asked on HP P2000 MSA G3 iscsi SAN overview
Looking at deploying the above.
What i'm struggling to understand is how to configure the SAN and servers. We may upgrade and use existing DL360 G5's but may look at new 380 g7's... difference (big?) being more NICS in the 380's.
we are on a 172.19.0.0/16 address range.
How & what settings are required for the SAN?
It will have 2x controllers (8 iscsi ports) with 1x management port per controller.
Can someone explain the basics of the iscsi ports and addressing? Also are the Ethernet management ports equivalent to say an ILO port for a server????
Thanks
What i'm struggling to understand is how to configure the SAN and servers. We may upgrade and use existing DL360 G5's but may look at new 380 g7's... difference (big?) being more NICS in the 380's.
we are on a 172.19.0.0/16 address range.
How & what settings are required for the SAN?
It will have 2x controllers (8 iscsi ports) with 1x management port per controller.
Can someone explain the basics of the iscsi ports and addressing? Also are the Ethernet management ports equivalent to say an ILO port for a server????
Thanks
VMwareVirtualization
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Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert PRO / EE Fellow/British Beekeeper)
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Go for G7's if you can as the extra NICs are very useful (especially if going down the virtualization route). Adding a Dual/Quad Gigabit card to a G5 is not difficult however. It all depends on your future rollout.
I would highly recommend, READING ALL the HP P2000 G3 documentation available from HP, before you implement your P2000.
See here
See here
ASKER
So will the ethernet port on the 2x controller have to be on a vlan (physical) or can all be plugged into one switch but vlanned (using vmware)?
thanks
thanks
does not have to be VLAN, depends on your network design, switchs, physical storage network is always best.
Its very difficult to check network utilisation inside VLANs.
Its very difficult to check network utilisation inside VLANs.
ASKER
hhaywood000: ahev you set them up via directly i.e. no switches between the servers adn san?
cannot do vlan, if attach directly.
do you not hane any 1GBps switch hardware?
ASKER
not even virtualised vlan?
No, what switch is going to handle the 802.1Q Tags?
VLAN tags are used on trunks to switches.
We always have switches between servers and storage as the storage is shared. You could setup direct connections but switches give far more flexibility.
If this is your first time with iSCSI etc then I would agree with hancocka and suggest you have a good read up on the basics of iSCSI, SANs, Shared Storage etc.
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tutorial/Learning-Guide-SAN
If this is your first time with iSCSI etc then I would agree with hancocka and suggest you have a good read up on the basics of iSCSI, SANs, Shared Storage etc.
http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/tutorial/Learning-Guide-SAN
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ASKER
hhaywood000:
So you have the san connected 'directly'? If so then how does the esxi hosts connect to the LAN?
I'm having difficulty understanding the differences between iscsi and lan connections/configs....
So you have the san connected 'directly'? If so then how does the esxi hosts connect to the LAN?
I'm having difficulty understanding the differences between iscsi and lan connections/configs....
No. Our SAN is connected to switches reserved for storage traffice only. The ESX hosts then connect to the same switches using NICs also reserved specifically for storage. Only storage traffic moves across this LAN.
The ESX host also have other NICs, some are connected to the Data LAN and some are connected to the Management LAN each of which uses its own Switches.
The ESX host also have other NICs, some are connected to the Data LAN and some are connected to the Management LAN each of which uses its own Switches.
ASKER
can i ask which switches?
Cisco 2960G.
ASKER
ok. So, in my case i could setup like:
Each host use 4x pot NIC's connected directly to the SAN or using a vlan or even separate switches for iscsi traffic on whatever range i like i.e. 10. or 192....
The use additional NIC's dual ports and connect into the lan switches using current 172 ranges...
???
Each host use 4x pot NIC's connected directly to the SAN or using a vlan or even separate switches for iscsi traffic on whatever range i like i.e. 10. or 192....
The use additional NIC's dual ports and connect into the lan switches using current 172 ranges...
???
Yes.
If you have more then one host then definately use switches as this will allow the storage to be shared and you can use vmotion etc.
If you have more then one host then definately use switches as this will allow the storage to be shared and you can use vmotion etc.
ASKER
thought we could still use vmotion / HA / DRS without switches as the directly attached SAN will still have Ip's....?
Probably. As long as both hosts can see the storage then it should work.
I haven't tried that particular setup as if we have a second host we put switches in.
I haven't tried that particular setup as if we have a second host we put switches in.
Do you not have any switches at present?
