Newbie setup

[jmetcalf]

What I bought:

2 HP ProLiant DL360 G5 - Quad-Core Xeon E5440 2.83 GHz

2 HP NC360T PCI Express Dual Port Gigabit Server Adapters

10 GB memory in each

HP StorageWorks Modular Smart Array 2012i Dual Controller - hard drive array with 7 300GB drives

2 HP integrated VMware ESX Server 3i Stand Alone - licenses

VMware Infrastructure Foundation Acceleration Kit - license

I'm just starting out with VMWare and am a stone cold rookie with SANS etc.

I've plugged the HP servers into the switch, and the SAN into the switch. I can get to the VM box via the infrastructure client, and I can browse to the SAN using the IP address on the ethernet management port, but I can't seem to get the VM box to see the SAN.

It looks like the VM ware will only see the built in NIC, and not the added GB card. Should I disable the built in card? I have 4 NIC ports on each server..and I'm confused as to whether 2 of them should be plugged directly into the SAN.

Do I need to create an array on the SAN and publish it first? How do I get the VM box to see what's available for storage?

I'd like to divide the array into 2 sections, one for each VM server, and I guess I need to reserve some space for VM backups?

Any help getting started is much appreciated.

Thanks

[ajtinis]

This may sound silly but have you zoned the ESX boxes yet on your SAN? Or are you using a NAS?

[Dave_Mishchenko]

Welcome to the VMware Community forums. How are you making out with this?

Typically you'll want to create an array and the map that LUN to the host(s). ESXi won't have software built into it to manage the SmartArray. Since you're not using iSCSI HBA (and I would consider swapping the NC360Ts for a dual port iSCSI HBA) you'll need

1) create a new virtual switch (with the VI client)

2) add a vmkernel port group to that vswitch and assign it an IP address that has connectivity to the SAN

3) add which ever NIC ports will have access to the SAN to the vswitch. In a case like you're you would typically have 2 switches between ESXi host and san. If you have 2 NIC ports per controller, then one would go to one switch and the other port to the switch. Likewise for the ESXi hosts.

4) On the hosts you would enable the software iSCSI initiator (configuration \ storage adapters) . The iSCSI name you see there you'll add to your SAN for the LUN to host mappings. On the static dicovery tab of the iSCSI software adapter in the VI client you'll also add the IP info for the SAN (IP of the storage controllers - not the management port).

5) Once you have that done you can rescan for storage in the VI client to see what LUNs the ESXi hosts can see. If you share LUNs between hosts, you'll create the datastore on one host, and then just need to rescan storage on the 2nd host. See the documentation link below.

For the NIC you added, you might want to check it against the HCL - http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility

For your storage space, in general you might want to go with 300 - 500 GB LUN with 10 - 15 VMs per LUN. You can also have both ESXi hosts access the same LUNs. That way if one host goes down, you can easily restart the VM on the other host. It's also required for options like HA and vmotion.

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vi_pages/vi_pubs_35u2_3i_i.html

PS - I've moved your thread to the ESXi forum.

[jmetcalf]

Zoned the Esx? Meaning what? I have the IP address of the VM server authorized to access the SAN via the SAN management interface, if that's what you mean.

[ajtinis]

Can you supply screen shots of what you see?

[jmetcalf]

Well, this is what I have so far:

I have the built in NIC (10.1.0.240) on the 360 plugged into the Cisco Switch, and I have the other card going to the controller cards, port 1 on card 1 (10.1.0.248), and port 2 on controller 2 (10.1.0.249).

I have 2 volumes created on the SAN.

In the SAN Controller Module A Host port, I have 10.1.1.240, Mod B 10.1.1.241, in Controller Module B I have 10.1.1.242 and 10.1.0.243.

In network adapters I have 4

Broadcom NexXtreme BCM5708

vmnic1 vSwitch0 10.1.0.1-10.1.0.127

vmnic0 vSwitch0 10.1.0.1-10.1.0.127

82571EB GB Controller

vmnic2 vSwitch1

vmnic3 vSwitch1

VSwitch 1 has a VMKernal port of 10.1.1.1

Clicking on Storage Adapters I have iSCSI Software vmhba33, iSCSI SAN iqn-1998-01.com.vmware:vm1-gvl-0d0e289a, but it has no IP address.

Software Init status is Enabled.

