ESXi 6.5 + vCenter 6.5 : HA + SAN

[cykeak]

Hello,

Can you confirm that a SAN (with SSD) is mandatory to enable the HA ?

Can you confirme that 3 same hardware ESXi servers are mandatory to enable a vSAN (local datastores, not SAN) ?

For exemple :

3 DELL servers :

2 R740 + 1 R710 : vSAN is not possible

3 R740 : vSAN is not possible

Regards,

[daphnissov]

Can you confirm that a SAN (with SSD) is mandatory to enable the HA ?

This is not true. Some shared storage is necessary. It does not need to be a storage array, and the disk media does not need to be solid state.

Can you confirme that 3 same hardware ESXi servers are mandatory to enable a vSAN (local datastores, not SAN) ?

This is also not true. While even a single host can technically enable a vSAN datastore, two is the supported minimum.

[nachogonzalez]

Can you confirm that a SAN (with SSD) is mandatory to enable the HA ?

Prerequisites for vSphere HA:

Prerequisites

• Verify that all virtual machines and their configuration files reside on shared storage.
• Verify that the hosts are configured to access the shared storage so that you can power on the virtual machines by using different hosts in the cluster.
• Verify that hosts are configured to have access to the virtual machine network.
• Verify that you are using redundant management network connections for vSphere HA. For information about setting up network redundancy, see Best Practices for Networking.
• Verify that you have configured hosts with at least two datastores to provide redundancy for vSphere HA datastore heartbeating.
• Connect vSphere Web Client to vCenter Server by using an account with cluster administrator permissions.
  
  
  Datastores can be VMFS, NFS or vSAN
  
  

So SSD on a SAN array is not mandatory.

Please note that vSAN and SAN are different things.
For vSAN you will need SSD's for cache tier.

Can you confirme that 3 same hardware ESXi servers are mandatory to enable a vSAN (local datastores, not SAN) ?

There is a 2 hosts configuration that is supported but you will need a withness.
So, yes you will need 3 hosts, also please make sure hosts are compliant with VMWare HCL (VMware Compatibility Guide - vsan ) or are vSAN ready nodes.
Once again, for vSAN (which is not the same as SAN) you will need SSD's

[cykeak]

To resume : on hardware point of view :

HA =

+ 2 physical server ESXi

+ Shared Storage (SAN or NAS or Array Disks ? )

+ 2 Switchs : Redundant Networks

+ no SSD mandatory.

+ 2 licences vSphere

+ 1 licence vCenter (could be a VM ?)

vSAN  = 

+ 2 physical server ESXi

+ 1 physical server as Witness  (exactly same hardware with the 2 ESX ?)

+ 1 (or more : RAID1 + spare) SSD per physical server   (3 x (2+1) = 9 SSD)

+ 3 licences vSphere

+ 1 licence vCenter (could be a VM ?)

Can you confirm ?

Regards

[nachogonzalez]

HA =

+ 2 physical server ESXi

+ Shared Storage (SAN or NAS or Array Disks ? )

+ 2 Switchs : Redundant Networks

+ no SSD mandatory.

+ 2 licences vSphere

+ 1 licence vCenter (could be a VM ?), yes check VCSA vCenter Server Appliance Overview

This is correct

vSAN  =

+ 2 physical server ESXi

+ 1 physical server as Witness  (exactly same hardware with the 2 ESX ?)
For an easier config I would say 3 hosts and no witnesses

+ 1 (or more : RAID1 + spare) SSD per physical server   (3 x (2+1) = 9 SSD) No
You need AT least 1 SSD for cache and 1 other disk for capacity per diskgroup or all SSD disks
there is no raid configured at the host level.

+ 3 licences vSphere
+ vSAN license

+ 1 licence vCenter (could be a VM ?)

[IRIX201110141]

HA:

Redundant pSwitch are not mandatory.... but for sure highly suggested

Hosts should have 2 or more ethernet ports.... with only one you need to suppress some warnings

You need Essentials Plus licensing or better

Regards,
Joerg