Virtual SAN storage to act as Quorum? How to configure it?

[swisstonitechi]

Hi all,

I've setup the Sun VMWare Storage as my virtual SAN on VM Workstation but I'm now wondering how I get the cluster setup wizard to see it as storage for the quorum? Anyone done this before in a testing lab? I'm setting up Exch 2003 Ent and just want the cluster to see the Sun Storage but I'm stuck.

[swisstonitechi]

Still no further forward with this, any ideas?

[PaulSvirin · Accepted solution]

Well, maybe not a direct solution for your situation, but you can try the iSCSI SAN product called StarWind. It is free for building virtual SANs and has much documentation here.

[swisstonitechi]

Thanks Paul, I'll try this and report back once I get chance to test in lab.

[vmwareking]

Hi Have you had any luck

There are lost of articles on the net to configure iSCSI for but one of them are working,,

I tried Windows Storage Server and Openfiler and FreeNAS..

Here are some articles..

http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Connect-Windows-Server-2008-Windows-Vista-iSCSI-...

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1461205#1461205

Would like to hear from anyone that got this working..

Will try Starwin, but i thing it is some other configuration problem

Do you need DNS for iSCSI to work

[swisstonitechi]

Sorry, not had time as of yet, been too busy on live projects...hoping to try by end of this month.

I'll put it down as answered as lots of tips here, thanks.

[swisstonitechi]

Starting to look at this now, really sorry for delay. I've installed the starwind console and that looks very easy...will advise on rest shortly.

[swisstonitechi]

I must be missing something here, I've setup startwind management console on one server, the guide says to connect to the "data store" server and then setup as quorum but when I connect I get "starwind service not found on host - starwin". do you need to install starwind on each server?

[AnatolyVilchins]

Have you seen this:

http://www.starwindsoftware.com/images/content/StarWind_HA_2003-2008.pdf

?

iSCSI Software Support Department

http://www.starwindsoftware.com

[swisstonitechi]

Cracked it in the end, installed that starwind.exe on the donor windows 2003 server, setup the Quorum and Generic images on disk of virtual and then installed the iscsi initiators on both Exch cluster nodes...just need to install Exch 2003 now, excellent, thanks all!

[swisstonitechi]

Hmm, one problem left. Following the Starwind process, I have the two "image" drives on a Win Server virtual, connected, etc and both Exch nodes see them as drive E (Generic) and drive Q (Quorum) but when I go to setup the cluster, the wizard complains it cant see a shared storage area for Quorum. The only selections I get on Quorum are:

Local Quorum & Majority Node Set

I should be able to select the Q drive but cant, any ideas?

[AnatolyVilchins]

OK, let's make it in other way:

write to support@starwindsoftware.com

or go to

We will solve your problem in more quick way.

To check if problem in StarWind, that is what I'm doubt in,please check if you are doing everything according to manuals:

http://www.starwindsoftware.com/resources

iSCSI Software Support Department

http://www.starwindsoftware.com

[swisstonitechi]

Sorted it, my mistake, I used Dynamic disks but should of used Simples disks. Cluster wizard doesn't like dynamic disks and I missed that bit of text in the install guide. All good thanks

[VaemonGuy]

hi,

i used starwind 4.0 to create an iscsi target in other computer. i connected to the target in my host and it showed a physical device under windows disk manager. then i used vmware workstation to create a new VM, in which a physical disk was selected and the iscsi target was used. and i have successfully installed linux and windows xp on it, hope that can give you some ideas.

http://vaemon.com -- the best virtualization blog in Chinese

[AnatolyVilchins]

4 version? I'm assuming that you do know about version 5.2? You can download it on our site:

http://www.starwindsoftware.com/editions-comparison

Regards

iSCSI Software Support Department

http://www.starwindsoftware.com