SMB ESXi with iSCSI SAN

Similar Questions

• ESXi 4.1 or ESXi 5.0 with iSCSI SAN

  Hello

  I'm trying to establishing an environment that is / will be an iSCSI SAN backend entirely.  I know of a lot of reading that the best practice is to config the ESXi host with:

  VMKernel > vmnic > physical network adapter > switch ports > port on SAN (config 1:1 - no grouping of vmnic)

  Environment:

  ESXi 4.1 & 5.0

  Force10 switches

  EqualLogic iSCSI SAN (PS4000 & 6000)

  Here's my real question (playing the Devil's advocate):

  Why I shouldn't team 3-4 vnmics on a vswitch with multiple vmkernel ports?

  Given my environment.  Can someone point me to a technical document that explains what will / could happen if I set up the environment ESXi in this way?

  Thank you

  BDAboy22

  So, basically, we want the SAN to take full responsibility for the failover instead of the network and/or the SAN for who should resolve the failure (which could lead to the time of restitutio in integrum longer session).   I understand that correctly?

  Yes, that's right, we want to stack storage for vSphere manage with path selection and tipping - and by connecting each vmknic directly to the physical vmnic map we sort of "simulate" how to CF cards and also ignores the network failover mechanisms. As you probably know you also need to "bind" the iSCSI Software to the two vmnic (GUI now in 5.0, esxcli in 4.x)

• Config network initial ESX with iSCSI SAN

  Hi all

  I want to install 2 ESX 3.5 servers which will be connected to an EqualLogic iSCSI SAN.

  The SAN is on a VIRTUAL, 10.x.x.200 with a 255.255.255.224 LAN Gateway.  This VLAN is not routable, DNS servers, etc.

  What I am trying to understand, it's for the initial setup of ESX, when I set the config network (console), should I register the IP address for the VIRTUAL LAN, example was:

  IP address: 10.x.x.201

  Gateway: 255.255.255.224

  Primary DNS: white

  Secondary DNS: white

  Or, for example B, should I use our 'public' speaking:

  IP Adress:129.x.x.201

  Gateway: 255.255.255.0

  Primary DNS:129.x.x.1

  Secondary DNS: 129.x.x.2

  I know that with the VIC, I can later add vSwitches, etc., but at least for the initial installation, I want the configuration to provide smoother operation. Thanks for any idea that you can provide!

  Chad

  Hello and welcome to the forums.

  What I am trying to understand, it's for the initial setup of ESX, when I set the config network (console), should I register the IP address for the VIRTUAL LAN, example was:

  Use example B (129.x.x.x) for the Service Console (management functions), and after that the system is in place to add an another vSwitch used to connect to the SAN VLAN.

  Good luck!

• The use of frames with iscsi SAN

  Hello

  We are moving our warehouses of local DAS to a SAN iscsi in common.

  We will have two physical hosts (1 ESX 3.5 and an ESXi 3.5) with two iscsi devices (1 DELL MD3000i and 1 openfiler 2.2 "in the home-built') and two dedicated switches (a 16 ports GBit 1216T one one port 8 Gbps unmanaged Linksys Dlink).

  Both iscsi devices have connections ethernet redundand (Dell has 4 ports on 2 different controllers, openfiler has 2 ports), so I planned to distribute connections on two switches for redundancy.

  each ESX and ESXi physical hosts have 2 ethernet NIC dedicated to iscsi

  My doubts/questions are:

  -is the switch 'Office' of linksys OK for this configuration? Or should I get a second Dlink 1216 T?

  -J' need to have the Dell MD3000i to least performance that we conduct with the local SAS DAS storage.

  Can I activate "frames" switch and Dell MD300i? What ESX and ESXi? and linksys switch (will it work with thaat jumbo mtu)?

  -If I DO NOT activate the Jumbo on openfiles iscsi, will it work with standard MTU even if it is connected to the switches with active Jumbo?

  -should I 'team' toghether both connections ethernet in iscsi on the physical ESX/ESXi hosts?

  an another question I have is:

  -We currently have a LUN iscsi on device openfiler which is accessible using the initiator Microsoft iscsi sw inside a win2k03 virtual machine on the host ESX 3.5. Can I disable initiator Microsoft iscsi inside the virtual machine, log on to this LUN using ESX iscsi sw and have win2k03 to find all the data?

  Thanks in advance

  Guido

  Take a lok at it to your specific questions

  http://communities.VMware.com/thread/107173

  And for an overview of ISCSI on ESX reading this, when you get a chance.

  http://virtualgeek.typepad.com/virtual_geek/2009/01/a-multivendor-post-to-help-our-mutual-iSCSI-customers-using-VMware.html#more

• How to reconnect safely iSCSI SAN connection after new ESXi4u1 reinstall on USB?