ASKER
only one.
If that switch has the capability you could VLAN off some ports and use these for your Storage LAN.
and can you not use that to connect the servers and SAN?
ASKER
sure. but in terms of redundancy (possibly even performance) would it be best to use 2x dedicated switches for iscsi traffic on the controllers/servers?
guess directly attaching hosts to san simply reduces the amount spend and redundancy required for iscsi?
guess directly attaching hosts to san simply reduces the amount spend and redundancy required for iscsi?
Yes, 2x switches would be best.
Yes it would be best for redundancy to have 2 x switches dedicated to storage but it comes down to cost.
A single switch will provide good performance but will give a single point of failure.
Don't directly connect unless you really have to.
It all comes down to money - you either have it or not!!
A single switch will provide good performance but will give a single point of failure.
Don't directly connect unless you really have to.
It all comes down to money - you either have it or not!!
ASKER
which is why we were looking at simply loadbalancing the guests over 2x hosts and using veeam as backup (in event of failure we would of course lose data) but have ability to restore very quickly say a days previous.
Other option was VSA, which seems to be still quite expensive (possibly performance hit) and also loses a lot of available local storage.
SAN does give us all when we require i.e. HA, DRS vmotion. - and room to expand, just costs so damn much.
Other option was VSA, which seems to be still quite expensive (possibly performance hit) and also loses a lot of available local storage.
SAN does give us all when we require i.e. HA, DRS vmotion. - and room to expand, just costs so damn much.
Have you looked at other VSA products?
just to completely alarm you we had 6 P2000 completely fail last year at clients sites, with hardware failure.
ASKER
in as much as reviewing specs of the VSA suppliers/vendors yes.
6 at one site?!
where was the resiliency?
6 at one site?!
where was the resiliency?
six different clients in the UK.
No resilience!
Business down for 18 hours.
No resilience!
Business down for 18 hours.
ASKER
so what - one controller?
where/what were the failures?
where/what were the failures?
three disks failed at same time
four backplanes failed in chassis
other issues undetermined by engineers
four backplanes failed in chassis
other issues undetermined by engineers
ASKER
exactly my worries - with the amount of £'s these cost they should be bullet proof!!!
Me thinks original idea of 2x beefy live servers, 1x beefy DR server, NAS/Veeam. job done.
Me thinks original idea of 2x beefy live servers, 1x beefy DR server, NAS/Veeam. job done.
nothing is bullet proof ever!
We had an EVA fail last year and that cost £250k!
Business issues for 3 days getting it resolved.
We had an EVA fail last year and that cost £250k!
Business issues for 3 days getting it resolved.
ASKER
sure, however VFM my solution is probably best (ok no HA) but as stable/reliable...
Think you have finally hit the nail on the head re - SAN.
Think you have finally hit the nail on the head re - SAN.
We've got 10 and not had any issues over the past 9 months or so. Also got 10 of the previous version (2312i) and only had a single controller go down.
Its simple, if you stack all your eggs in one basket, it can be a single point of failure.
if you go forward you need to design in what happens if SAN fails?
if you go forward you need to design in what happens if SAN fails?
ASKER
invoke DR - which is real terms is a real ball ache!!!
Do you have a DR Plan?
Have you tested and Invoked your DR plan?
Have you tested and Invoked your DR plan?
ASKER
Yes
Tested - Yes. Real Invoke - no
Tested - Yes. Real Invoke - no
ASKER
i suppose having a large local storage as a san backup (using veeam backups) would provide a good local BCP solution should the san fail?
Yes, thats what ALL our clients have NAS or iSCSI SANs as backup store, iOmega products.
Thats how we were able to restore to SAN, when repaired.
Thats how we were able to restore to SAN, when repaired.
ASKER
ok, so should we go for the P2000 then what sort of NAS is best for backing up the hosts using veeam? im looking at the qnap - i assume just use it as a network share via ethernet into lan, or can USB or esata be used?
iOmega devices, rack mount, on the VMware HCL and support NFS, iSCSI and Windows Shares.
iomega also owned by EMC, which owns VMware.
iomega also owned by EMC, which owns VMware.
ASKER
The knock-on affect of having 2x different boxes:
1. One with evc cpu and the other without evc cpu - with evc enabled means?
2. As above - witout evc enabled means?
1. One with evc cpu and the other without evc cpu - with evc enabled means?
2. As above - witout evc enabled means?
ASKER
arse, wrong question....
you can delete now!!!