehouses to or more that is often impossible, because the time is too short to do it in the weekend Management window. In practice this means occasionally that maintenance tasks are not possible as production virtual machines that also use the same data store not work on Monday morning.
  This wouldn't be a problem at all if you create a LUN NTFS instead.
  So I would say the 5 TB vmdk is easier to manage, the NTFS LUN via iSCSI is safer.

  If you go in the direction of vmdk 5 TB - create the vmdk eager-reset to zero and run

  vmkfstools Pei 0 name-of-5 to-disc - flat hard > 5 to - mappingtable.txt
  Keep this file - it can make the difference between disaster and "we lost a few nerves but could avoid the worst."

  In the same context, I always recommend to size your VMFS LUNS so that each can be evacuated over the next night.

• PF Exception CMTF iSCSI HP Blade BL620 G7

  I have the following configuration:

  HP c3000 enclosure with 2 PS and 4 Fans

  HP Onboard Administrator Module

  HP KVM module

  1 GB Ethernet Pass-Thru Module HP

  HP BL620c G7 with processors Intel Xeon 28xx and 64 GB of RAM

  HP 320 IO Module "Accelerator"

  Corsair USB stick plugged in Onboard USB module

  Intel SSD 520

  HP iSCSI card Mezzanine

  Drobo B800i

  ESXi installed is HP Custom OEM version (VMware-ESXi-5.1.0-799733-HP-5.34.23) downloaded from the VMware website updated using deposit files (VMware-ESXi-5.1.0-Update1-1065491-HP-5.50.26-depot) to the latest version available.

  There are 2 networks on the box. A network is to communicate with all machines and the other network is connected to Port #2 of Drobo B800i iSCSI SAN.

  ESXi box connects to 2 TB LUNS on Drobo B800i multi-cluster via the San, creating a SAN for ESXi data store.

  There are 2 virtual machines installed on ESXi box. A Windows 2012 server and other Windows 7.

  2012 Windows server VM is stored directly on the SAN data store and connects to the NTFS LUN on Drobo using Microsoft iSCSI adapter and the drive mapping is shared using NFS essentially as a file server.

  Window 7 VM is stored on the data store HP IO accelerator. When I copy any file to a local drive on Windows 7 virtual computer to an NFS share on Server Windows 2012, I'm pink screen of death (CMTF) with Exception 14 PF.

  Any help to identify the root cause of this problem is greatly appreciated.

  
  

  DGeorgey thank you very much for your answer.

  I looked into these VMware KB documents, but they are not applicable to my script.

  My problem is solved.

  I replaced 2012 Windows server with Windows 2008 R2 server. Now everything works fine. ESXi CMTF disappeared.

• Switch QLogic 5200

  I have problems with my 5200 QLogic SAN tip. TAC will not support this option, but says that it can work.

  I B200 M2 blade and VIC M81KR and FI 6120 in end-host mode... Everyone works with something like that?

  You are on the right track, you will not see an option to boot from san, but sites that I just installed with these switches that I went through this same scenario for hours until they got it right.  I won't address the startup process because you see that the WWN has hit the fabric so that should be good.  Then, after adding the WWN name in a zone or a storage group, it is alllowed to joing the fabric.  At this time you must ensure there is a logic unit number in the same group so he can see it, and he needs to be masked when he sees it and sees it as LUN 0.  ESXi wants to LUN 0 and it is really picky on local drives are visible, you must eject for more security.  But when the LUN is visible, it will be visible on this screen here in respect of the distance, but just like a hard drive.  I bet that you do not use the Cisco's VMware image, I can't see what version you use, but download the Cisco OEM of VMware image.  After that I started to use with the vic card, my boot of san issues went away.   When your logic unit number is visible in her select a disk window just choose to install as a local disk.

  So if SAN boot with ESXi and VIC, use cisco oem image of esxi, eject the local hard disks, do NOT use the diskless boot strategy, use 'something' and eject at least up to the, it is running, there is a fix for esxi so local drives may exist, but if you use it to Cisco UC, it is not supported.  Finally, it is the logical unit number which must be visible... that's all.  my money is on image .iso in vmware due to drivers if your Bay SAN is correct...

• VCenter storage issue

  Vcenter needs to see all the storage attached hosts have access to? I tried Googling it but could not find a definitive answer. Thank you!

