VMware 5.0 + Microsoft cluster 2008

[A808287]

Hi Folks ,

I need to configure microsoft 2008 cluster between 2 VMs present at 2 different ESX-i hosts.

I went through the Setup for Failover Clustering and Microsoft Cluster Service guide available online.

Need to understand 1 thing " What is Clustered disks, physical compatibility mode (passthrough RDM).

My question is " I have 2 LUN requirement for clustering , 1 for Data 250GB & 1 for Logs 250GB "

Do i need to create these 2 LUNS in SAN storage & publish it on ESXi hosts & create 2 Datastores each of 250 GB

or

i can publish single LUN of 500GB , create Datastore of 500GB & create virtual disks of 250GB each & present it to VMs for clustering ?

[a_p_]

RDM's are raw LUNs which are presented to the VMs. You need to present the LUNs to your hosts and then add them to the first VM as an RDM. This will create an RDM mapping .vmdk file. For the second VM you will then add this mapping file by selecting "Add an existing virtual disk".

Btw. you may need a third LUN for the cluster quorum.

André

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

... do I need to publish 2 luns of 250GB each & then select RDM

That's how you do it. Each RDM is associated with a single LUN.

André

[ihuter]

You should always keep SQL data and log files separate. SQL log file workload is sequential writes whereas SQL data file workloads are often random reads and writes. Depending on what storage system you keep these on separate volumes and LUNs (and aggregates if you use NetApp). That's my 2 cents;)

Good luck!