Using a NAS with VMWare
Hi Experts. I am getting into the action a little late with VMWare and just setup my first server and guest OS. Now that I have the itch, I realize I am going to be out of hdd space soon. I planned on purchasing a NAS as I am running low on my file server but with the addition of VMWare in my little test environment, I see I will need to incorporate that.
With that said, my question is, can I use a NAS like a dlink dns 321 with VMWare and use that space for guest OS's? I don't have enough experience with VMWare to understand what I can and cannot use for space. The memory side I am taking care of but the phyiscal space is where I'm lost.
Thanks in advance for your assistance. Also, please recommend a NAS that is under $300 if you prefer something other than the dlink 321.
With that said, my question is, can I use a NAS like a dlink dns 321 with VMWare and use that space for guest OS's? I don't have enough experience with VMWare to understand what I can and cannot use for space. The memory side I am taking care of but the phyiscal space is where I'm lost.
Thanks in advance for your assistance. Also, please recommend a NAS that is under $300 if you prefer something other than the dlink 321.
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That's $50 cheaper than it used to be about 6 months ago when I bought it.. RAID1 1TB should do the trick and it will do CIFS as well. Just keep in mind that it's not the fastest thing in the world but it works for about 10 test VMs that I have in the lab.
take a look at the 4tb..you may be able to get that for around $300 now..worth a shot. Best part only takes up 18w of power
ASKER
If I use it for a couple virtual servers, could I still use 500+gb of the space for backups (data, pics, music, etc.)? I haven't dealt much with iSCSI thus the newb questions.
maybe not..just checked prices, the drives have gone down in price but these units for the 4tb still around 600..should be going down soon.
For VMware you don't need to use iSCSI but it's simple. NFS will do the job and will give you more options as you can shrink and grow on the fly. For the rest you can setup a cifs share and connect to AD or workgroup.
If you setup several esx hosts you can test HA, DRS, just like a full blown SAN and do it with either iscsi or nfs. Even has a torrent client which is funny on a vmware compatible device.
If you setup several esx hosts you can test HA, DRS, just like a full blown SAN and do it with either iscsi or nfs. Even has a torrent client which is funny on a vmware compatible device.
ASKER
Thanks for your patience and very informative answers. I feel much more confident about this.
I appreciate your help and look forward to working with you in the near future.
Take care,
Aaron
I appreciate your help and look forward to working with you in the near future.
Take care,
Aaron
no problem, let me know how it goes and if you need help with the setup just open a ticket.
this should help
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNan-MsltXQ
this should help
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNan-MsltXQ
ASKER
Count on it!
Thanks for the video. I'm sure that will help as I get closer to having the iomega drive delivered.
Thanks for the video. I'm sure that will help as I get closer to having the iomega drive delivered.
ASKER
hey paulsolov, I know you are crazy busy but wanted to ask you a question about the iomega drive. Let me know when you will be on so I can post the question, copy the link here and get your feedback on it. Let me know if that works for you.
-A
-A
always checking in, just post it and provide link here.
ASKER
Does this sound like a good deal for the 2tb option ($249 w/shipping)?