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lchuakc
Contributor
Contributor

Ex VCP 5.5 needs help. It has been a long time since I setup a vSphere infrastructure. Need help in setting up HP DL380G9 using iscsi connections.

Hi Guys,

I am an ex VCP 5.0 and 5.5 but did not renew the certification after renewing once on the delta exam.

The last time I setup the entire vSphere infrastructure was back in my ex company in June 2012. I've used dell equallogic PS4110XV 10GB and dell poweredge servers with 10GB sfp+ adapters. I remember that the original esxi installer cd download from vmware does not have the 10GB sfp+ adapters. And I have to download the dell customized vsphere 5.1 installer to make it work.

I will be joining a new company next time and they have 3 brand new HP DL380G9 but not configured for virtualization. Meaning that I will need to purchase extra processor and upgrade the ram to 64GB plus adding the HP Ethernet 10Gb 2-port 560FLR-SFP+ Adapter into each of the 3 servers. Will be using the essential plus license for these hosts.

My question is whether do I also need to download and use the HP customized vsphere 6.5 installer to get these HP servers work? Does anyone have experience using the DL380G9 with HP Ethernet 10Gb 2-port 560FLR-SFP+ Adapter on vSphere 6.5? I am particular worried about the HP Ethernet 10Gb 2-port 560FLR-SFP+ Adapter driver on the vsphere 6.5 installer.

As a new joiner I do not want to propose something which does not work causing the new company to lose confidence in my abilities. As I've said, my ex company uses only dell poweredge servers and not HP servers.

Plus I do not have much experience with the HP Ethernet 10Gb 2-port 560FLR-SFP+ Adapter running on iscsi.

I will also be proposing using 2 x dell networking x4012 for the 10gb sfp+ connections. I understand that the x4012 does not have stacking features compared to the 8024F which I've used previously in stacking mode. But the budget does not allow so we have to make do with the x4012. If i do not stack the x4012 switches, will it work? Does any knows of the x4012 have jumbo packet MTU 9000?

Thanks and I hope that someone can help me on these questions.

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3 Replies
RajeevVCP4
Expert
Expert

It would be better if  use

vsphere 6.5 installer HP image

Rajeev Chauhan
VCIX-DCV6.5/VSAN/VXRAIL
Please mark help full or correct if my answer is use full for you
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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

It would be better if  use

vsphere 6.5 installer HP image

Yeah that's not true, the images are no longer hardware specific, VMware uses an HCL to ensure ALL hardware meets their needs, you don't need a specific image, if it's on the HCL it will work, period.  HP or Dell for that matter doesn't even do anything special in their images any more, don't even include the usual toools.. they are provided as a convenience to their customers but VMware version vs HP are the same.

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RParker
Immortal
Immortal

adding the HP Ethernet 10Gb 2-port 560FLR-SFP+ Adapter into each of the 3 servers. Will be using the essential plus license for these hosts.

Setting up iSCSI is easy, the tricky part is making sure the iSCSI software adapter is configured correctly.  Only 1 ACTIVE NIC per switch (and move the other one to Inactive, or disabled -- not standby)

From there you just setup the IP address for each iSCSI kernel and make sure you provision your iSCSI name ahead of time (you can make it anything you want).

WE use iSCSI but we are switching to NFS, since vSphere now supports NFS 4.1 it's WAY better than iSCSI, no LUN, space provisioning is a synch, no special reclaim commands, not LUN initiator groups, none of this. Just attach NFS storage and go..  Best part of NFS you can expand on the fly (no resize on ESX storage HBA side, no LUN size limitations, no extents.. just increase storage and refresh, ESX will see it.  NFS is future trust me.  Also iSCSI requires a bit of network hand holding to ensure it's not mixed with your environment, NFS is a file level protocol not needed..

I know you are new, but maybe if you go in with "knowledge" of the future of things you might find they will be receptive you are the expert, trust me NFS is better than iSCSI, performance is the same (don't let anyone tell you any different) and unless you are like us we use Equallogic NFS is NOT an option, than NFS is better.

Just export storage that's it.

Does any knows of the x4012 have jumbo packet MTU 9000?

Pretty sure 10G ONLY supports MTU 9000, but the newer vSphere can "talk" to Network switches and configure this automatically, its pretty cool.. if you are on version 6.5.  We just upgraded.

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