I have a few entry-level shared storage questions that I've been researching for a while. Before I order the hardware, I want to make sure I'm not missing something basic (which is very possible!) Obviously I'm new to shared storage and I just want to get a basic configuration that will work with vSphere.
I have two VM Hosts (ESX 5.0 on Dell 1950s) and I want to connect to a disk array (Aberdeen XDAS D-Series) that has two 6Gb/s SAS ports (Ch0 and Ch1)
I have SAS HBA cards in the Dell 1950s.
To do it right and allow for some expansion (i.e. a few more servers and disk arrays) I think I need a SAS Switch (LSI SAS6160). Will vSphere work just fine like this? I.e. using switched SAS and the hardware above?
Note that I did find this: http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/04/does-vmware-support-sharedswitched-sas.html which suggests everything should work but I'd hate to buy the LSI SAS6160 if there's something I'm missing.
A more basic question. If I were to stay at just the two host servers and the one disk array, would vSphere work if I just connect the two servers directly to the two 6Gb/s SAS ports on the disk array? Or will I have LUN/Channel issues.