  Hi all

  Can anyone here guide me how to add the connection to the current host of ESXi 4 iSCSI SAN?

  I think not as export the ESXi existing profile using vMA can do much because the version number is different so ESXi profile export is useless.

  Note: during the installation of 4u1 ESXi I unplug the host LAN cable.

  Thank you.

  Kind regards

  AWT

  Access to the host on the MD3000i configured?

  Cause the host will have a different IQN, you must reconfigure the access.

  André

• Problem with ESXi 3.5 host or our iSCSI SAN

  Hello

  Last week, twice we came into work and notice that some virtual machines on a host somehow the bomb and break the connection or work habit and are turned off.  It happens with mutiple errors, but we are not sure if it's the host itself or iSCSI SAN is too connected a NETgear ReadyNAS.  All the vmdk and vmx VM files are on the SAN storage are loacted here for targets.  Your opinion on this if someone could help determine what may be the question, please, thank you?

  Welcome to the forums

  I edit your images and delete the business credentials. There is a security risk that you should not expose.

  Take a look at the following.

  http://communities.VMware.com/message/1333118#1333118

• Best practices for Exchange 2003 with VMWare ESXi 3.5 and iSCSI SAN

  Hello guys,.

  Here's the Q? We have 1 physical Exchange 2003, the HOST of 4 and 1 iSCSI SAN with LUN 3, 1 for data, 1 for VMWare and 1 for SQL, if we're going to virtualize it, I don't know where to put data Exchage and newspapers. I do not think that that is a good practice to put together the data but I do not have another SAN. So, what can I do?

  Thank you.

  We have 813 mailbox.

  I agree with cainics, start an average size and go from there.  I know it's a production mail server and you can not exactly 'play' with the settings because this requires time, but if you do the VM too big, you would have nothing left for other virtual machines.

  I would go 2 vCPU and at least 4 GB of RAM, maybe 8GB.  There must be parameters for the Exchange mailbox 813 and X users # to implement your environments in order to get an idea of the amount of RAM that will be... 4GB seems minimal to me, but 8 GB would probably be better like that.

• FC to iSCSI SAN using ESXi 5.1

  Hi all

  We have 4 guests with ESX5.1 installed and use vCentre to manage with Enterprise license. Guests began life as 3.5 and we have updated since then. Had to be replaced in 6 months.

  A key element is that the VMKernel port is a management network using two physical NICS for redundancy.

  All servers used multihomed all FC HBA on a CF polyester fabric. We replace FC SAN with a SAN iSCSI only.

  My question is what is the best way to implement this? I created a vSwitch with two VMKernel ports on it. The vSwitch is introduced as two whole separate from the active NIC to failover. It is all well and done on all hosts.

  However, I was planning a vLAN dedicated iSCSI with just the SAN on it. This seems to be a problem, because I can not put a specific default gateway on port groups because they are VMKernel ports and will only use the default gateway, that I put on the management network which will not work!

  vSwitch0

  Management

  vmk1:192.168.200.102

  vSwitch6

  iSCSI2

  vmk3: 192.168.30.162

  iSCSI

  vmk2: 192.168.30.161

  There is only a single routing table shared for all VMKernel ports? If yes how can I apply this? I'd rather not have iSCSI on my network but according to online guides, I get so far and cannot route iSCSI interfaces I install outside its own subnet. Is it normal?

  Any advice much apprecaited!

  Thanks - Steve

  Highly recommended best practice is to configure a VLAN separate with use IP network only for iSCSI, possible even with a dedicated layer two switches used only for iSCSI, depending on the type and quality of the switches.

  stevehoot wrote:

  Just to be 100% sure, I seem to have done is correct, and that ESXI does not allow a VMK iSCSI have a default gateway on it?

  It is not really the storage network cannot have a default gateway, but rather that the operating system of ESXi (vmkernel) has IP stack with the internal routing table shared on different functions such as management, vMotion, storage and other.

  This means that you have a gateway by default common for each host and not by function, and translates as more generally as the 'common' default gateway will be on the management network.

• Live iSCSI SAN upgrade production network (Dell MD3000i and PowerConnect & ESXi 4)

  Hi all

  For the moment, I have a direct connection to my Dell MD3000i iSCSI SAN in ESXi 4 2 x host with no switch between the two, all of the virtual machine is within the SAN and running on both hosts.

  If I want to put a switch between the two and add one more iSCSI SAN so that the two SAN can be accessed / shared with the 3 ESXi 4 guests total, how should I approach the issue?

  any idea or guideline would be greatly appreciated.

  What I have to plan the time or can I change the old IP on the existing SAN iSCSI manually cable one by one without damage/alter the existing operation of the virtual machine on SAN? or I have to stop the virtual machine and then terminate the connection manually iSCSI session and then restart the host SAN?

