SAN support: What does it get me?

[vmcms]

What does SAN support provide in VMware i?

What if I have a SAN but do not have SAN support in VMware (IE starter version)?

Can I still get snapshots of my VMs via the SAN or do I not have the option to put VMFS on the SAN?

Is SAN support provided at the Linux level or at the ESX level or both?

Thx?

[Dave_Mishchenko]

With the starter edition you are not able to use SAN (fibre channel or iSCSI) so you wouldn't be able to use snapshots at the SAN level. With Starter you're limited to local or NAS storage (and you can't cluster the NAS storage).

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi_key_features_benefits.pdf

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi_brochure.pdf

[esiebert7625 · Accepted solution]

What does SAN support provide in VMware i?

Shared storage in general (also iscsi and nfs) provides for additional features like vMotion, HA, DRS.

What if I have a SAN but do not have SAN support in VMware (IE starter version)?

Then you would have to use NFS to connect to your SAN or an iSCSI initiator running inside the VM

Can I still get snapshots of my VMs via the SAN or do I not have the option to put VMFS on the SAN?

Yes, snapshots can be used with any kind of disk, SAN, iSCSI, NFS, Local disk. VMFS volumes can only be created on SAN/iSCSI/Local storage (not NFS)

Is SAN support provided at the Linux level or at the ESX level or both?

ESX provides the support for connectivity to any storage devices. The hardware you use for this must be on the Hardware Compatibility List.

Some links that might help you...

VI3 Key Feature and Benefits Summary by Version - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi_key_features_benefits.pdf

Pricing, Packaging & Licensing Overview - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi_pricing.pdf

SAN Configuration Guide - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_esx_san_cfg.pdf

SAN Conceptual and Design Basics - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx_san_cfg_technote.pdf

SAN System Design and Deployment Guide - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_san_design_deploy.pdf

iSCSI , NAS and IP Storage Configuration for Vmware ESX Server - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/tac9722.pdf

Choosing and Architecting Storage for your Environment - http://download3.vmware.com/vmworld/2006/adc0135.pdf

ESX Storage Virtualization Insights - http://www.vmware-tsx.com/download.php?asset_id=40

New Storage Technologies: iSCSI, NAS and VMFS 3.0 - http://www.vmware-tsx.com/download.php?asset_id=20

VMware Virtual Machine File System: Technical Overview and Best Practices - http://www.vmware.com/pdfs/vmfs-best-practices-wp.pdf

Layers of Virtual Storage in VMware VI3: Configuration without Confusion - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/storage-layers-wp.pdf

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Thanks, Eric

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[vmcms]

I'm looking at a very small scale implementation (1 ESX Server replicated to one other ESX Server in a remote data center via double-take).

I think what I'll do is add a SAN and see what I can do with the SAN managment software.

I could configure SAN at the operating system level, and place VMFS volumes there. I beleive my VMs could not mount SAN volumes but the could reside in a SAN volume. Then I could use the SAN managment software to make snapshots of the VMFS volumes. This is my congecture before reading all the helpful links. I'll do my homework and see how close I am in my speculation.