Home lab setup

[lvaibhavt]

Hi All,

I have a home lab and I use it for everyday use. Here are the details

Intel Motherboard with 16GB ram. Windows 7 OS and I use windows 7 as the base OS.

I have installed VMware Workstation and run esxi 5 and other machines.

With esxi 5 there is a new feature of using VMware's software FCoE adapter. However to use it you need to have a NIC that supports FCoE like Intel® Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X520.

You need to install it on your desktop machine and then the VMware's software FCoE can be used.

Has anyone used it till now and does it work fine.

Thanks in advance

[kaarthickvasude]

Hi

FCOE is the new technology in Vsphere 5.0 .

Like Fiber channel we required following things

1) FCOE Switch

2) FCOE Cable

3) FCOE Network card to insert in the ESXIhost

Once we install the vsphere 5.0 we can see iSCSI & FCOE Option in the vCenter

[lvaibhavt]

Thanks Kaarthick,

So in my case if I put this card in my desktop then VMware Workstation 9 will be able to recognize it and pass it on to ESXi host (which is configured as VM in it)?

thanks

[LakshmikanthPan]

Hi,

You will VMDirect I/O path to pass any supported hardware to the guest VM. VMWARE Workstation does not support VMDirect I/O pass and hence it will not show up to the ESXi host. If your desktop hardware is supported  you can install ESXi directly on your desktop instead of Windows 7 as base OS then you may be able to use the FCoE card and enable software FCoE.

In any case, just having a FCOE card and enabling FCOE adapter in ESXi will not help you in any way. You will need FCOE switch and a FCOE supported storage in order to assign storage to the ESXi host and learn, how to configure / play with it.

-LP

[lvaibhavt]

thanks, if I use openfiler and the option it has for FC.

Currently I am using openfiler for iSCSI SAN

I saw that i has an option for FC. This means can I use virtual FC storage from openfiler.

I am not sure about it.

thanks

[LakshmikanthPan]

I don't think FC within a ESX host will work. You would need additional hardware like FC switch.

If it is only for learning, i would recommend to test with iSCSI storage. Everything that works with an software FCOE adapter will work on a software iSCSI  adapter for lab purposes.

-LP