Software iscsi using the INtel 10 GB nics was relatively easy to setup. The only issue I ran into is 4.1 recognizes my broadcom nics as being iscsi compatible, but that is not want tI want to use, So I had to make sure when I was in the CLI that I selected the software iscsi and not the hardware dependent iscsi hba.
after this, the fun part starts The main reason I was interested in configuring iSCSI was to test the ability of Snap Drive to create a lun from within a VM using the VMware iSCSI initiators and VMware RDM.
I can create a lun using Snap Drive when the VM is in an NFS datastore. The RDM pointer gets created in a separate dedicated iscsi datastore. Both vmotion and storage vmotion work great.
Next on the agenda is testing snap manager for sql and the ability to connect to existing FC luns create with snap drive.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
software iscsi with Intel 10 GB NICs and esxi 4.1 Update1
I'm looking fiorward to testing this in the lab. I have two 10 GB NICs that handle my NFS traffic, guest iscsi traffic, VM port traffic, and vmotion.
I've configured software iSCSI using the 10 GB nics and will see if I can add this to the mix. That will provide a combination of NFS and iSCSI storage over redundant 10 GB paths, and iSCSI muti-pathing. Also give me the option of creating vmware RDM drives.
I've configured software iSCSI using the 10 GB nics and will see if I can add this to the mix. That will provide a combination of NFS and iSCSI storage over redundant 10 GB paths, and iSCSI muti-pathing. Also give me the option of creating vmware RDM drives.
ESXi 4.1 Upgrade
I wanted to go with the latest and greatest vMA, so installed vma5, which is compatible with 4.0 U2 and 4.1. Since my system is running at 4.1, I figured we were good.
This has worked well. I was using the vCLI and CLI to execute commands from the command line. But the VMA definately makes it simpler and easier to do. I especially like it for adding additional NFS volumes, which in a 9 host cluster can be time consuming.
The only disapppointment so far is vmware has removed the vi-logger from vma5. I was looking forward to consolidating my logs with this, but now it will be a little more complex.
One last step I almost forgot is to upgrade the vDS networking to 4.1. I'll have to schedule that and then I can enable Network I/O control.
This has worked well. I was using the vCLI and CLI to execute commands from the command line. But the VMA definately makes it simpler and easier to do. I especially like it for adding additional NFS volumes, which in a 9 host cluster can be time consuming.
The only disapppointment so far is vmware has removed the vi-logger from vma5. I was looking forward to consolidating my logs with this, but now it will be a little more complex.
One last step I almost forgot is to upgrade the vDS networking to 4.1. I'll have to schedule that and then I can enable Network I/O control.
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