Avatar of castellansolutions
castellansolutions
Flag for United States of America asked on

Windows 2012 R2, Storage Server, iSCSI, VHDX, Hyper-V Cluster.

Hey Guys

I recently setup a new storage server (WIndows 2012 R2, iSCSI and 2x Hyper-V Hosts. I have a question about "VHDX Drives" presented to a VM host, and then creating a VM (which uses vhdx) onto the presented "VHDX drive". I put this post on technet but no luck. (Bottom of page) - that is nested VHDX's.  


So here is what I have created:

1) Several LUNs created as "Diskname.vhdx"
2) Those LUNs are then presented to both my VMhosts
3) I created a Hyper-V Failover Cluster (2 VM hosts)
4) Then I presented my newly provisioned LUNs out and started setting up VMs.

Here is my question though, since an iSCSI "Drive" is basically just a VHDX file, and since VMs are basically stored on VHDX files.
Am I not creating a VHDX within a VHDX? Is that right way to do this? I realize my question may sound stupid, but in the past I simply created a VHD file on standard HDD. Now I am basically nesting vhdx's. ?

Thanks,
Robert

here is the technet link: https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/cd5be36f-3683-48aa-9361-40dc7480ef31/windows-2012-r2-hyperv-shared-csv-iscsi-and-sata?forum=winserverClustering#fde82eee-5cd3-4c8a-bf3a-52f56a1a3de3
Hyper-VWindows Server 2012Storage Software

Avatar of undefined
Last Comment
castellansolutions

8/22/2022 - Mon
Cliff Galiher

Yes, that is exactly what you are doing, and yes that is the right way to do it. The VHDX format was designed and envisioned with this as one of the use cases and results, and is very efficient at nesting, unlike the old VHD format. No worries. Onward.
castellansolutions

ASKER
ok so its ok to do it with VHDX files, but not with VHD files? And, is there a way to get Windows 2012R2 to "Present" the Storage without it creating an iSCSI VHDX file? Similar to real SAN which would not present a VHDX ?

Thanks,

Robert
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Cliff Galiher

THIS SOLUTION ONLY AVAILABLE TO MEMBERS.
View this solution by signing up for a free trial.
Members can start a 7-Day free trial and enjoy unlimited access to the platform.
See Pricing Options
Start Free Trial
GET A PERSONALIZED SOLUTION
Ask your own question & get feedback from real experts
Find out why thousands trust the EE community with their toughest problems.
castellansolutions

ASKER
Thanks Cliff. I am just having a hard time wrapping head around the "VHDX inside a  VHDX". I have used virtualization for many years, but only on a small scale. 2 or VM hosts with 5 or 6 VMs on each. Now i am doing it the right way.

Thanks for the confirmation.

Robert
I started with Experts Exchange in 2004 and it's been a mainstay of my professional computing life since. It helped me launch a career as a programmer / Oracle data analyst
William Peck