Split ESX Environment across 2 rooms and 2 arrays

[timsaunders]

Hi,

We are running ESX 2.5, and are planning a move of some of our ESX environment. We currently have 2 x ESX hosts accessing the same LUN's on one array, and these LUNs are mirrored across to a secondary array in another room. We are planning on moving one of the ESX hosts from the primary array to the secondary array, and host all of it's LUN's from that secondary array.

So, the end diagram will be:

Room 1:- ESX 1, EMC CX500 1, Primary LUN for ESX 1

Room 2:- ESX 2, EMC CX500 2, Primary LUN for ESX 2

My question is:

As long as both ESX Hosts have access to both LUN's (one in each room), will VMotion work? I know that the same network needs to be available to both hosts for it to work, does that rule out the use of routed traffic?

I have a diagram that will make more sense of it if anyone thinks that would help

Many Thanks in advance

[MR-T]

Provided the fabric is available to both hosts it's not an issue.

You will be able to vmotion between these rooms.

Make sure you present the LUN to each host using the same LUN ID.

[timsaunders]

Thanks for the reply....One question remains un-answered:-

Does it matter if there's a router in between the 2 rooms. Do the ESX hosts have to see the same network for vMotion, or is the new version of VC better at managing it?

[stvkpln]

VC has nothing to do with this, per se... all VC cares about, for the purposes of vMotion, is that the same port group and/or vSwitch exists on the other host... Whether or not that port group/vSwitch has access to the same subnets, that's up to you. If you can't span your subnets across both rooms, you're going to have issues, but that isn't an ESX problem, it's a networking issue on your end (the way I'm reading it, anyhow).