  Thank you

  AWT

  Standard installation on the MD3000i is for a port iSCSI on each controller on a subnet and one on each controller to be on another.

  There have been people working successfully on a subnet, reported problems too.   I wish we were longer on our Vsphere upgrade, I'm not at a point but where I test things like Vmotion.

• ESXi 3.5 4 problem to upgrade by adding the VMFS partition existing on iSCSI SAN

  Hi all

  I've got 2 x Dell PowerEdge 2950 III linked directly with Dell MD3000i iSCSI-SAN and today I had once hard to improve my production ESXi 3.5 u 4 ESXi 4.0,.

  First is that the upgrade is failed miserably after following this thread: url = http://communities.vmware.com/thread/211413;jsessionid=47217F9BCCA2DF1325DBE7A266D48A8D?tstart=0VMware communities: error on upgrade the host: this host is not compatible with this upgrade. [url]

  with the following error message: ERROR: unsupported boot disk

  The layout of boot device on the host computer does not support the upgrade.

  That's why I did a clean reinstall of ESXi 4 on top of ESXi 3.5 u 4 and lost all unique settings on my ESXi host. I am now stuck in SAN iSCSI partition mapping after following the guide from: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/eslvmwre/AdditionalDocs/cnfigrtnguide/storage_guide.pdf [/ URL]

  See the following attachment.

  I wonder how people make their upgrade in ESXi 4.0 in the production system running ESXi 3.5 u 4 filled with hundreds of VM? The reason why I use 2 x ESXi server connected to unique SAN server, is that I can just start the virtual machine on the SAN from the other ESXi - & gt; that's fine and tested, but then when I rebuild the failed server, I need to delete all the data inside the shared partition that contains my VMs.

  So in conclusion after one of the ESXi server failed, mapping of iSCSI would eventually destroy all data in the partition?

  CMIIW, any idea and suggestion would be gladly appreciated

  Kind regards

  AWT

  The configuration-> tab cards storage, you should be able to recrawl and find existing VMFS volumes.  You shouldn't need to add storage.

  Andy

• 5.0 to 5.5 with iSCSI ESXi ESXi

  I have some servers ESXi 5.0 with iSCSI configured for my storage. If I'm on 5.5 ESXi, should I reconfigure the iSCSI? If so, how differente different is the configuration? I know that we had to set up when we went from 4.x to 5.0 ESXi ESXi and the configuration options are very different. Is this the case with the new version?

  No, you stay within the same major version and it should work without any problems. ESX ESXi (i) 4-5 were important steps, they are smaller. Made this upgrade in environments of production before without any problem or reconfiguration.

• SRM with two HP Lefthand P4500 Iscsi SAN

  I'm in the middle of SRM with two HP Lefthand P4500 and I have a few questions. I will award points to the answers.  I need to build the site of the DR at the main location because the MPLS between HQ and the Dominican Republic will not be ready for a month or two.  (1) can I build on Esxi hosts, DR SAN and configure SRM on the HQ site or should I wait for the SPLM is connected between the two sites? (2) the customer plans to use an MPLS of 10 Mbps between sites; is it a big enough to tip of VLAN stretched between sites? (3) what is the best far from approaching my situation?  Finally there is someone out there who has installed SRM between two HP LH the's 4500 that can give some advice?

  I have SRM with P4500 LH installation.
  It is quite simple and a good start would be books Mike Lavericks SRM, because they have step by step guides to configure the NHL P4500 with MRS.

  I use VLAN stretched if you can get it, because it will save a lot of hassle in the recovery of your infrastructure.

  If you have any questions you can DM me.

  Concerning

  Dougie

• HP SAS HBAS with IBM Storage and SAS SAN vs iSCSI SAN

  Hello, I am working on a project, and I have to add a SAN solution to my client infaestructure. My client already has a HP Server and we wanted to add another server, but an IBM one. I thought I'd add storage IBM (DS3200) that has two SAS interfaces. The problem is that the Distributor IBM says who does not know if the HP Server will be able to communicate with the SAS IBM storage. So, one possibility was to put on the server HP HP SAS HBA Controller. The second option is to put a SAS HBA Controller IBM. I think that the SAS is a standard, it doesn't matter what brand I use of HBA. Should not it works anyway?

  There is another option which adds instead of SAS one iSCSI storage. The problem is that I do not know the performance than the iSCSI storage. I want to put inside it's VM with Exchange Server (50 mailboxes), an ERP (for 50 users) with it's SQL Server, a computer file virtual, a virtual machine server with Active Directory.

  So, the questions are:

  1 - does anyone have experience with iSCSI storage to see if its performance if goog enough (I intend to use a dedicated to the iSCSI network gigabit switch)?

