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scotte
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Home SAN

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

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15 Replies
runclear
Expert
Expert

www.openfiler.com

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.

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TomHowarth
Leadership
Leadership

how about a whitebox solution runnubg openfiler?

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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

Tom Howarth VCP / VCAP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: http://www.planetvm.net
Contributing author on VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment
Contributing author on VCP VMware Certified Professional on VSphere 4 Study Guide: Exam VCP-410
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dilidolo
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

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.

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mcowger
Immortal
Immortal

OpenSolaris would definitly be the right choice if you want to present them over FC.






--Matt

VCP, vExpert, Unix Geek

--Matt VCDX #52 blog.cowger.us
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scotte
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

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

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TomHowarth
Leadership
Leadership

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

Tom Howarth VCP / VCAP / vExpert
VMware Communities User Moderator
Blog: http://www.planetvm.net
Contributing author on VMware vSphere and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment
Contributing author on VCP VMware Certified Professional on VSphere 4 Study Guide: Exam VCP-410
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scotte
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

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

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runclear
Expert
Expert

is this host using iscsi?

If not - disable the iscsi software initiator.

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scotte
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

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

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scotte
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

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

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scotte
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

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

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DenisJones
Contributor
Contributor

Just today tried to configure FC on openSolaris. Took a lot of time Smiley Sad I still prefer to use Starwind, it`s best what I`ve seen.

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azn2kew
Champion
Champion

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

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 vExpert, VCP 3 & 4, VSP, VTSP, CCA, CCEA, CCNA, MCSA, EMCSE, EMCISA
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azn2kew
Champion
Champion

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

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 vExpert, VCP 3 & 4, VSP, VTSP, CCA, CCEA, CCNA, MCSA, EMCSE, EMCISA
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DenisJones
Contributor
Contributor

Starwind is very easy to install and configure, that`s why I`m using only it.

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