Windows Shared Disks - Supposedly "Beware"

[presence]

Hello,

I am attempting to do something very taboo, but am seeking a method that is not taboo. I want to share a LUN between 2 Citrix servers and store my users' profiles on this'local' disk. The issue is that both Windows servers assume that they own the disk and any updates do not show up on the partner server. This leads to massive corruption of the file system on the disk.

What I am looking for is a method to do this, but both servers be aware of the changes to the FS that the other is making to avoid FS corruption. I am also attempting to do this without setting up an MS cluster as that would requrie Win2k3 Ent. or Datacenter and add a huge complexity issue to the environment.

The reason I am looking at this is due to the seemingly random issues with MS Terminal Services Roaming Profiles. You know, the occasional 'empty profile' and 'missing files,' etc.

1. Are there any easier methods to accomplish this?

2. Am I just crazy for attempting to come up with such a solution (just a joke...really...please don't comment... )?

3. Does anyone have any better ways for handling profiles in a Citrix environment?

Thanks,

Joey

[RParker]

For Windows the only way to do it is MSCS. Why can't or Won't you use Clustering Services.. that's what they are there for...

[presence]

I do not want to use MSCS because of the complexity involved in the implementation. It 'seems' like there should be a much easier method for accomplishing something that 'seems' so simple. If not, then I will look at clustering. I am also unsure if my CIO will want to invest in Windows Ent. to accomplish this.

Thanks,

Joey

[Jasemccarty]

Why don't you use Terminal Services Profiles, or Folder Redirection?

They both have pros/cons, but work very well if executed properly.

Folder Redirection would update immediately, whereas TS Profiles wouldn't.

Tie them together, and any profile changes on one node would match up the next logon on the other node.

TS Profiles would handle the updating of a users' registry information and Folder Redirection would handle the My Documents/etc.

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Co-Author of VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center

(ISBN:1420070274) from Auerbach

[stvkpln]

MSCS doesn't solve this problem... It only allows one system at a time to see the volume anyhow, and would provide failover capabilities; what I gathered is that the request was for both boxes to be able to see the data at the same time.. To do that, you need a cluster-aware filesystem..... which NTFS is certainly not. In the Windows world, that means you need an intermediate type of server that acts as a middle man by presenting the shared data via CIFS. That would be the cleanest and easiest way to proceed, and Windows has that built in!

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Moved to VI: Virtual machine and Guest OS forum.

I would use CIFS to do this. SHared Disks can be setup but you need a clustered file system to make it work. Some exist outside of MSCS but they are costly. I would suggest CIFS as an alternative.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

SearchVMware Blog: http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/virtualization-pro/

Blue Gears Blogs - http://www.itworld.com/ and http://www.networkworld.com/community/haletky

As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization

[RParker]

I would use CIFS to do this.

He said LUN, CIFS can share a Volume, but not a LUN.

[mcowger]

Exactly. He is suggesting that sharing th filesystem using a CIFS mount would be a better choice than trying to use a cluster filesystem on windows.

--Matt

[presence]

CIFS sounds like a great solution and it would be easy to implement except that I need to mount it as a local disk in Windows 2003. I found some tools called MKS Toolkit for System Adminstrators that would give me 'nix like abilities in Windows (ie. mount command). Does anyone know of another way to mount a CIFS share as a local disk in Windows 2003?

Thanks,

Joey

[Jasemccarty]

I just noticed the "random issues" part of your original post.

I have about 15,000 logins and logouts over the course of a day, an we don't really experience any of those.

I guess that's why I didn't have a problem suggesting TS Profiles...

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Co-Author of VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center

(ISBN:1420070274) from Auerbach

[presence]

Not that it concerns you, but looking into that would require me to undermine my employee's work. If I can mount the CIFS to a local drive letter, though, I would have a better method at hand anyway. If mounting CIFS to a local drive letter is not possible, however, I will then have to work with the person on a true implementation of TS Profiles.

Thanks,

Joey

[Jasemccarty]

Well, one of the shortfalls of a mounted drive letter, is that it mounts after the user logs into the system.

If you can get all of this to work using any of the above alternate methods, I would really be interested in hearing your implemenation steps, and resulting success.

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Co-Author of VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center

(ISBN:1420070274) from Auerbach

[Texiwill]

Hello,

Use an RDM for the LUN for one system then share it out to the others using CIFS or any other type of disk sharing service.

Best regards,

Edward L. Haletky

VMware Communities User Moderator

====

Author of the book 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise: Planning and Securing Virtualization Servers', Copyright 2008 Pearson Education.

SearchVMware Blog: http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/virtualization-pro/

Blue Gears Blogs - http://www.itworld.com/ and http://www.networkworld.com/community/haletky

As well as the Virtualization Wiki at http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Virtualization

[kjb007]

CIFS is the backbone. You're still mounting a share to a drive letter, so using a drive letter is how it works. You can use an RDM as pointed out already and a network share on the other. You can mount the physical drive on one server as a drive letter, and use a similar drive for the network mounted drive on the other.

-KjB