All of the buttons on the Static Discovery tab are disabled.

Dynamic discovery is enabled, and I have send targets of 10.1.1.1? Or 10.1.0.240?

Thanks again

Jeff

[ajtinis]

Ok, thanks for the update on the hardware. Sorry to ask so many questions but have you tried the steps Dave listed off? It just sounds like your ISCSI seetings are not setup correctly. What SAN do you have?

[jmetcalf]

HP 2012i is the SAN, with dual controllers.

Yes, I think I got what Dave said done. I have a new virtual switch, vswitch1, with VMKernal Port 10.1.1.1

and the controller modules are ports 10.1.1.240-243.

There is no host in the manage host list in the SAN management. It is supposed to auto discover.

The link light on the NIC card of the server that I'm using to connect to the SAN is orange, but never shows any activity

....and if I go from server to phy switch to controller card, the link light on the controller card never lights up.

[jmetcalf]

And yes the second card is on the list:

this is a 'complete package' that the HP guy at CDW put together for me based on what I wanted to use it for.

[jmetcalf]

[ajtinis]

Ahh I see... Goto a host and click on Configuration, Storage Adapters, Then ISCSI. You should see "properties" Click on it. Then make sure status says "Enabled" if it doesnt click on configure then enable. Next click on Dynamic Discovery, add, Type in your host port IP adderess. I would receomend enabling CHAP on the SAN and then click on CHAP Authentication, Configure and check Use the Following CHAP credentials and check use initiator name and put in the CHAP secret that you entered into the SAN. I have included some screenshots in a .doc file. I hope that helps.

[jmetcalf]

Yep, just figured that out.

Now under storage adapters I see both of the volumes...whoo hoo!

Thanks for all the help guys.

[ajtinis]

Awsome! Congrats!

[marcin8]

Hi. I have exactly the same conf. 2012i DC and I'm going to use NC360T cards to connect ESX boxes to SAN. Could you please tell me how it works on your end? How is performance. I was suggested to use NC380T but I'm not sure if it makes a big difference. Cheers!

[jmetcalf]

Send the 2012 back NOW. There are major firmware issues and mine is down for the 4th time since January. If you try to expand your array, the RAID cards will happily expand for a while, then both of them will crash. Once they crash....you're out of luck. You can apply the firmware patch, but I had to pull all the drives out of the box in order to get the cards up enough to apply the patch. Putting the drives back in after the patch got me back online with the array in a critical state and the cards refusing all connections.

I turned everything back off, moved everything to my office to work on it...and lo and behold...everything started working. However, the management controller says there is one drive missing, and there isn't, and it absolutely refuses to add any kind of drive as an addition to the array or as a global spare. HP has been scratching their heads....and their lab has confirmed that this is an issue that they can replicate.

Right now....the 2012 is back to refusing all connections to the host ports...so I am completely down again.

[marcin8]

I think I may have a problem with sending it back. Have you upgraded firmware to latest version? What HP said to your problems? What do you mean by "is down" - ESX stop seeing SAN drives and you have to reboot SAN controllers to bring it back?

[jmetcalf]

See my previous reply....I edited and expounded on the problems I've had.

Yes, I have upgraded to the latest firmware, and that caused just as many problems. The ESX servers see the SAN, but the SAN is refusing to let them 'use' the array. Rebooting does NOT solve the problem.

By down...I mean DOWN. All 6 of the virtual servers are down, with the VM servers reporting them as being inaccessible.

[marcin8]

Thanks for info.

[jmetcalf]

Just an FYI

Hello Mr. Metcalf

Here you can find the link to download the latest firmware revision for your MSA2012i

Please go ahead download it and install it

I will be calling you back tomorrow to check the results

Best Regards, HP Support

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Hello Jeff,

This is in regards the case 3605250438, About the events in the cases number 3605232511 and 3605004610, also the VDisk critical status as result of applying the Firmware upgrade to the controllers and the MSA power cycle, So far there is no way to bring the Vdisk Back, in order to clean up the Critical status, we need to recreate the Vdisk and restore from back up as it was described.

As we talked about it, the fact that none process must be stopped during some event (rebuilding, expansion, extension) is because it can bring the MSA configuration into some issues like this VDisk critical status that it is currently happening.

I've copied the email to my manager so you can write out to him if you have further concerns.

Kind regards, HP Support

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Good luck bro...