Connecting LUN directly to VM

[etniesBG]

hi,
I have a cluster of 2 IBM x3650 M3 ESXi5.0 and IBM N3300 (NetApp FAS2020) FC storage system.
My question is How to directly attach lun to a Guest OS (win2008 R2) using FCP?
In this moment I successfuly add NPIV to my VM but a can not access the LUN. The stogare system and initiator groups are configured with WWNs but still not success.
My plan is to use one LUN to multiple VMs with purpose to store multiple Data bases in a secure place.

[a_p_]

Even with NPIV you need to present the LUNs to the ESXi hosts and present the them to the VMs as RDMs.

Anyway, presenting the same LUN to multiple VM at the same time requires a file system which can handle this. Otherwise you will end up with data corruption. Why don't you assign the LUN to one VM and share it, to make it accessible to the other VMs trough UNC/drive mapping.

André

[etniesBG]

Yes, but can I assign a RDM to one VM and share it to other VMs???
there is and other option... to use a same vmdk to multiple VMs but my boss want to open the file in case of VM failure, and I do not know how to do such opening...

[JASA1976]

Yes you can share an RDM between Vm's and its the supported method for clusters with Windows 2008.

Check out http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=100461...

You can then create a SQL cluster or a clustered file share.

[vGuy · Accepted solution]

etniesBG wrote:

Yes, but can I assign a RDM to one VM and share it to other VMs???
there is and other option... to use a same vmdk to multiple VMs but my boss want to open the file in case of VM failure, and I do not know how to do such opening...

Yes, this can be done. While adding the new RDM select a different SCSI controller (ex: 1:0) with Bus sharing option. Please refer to MSCS setup guide, section 3, "Creating Virtual Machines across Physical Hosts"

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_mscs.pdf