  Hello

  No, you don't have to present LUNS to storage the vCenter Server (if installed on the physical host). It is recommended to have a redundant between the hosts of ESXi and vCenter network connectivity since that is how the pulse information is shared. In most facilities vCenter is a VM and if that's what you have, then you can srtike this step to present LUNS to the vCenter VM. The storage is configured between ESXi hosts and LUNS and vCenter offers a management interface to create/remove the virtual machines on the underlying storage.

  Arun-

  https://Twitter.com/arunpande

  http://highoncloud.blogspot.in/

  Virtualization VMware on NetApp

• SAN only for VM Disaster Recovery replication

  I am part of the talks for a recovery site that will not be replicated SAN data warehouses. So, we have an essentially empty ESXi environment with LUNS replicated data store. In the case of a DR, the plan would be to start the import of virtual machines in the DR ESX environment. I've never seen replication strict SAN has offered as a solution of Dr. ignore the logistics around IP, naming, etc. I want to focus on the consistency of the VMs who grew up and which have been replicated like that.

  1. My hypothesis is that the system VMs would probably upward in a consistent state of failure. Is that correct or could I do not affirm the VM would be healthy at all.
  2. If the virtual machine is running, I guess that the integrity of any application or DB data on these virtual machines would be suspect.

  As I said, I never considered this scenerio. Most of the solutions I've seen using an application layer to maintain compatibility in different time intervals. Just curious if anyone has had experience with this kind of recovery.

  vmproteau wrote:

  Just curious if anyone has had experience with this kind of recovery.

  Hi vmproteau,

  This works perfectly.  I made thousands of these movements of the virtual machine in a uniform way down with a success rate of 100%.  The portability that we all talk about is real.  He works for me very well since 2005 when I started with EMC SRDF.  I also had great success with SnapMirror of NetApp.  If you have any kind of enterprise storage, you should be fine.  In addition, modern guest operating systems are extremely resistant to crash-compatible power (i.e. 2008 R2 is a dream come true).  In addition, I have never had a problem with NT 4.0, 2000 or 2003 in my data center migrations or exercises of DR.

  Nowadays, most DBAs use something like SQL LiteSpeed and Idera to create local backups on of additional vmdk attached to the virtual machine.  If a recovery of a painting is necessary for example, they can obtain this granular coverage using these products.  Yet once again, I never had a problem with SQL put online following a crash-consistent (i.e. test DR, moving to DC or power event HA).  Of course, YMMV and you must test for your specific environment.

  With respect to the RPO, it is to you to determine how often the table performs the replication.  More often = more money, of course.  You can also get more granular on the SQL backup points.  For many, a backup per day is fine.  Others take Idera SQL backups every 15 minutes for example (a slight exaggeration!).

  On OTN... The biggest risk for your RTO is the lack of organization and preparation (update document and books run scripts!).  In addition, having good PMs to manage the application mapping and interdependencies is essential.  You'd be surprised to know how many tests application fails due to host files, order DNS or boot of VMS (i.e. Ideally you should show AD/DNS, then SQL, then App, then Web).  Practice makes perfect.  PowerCLI is your friend here.

  Unless the plan is to re - ip, this place DR must be built as totally isolated with dedicated physical Firewall (or many sessions of sniffer and excellent ACL).  If you choose SRM (as it should!), a large part of this risk is avoided since you can test in the bubble.  Many companies bit on correct insulation and end up hurting prod during the test.  Don't, don't.  Physical Citrix is particularly vulnerable to this and is often required for DR since many apps is published exclusively via Citrix.  Often, the Citrix server will eventually be multihomed (so the company doesn't have to pay for additional SQL and Citrix license servers, etc.) and will be riding the Prod and isolated environments.  The default behavior is that the Citrix user will get the same routing as the underlying Citrix server so the risk is that they can connect by mistake for prod.  You must study it well.

  Not to mention that Citrix, other considerations ensure good VPN and other mechanisms on the DR site (which will be used for actual testing of isolated app and DR).  Have several new hubs according to the needs and requirements of the network.  This, along with time, often being saved at the end, but are important to your success and should be reviewed as soon as possible.  In addition, to maintain the volumes that you both own (i.e. no laggard vmdk who are orphans, etc.).  Use scripts to check RVTools or Vsante to remain vigilant on this.  What get is replicated on the other side should be clean.  Only what you need.  Each vmx that is there should be one that gets recorded.

  Anyway, with the replication table, this project should be a slam dunk.  Don't worry so much the market crash-compliant of your guests.  It works.