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thanks a lot jools and andyalder.<br />
let me fill in some more details on hardware if that helps. <br />
1. the 2 servers are HP blades (HP ProLiant BL460c Xeon 3.00GHz)<br />
2. SAN spec - still undecided, possibly - HP EVA &nbsp;500GB
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If you're still undecided on the SAN you should get the supplier involved with the business requirement, they will be able to make sure that you have the redundant fabric infrastructure and make sure the systems are supported on the O/S's you will be running.<br />
<br />
There are loads of different solutions, a lot of the requirement will depend on the applications and how much load the systems will have as well as distances involved.<br />
<br />
You could also look at iSCSI and I have seen some companies pushing ATA over Ethernet but this is relatively new.<br />
<br />
A couple of links for some light reading;<br />
<br />
&nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_area_network" rel="ugc">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storage_area_network</a><br />
&nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATA_over_Ethernet" rel="ugc">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATA_over_Ethernet</a><br />
&nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISCSI" rel="ugc">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISCSI</a><br />
&nbsp; &nbsp;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCoE" rel="ugc">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FCoE</a><br />

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There's a better/cheaper option for HP blades - SAS. <br />
<br />
There's SAS switches for the blade enclosures and SAS attached MSA2012sa for the shared storage. It's not as expandable as a SAN since a redundant solution is limited to &nbsp;two enclosures but that's still 32 servers and nearly a hundred disks in the SAN. <br />
<br />
Just wish there was a DC powered version without having to go to f/c.
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There I go again, saying it's cheaper than a SAN but then calling it a SAN. Contradictory but most of the same rules apply except that you can't hop through switches (yet).
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dear friends, thanks a lot for your comments. now i'm trying out 2 solutions<br />
1) connect SAN with 1 blade. create a windows share and map it on other blade<br />
2) create 2 SAN partition one for each blade, and DFS replicating 2 partitions<br />
<br />
please let me know if you see any issues by your experience.<br />
<br />

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<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
Hi,<br />
<br />
How do I make a SAN partition accessible from 2 servers. Both server should be able read and write to the SAN partition.<br />
<br />
As per my googling a cluster file system like (GFS, OCFS, VxFS) can make the SAN partition is accessible from both servers. Is it a feasible and stable soltion?<br />
<br />
Is there any other way to accomplish this setup. I understand that NAS would be a better soltion in this case, but our client mendates SAN usage for the setup. Rackspace support suggested using an Interface server. While the soution is feasible, interface server is potential bottleneck and undermines the pupose of having 2 redundant servers.<br />
<br />
Please let me know if you have any solution for me.<br />
<br />
thanks 
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Hi,

How do I make a SAN partition accessible from 2 servers. Both server should be able read and write to the SAN partition.

As per my googling a cluster file system like (GFS, OCFS, VxFS) can make the SAN partition is accessible from both servers. Is it a feasible and stable soltion?

Is there any other way to accomplish this setup. I understand that NAS would be a better soltion in this case, but our client mendates SAN usage for the setup. Rackspace support suggested using an Interface server. While the soution is feasible, interface server is potential bottleneck and undermines the pupose of having 2 redundant servers.

Please let me know if you have any solution for me.

thanks 

Making SAN partition available from multiple servers

Servers are computing devices that are similar to desktop computers in that they have the same basic components, but are significantly different in size, configuration and purpose. Servers are usually accessed over a network, and many run unattended, without a computer monitor, input device, audio hardware or USB interfaces. Many servers do not have a graphical user interface (GUI), and are configured and managed remotely. Servers typically include hardware redundancy such as dual power supplies, RAID disk systems, and ECC memory, along with extensive pre-boot memory testing and verification. Critical components might be hot swappable, and to guard against overheating, servers might have more powerful fans or use water cooling.