Hi,
I currently have 2 ESX hosts that have 4 x 1TB SATA internal disks installed in them.
I have the ESX HyperVisor installed on these disks and remaining free space is used for vmfs.
I currently present the local vmfs storage as shared storage using Xtravirts SAN Appliances, however I have been experiencing performance issues and ESX errors when carrying certain tasks on the iSCSI targets.
I own a Brocade Fabric switch, which I would like to use to present shared storage.
I want to take 3 x 1TB disks out of each ESX host and install them into a PC or something that a HBA can be installed into so I can connect the Brocade and present them to the ESX hosts, obviously after reinstalling ESX on the single disk.
Can anyone suggest what piece of hardware I could use to install the 6 x 1TB disks.
Thanks
Scott
Give this a look, you can use this for a easy to setup iscsi / nfs san... works well - there are some that are a tad faster but require a much more indepth setup routine.
-
how about a whitebox solution runnubg openfiler?
If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or correct buttons to award points
Tom Howarth VCP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: www.planetvm.net
Contributing author for the upcoming book "[VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment|http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780136083214]”. Currently available on roughcuts
Openfiler is ok, but if you want to use FC target, take a look at Opensolaris. I have it as my storage server, export lun through both FC and iSCSI with multipathing. NPIV also works very well if your brocade supports it. Make sure you get 64bit CPU if you want to use it.
OpenSolaris would definitly be the right choice if you want to present them over FC.
--Matt
VCP, vExpert, Unix Geek
Thanks guys.
I have had a look at OpenSolaris. Not sure if I will be able to configure it.
Will you guys be able to help me out with the issues I am having with my ESX host errors please ?
That is basically why I am contemplating moving the internal disks out to an external box to present them.
My other host is configured with exactly the same hardware and esx config and has no issues.
Thanks
Scott
if not us, I am sure that somebody will be able to help. we are a friendly bunch of folk here :smileygrin:
If you found this or any other answer useful please consider the use of the Helpful or correct buttons to award points
Tom Howarth VCP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: www.planetvm.net
Contributing author for the upcoming book "[VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment|http://my.safaribooksonline.com/9780136083214]”. Currently available on roughcuts
Thanks Tom,
This is driving me mad.
When my host fails it stops at the 'Restoring S/W iscsi volumes' section for around 10 minutes before finishing the boot process.
My other host does not do this.
Does anyone know what's happening with this please ?
Thanks
Hi Runclear,
Yes, it using iSCSI.
I am using Xtravirt XVS SAN Appliance to present the local attached storage as iSCSI targets so it can be used as shared storage for HA/DRS functionality.
Thanks
Scott
Futhermore,
I have just tried to run a Veeam backup job on this host. It completes about 1Gb of the backup then the following error ocurrs on the screen.
0:00:34:42.510 cpu:1024)VMNIX: <0> Journal commit I/O Error
When I press Alt - F1 I receive on the screen various errors.
I have attached a screenshot of this as I no longer have consle access when this problem occurs.
Thanks
Scott
Deep Breathe,
Then when I press enter again I get
0:00:41:40.303 cpu0:1024)VMNIX: <0>scsi: device might be offline - command error recovery failed: host 6 channel 0 id 0 lun 0
Any ideas please ????
Thanks
Scott
Just today tried to configure FC on openSolaris. Took a lot of time I still prefer to use Starwind, it`s best what I`ve seen.
Starwind, FreeNAS and StorMagic SvSAN is pretty easy to configure and seems to function pretty well, you might give it a try.
If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!
Regards,
Stefan Nguyen
VMware vExpert 2009
iGeek Systems Inc.
VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant
Have you check out this thread http://communities.vmware.com/thread/195567 if still experience long boot process it might be worth to check out the /var/lib/iscsi/vmkbindings and
/var/lib/iscsi/vmkdiscovery files.
If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!
Regards,
Stefan Nguyen
VMware vExpert 2009
iGeek Systems Inc.
VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant
Starwind is very easy to install and configure, that`s why I`m using only it.