  2 does anyone know if I use different brands of servers (in this example an IBM and HP) with a SAS storage IBM? Who be it already done? The HP SAS HBA are compatible with the IBM iSCSI storage? IBM SAS HBA are compatible with HP servers?

  3. in the case of being able to do what I say to question 2, that do you suggest? Put a HP SAS HBA within the HP Server or upgrade an IBM SAS HBA inside HP Server?

  Of course the option I want to use is the addition of SAS IBM storage instead of using an iSCSI one, but I'm not sure of their compatibility between HP and IBM storage servers.

  Thanks in advance.

  In this case, the reason why I wouldn't use SAS is that your application requires this level of performance and the cost as not justified. You can configure iSCSI and direct savings in most important features such as snapshot, replication and dedup. If you were available to this solution with the DS3200 spend you 10K and that none of these features. Performance is very good, but you will find that the system is not yet warmed up with this load. The SAS Protocol can support high IO, but is not what provisions IO, is the number of disks and the RAID mode that defines your ability to e/s. I put 40 K terraced small IOPS / s on a single caching of 1 GB iSCSI target, so he can make the e/s. flow is not as high , but do you really need it. In the future you can profitable move to 10Gbe if you find insufficient bandwidth, which would be faster than the SAS 3 GB limit that is uneconomic to upgrade 3 + times.

  Kind regards

  Mike

  http://blog.laspina.ca/

  vExpert 2009

• Connection iSCSI SAN to ESXi servers

  Hi all

  I am trying to work through the iSCSI SAN Config Guide and get our three ESXi servers connected to our iSCSI SAN, but I'm confused about a few points.

  Background - Our production network is 172.16.10.x, our management network is 172.16.64.x and the SAN is on the 10.1.1.x network.

  The Guide says that the service console and VMkernel need to access the iSCSI storage - but in ESXi, there is no service console. Our network administrator (who has used 2 ESX) said just put in place two vSwitches and configuring each of them to VMkernel access, one on network 10 and the other on the management network. Every time I try this, I lose connectivity to the management console. It seems VMkernel wants a default gateway set and when I put it for 172.16.64.1, the SAN does not connect, but when I put it to 10.1.1.1, vCenter loses the connection. Our network administrator says he won't let the 172.16.64.x network traffice to the 10.1.1.x network, but I think that we have to set up in this way.

  Is there something I'm missing. There actually seems to be three issues. (1) when the Guide says of console, VMkernel and service is possible to distinguish between the two in ESXi? (2) if we set VMkernel network 172.16.64.x, can we create a second VMkernel on the 10.1.1.x network? and (3) should just bite the bullet and set up routing between the VMkernel and the San?

  Thank you. I know it was long and complicated, but that reflects my confusion! Any help would be appreciated.

  The answer to the first question is no, there is no distinction between console and vmkernel port in ESXi, like network service management of walks on the portgroup vmkernel.

  You should be able to create a vmkernel 2nd interface, and you do not change the default gateway.  As you have noticed, you can have a default gateway, that is why the default part.  That alone, and you should have two exchanges vmkernel, one on the network management and the other on the storage network.  The vmkernel being on the same segment as the storage, traffic goes out through it and not the default gateway, so no routing must take place.

  -KjB

  VMware vExpert

• Inexpensive iSCSI SAN\NAS

  I'm working with an engineering company who will move several physical servers to a single machine running 3 1 VMs. ESXi host is a Windows SBS 2011 server, second is a Server 2008 (application server with very low load) system, and the third will be a simple file server running FTP and some shared folders for internal use (we could easily move the files to the SAN\NAS server). He comes to support 15 local users and 15 others in remote offices or on the ground.

  The ESXi host is a Dell, or Supermicro system all of the ESXi compatibility list, that was the easy part so far. We have trouble finding an inexpensive SAN\NAS iSCSI device. Our needs for this SAN are limited. We plan on 3 virtual machines running on the internal disks of the ESXi host. The SAN\NAS will be mainly used as a target for backup for Veaem (and), but it seems prudent to support iSCSI specification where our needs change in the future and we must provide the ESXi host iSCSI access.

  In my lab at home, I use a Netgear ReadyNAS Ultra 6 on beta firmware that works very well. But I'm hesitant to put something with firmware beta in production. And, in looking at the options, none of the sellers of that I would normally think VMware still certified. I am referring to the business link D-Link, Netgear, Qnap and Synology. Now, they have all the beta firmwares according to different levels of support for ESXi, but I don't know that I'm uncomfortable that deployment in production.

  I would appreciate any recommendations on some NAS units that will work or another approach. If you need more information, just ask andI'll be more than happy to do what I can. Thanks in advance.

  Considered the px4/px6 EMC series?  Fully VMware and EMC used VMware, bring your own drives, etc.