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pajenson
Contributor
Contributor

Where should iSCSI initiator live?

I am setting up a new ESXi 4.1 cluster with 3 hosts.  All VMs will be Windows 2008 server...many of the VMs require much more than 2 TB of disk space, but it is not necessary that it all be presented as one drive.  The storage will be connected via iSCSI.  Here's my question:  should I simply present several (about 55) 2-TB LUNs from the NetApp to each ESX host and have the iSCSI initiator live on vSphere...or have the iSCSI initiator in Windows 2008 and present the storage straight to the VM through the operating system.

Are there any good white papers discussing the pros and cons of each?  I have looked but cannot seem to find anything that compares them directly.

Thanks for your help.

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pajenson
Contributor
Contributor

Maybe a better way to ask this would be, are there any limitations to software iSCSI from inside guest OS with regards to vMotion, HA or DRS?

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scrookston
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

There is a section in the doc below called 'Running a Third-Party iSCSI initiator in the Virtual Machine'. Unless you have some kind of requirement for doing otherwise I would personally place the initator on the hosts for ease of administration/management. When you do it from the guest you open yourself up for the risk of configurations that may not match for the hosts.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsp_4_san_design_deploy.pdf

Sean http://www.seancrookston.com http://www.twitter.com/seancrookston
AnthonyChow
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

scrookston wrote:.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsp_4_san_design_deploy.pdf

Thanks.  This is a good document.  I just know of the iSCSI and FC Configuration Guide.  Will read this over the weekend.

Have a nice weekend everbody. Smiley Happy

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AnthonyChow
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

atc wrote:

scrookston wrote:.

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsp_4_san_design_deploy.pdf

Thanks.  This is a good document.  I just know of the iSCSI and FC Configuration Guide.  Will read this over the weekend.

Have a nice weekend everbody. Smiley Happy

Is there something similar to the SAN Design and Deploy Guide for networking.

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