VMware configuration issues with EMC Unity 300

VM_Cluster_Networkv2.docxI am trying to understand how VMWare connects to a SAN and Two NAS storage devices and would like some help on the configuration of connections to those devices. We had a consultant come in and connect a new EMC Unity 300 with 10K drives to a VMWare cluster of three hosts. We have our Exchange and SQL servers virtualized but since we have done this our SQL server is dog slow. I have been looking on Vsphere at the VM network configurations and they don't seem right. I have attached screen shots of the configurations and hope you can lead me down the right path of understanding.

I have been reading on the net that the VMKernal is an iSCSI connection to the storage devices but is there supposed to be multiple connections? Also on two of the hosts the VMKernal has the same IP, is that right? Now when It comes to the EMC unit I probably need help with that as well but lets first start with the VMKernal question and the Management network connection. I assume those are supposed to be tow separate IP's and connections.
TimSr. System AdminAsked:
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ITguy565Commented:
If you attached screenshots of the configurations I am not seeing them in the question Tim.
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ITguy565Commented:
How many ISCSI Adapters do you have?

Is MPIO enabled on your server?
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ITguy565Commented:
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ITguy565Commented:
If I had to guess right now, your consultant connected the SAN to your environment, but he failed to or didn't understand how to setup load balancing and Multipath. This would explain why your connection is so slow.

Please post the configuration pictures when you get a moment so I can review them.
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Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert / EE MVE^2)VMware and Virtualization ConsultantCommented:
Basically ESXi can connect to SANs via iSCSI and FC, and NAS via NFS

Please follow my EE Articles for iSCSI Best Practice


HOW TO: Add an iSCSI Software Adaptor and Create an iSCSI Multipath Network in VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi 5.0

HOW TO: Enable Jumbo Frames on a VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi 5.0) host server using the VMware vSphere Client


(valid for ESXi 5.x to 6.0)
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TimSr. System AdminAuthor Commented:
I thought I had attached the word document but apparently I didn't. I have attached it to this case. Sorry for the confusion.
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ITguy565Commented:
Tim, Still don't think it attached..
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ITguy565Commented:
NM see it now.
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ITguy565Commented:
What I said above is confirmed. There is no Teaming Setup on this.. Your storage is passing though a single 1GB virtual NIC attached to vswitch2
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ITguy565Commented:
I would recommend that you reconfigure this  following one of the MultiPathing documents that have been presented. I would love to say the one I presented was the best, but you have the master @Hanccocka here so I will bow out to his documents as they are superior.
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TimSr. System AdminAuthor Commented:
This is quite a bit of information for me to take in. I will need to review and get back with more questions. I will be on vacation tomorrow but will get back on Monday and try to start tackling what has been suggested and probably more questions. Thank you for all the direction you have provided.
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ITguy565Commented:
Tim,

Honestly, if it were me, I would contact the company that sent me this individual and tell them they need to rectify this situation. This person did not set this up properly and if you have already paid for this setup, then they really need to send someone to make it right. This should not fall on you to resolve if you are not comfortable with doing so.
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ITguy565Commented:
We are here to assist if need be, but if you have paid for the service, then there should be some guarantee on the product.
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TimSr. System AdminAuthor Commented:
I tend to agree with you however the person that performed this setup was a friend of the owner and quite frankly I don't think he knows what he is doing so I really don't want to have him back. Also, I need to get my arms wrapped around this issue and learn the hard way, by fire.

If I make a snapshot of the configuration and things go haywire I should be able to restore the snapshot and be back where I started, correct?

I assume I need to shut down all connected VM's to the host before I start re-configuring the host network, correct?
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Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert / EE MVE^2)VMware and Virtualization ConsultantCommented:
Teaming nics is not generally supported for iSCSI SANs. But we have had one single case in 19 years, where EMC stated it wanted the SAN, use Teaming NICS, because of the way the SAN was configured.

HOWEVER, check with EMC how they would like you to configure, because sometimes, they may recommend teaming nics!
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TimSr. System AdminAuthor Commented:
I am going to work with one of the three host in the VM cluster that is connected to a QNAP NAS with 18TB of storage. It currently only has one VMkernal and will be adding another so I can do NIC Teaming as described in Andrews article. The current VMkernal has an IP that was given by our DHCP server and I want to make it Static. Can I make this change on the Fly or do I need to shut down all the VM's on the host first to make these changes? I assume yes but have also seen that the VM machines are pretty flexible.

I am concerned about losing my machine images if I delete the iSCSI connections in order to fix this issue. What can I do to make sure that will not happen?
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Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert / EE MVE^2)VMware and Virtualization ConsultantCommented:
Changing an IP Address from DHCP to Static even if the same will cause a disconnection and reconnection to the iSCSI SAN

We would recommend organising a scheduled outage and power off all VMs

There should be no loss of datastore or VMs
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TimSr. System AdminAuthor Commented:
OK. I was doing some research and wonder if I should use the vSphere CLI to backup the host just in case?
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Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert / EE MVE^2)VMware and Virtualization ConsultantCommented:
If you feel you must, I'm not sure what that would help you with, but if it makes you feel warmer inside!

If you apply good IT Admin practices, you should make sure you have backups of everything before any production change, and that includes all VMs!
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TimSr. System AdminAuthor Commented:
I also have a host that is stand alone that does not connect to a NAS or a SAN but instead connects to the local array that is on the host. Do I need to create a second vmkernal on that machine to use NIC Teaming. Does it use iSCSI to connect to the local storage? When I look at the properties of the VMkernal on that machine it has a yellow exclamation point on it that says

"The VMkernel network adapter vmk1 is associated with more than one physical network adapter. To use a VMkernel network adapter for iSCSI port binding, the VMkernel network adapter must be associated with only one physical network adapter."

I do have two physical adapters connected to that HOST yet it only looks like it is using one adapter and I would like to use both. I am running two RDP servers on this one host.

Soo many questions. I'm sorry.
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Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert / EE MVE^2)VMware and Virtualization ConsultantCommented:
VMKernel only used to connect to shared storage NFS or iSCSI, not Local.

Also when following my article, we are not teaming, as teaming nics, is generally not supported for iSCSI, we are creating multipath with failover.... (small technical thing!)

"The VMkernel network adapter vmk1 is associated with more than one physical network adapter. To use a VMkernel network adapter for iSCSI port binding, the VMkernel network adapter must be associated with only one physical network adapter."

that is correct.
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TimSr. System AdminAuthor Commented:
Since the VMkernel is only used for connecting to external devices such as a NAS or SAN can I delete that connection or is it needed for some reason on the stand alone VM? Also can I use both NICs on that machine and point one to one VM and the other to the other VM? If so how can that be done? I see both NICs and one is on standby so I would like to use it for either another connection or load balancing
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Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert / EE MVE^2)VMware and Virtualization ConsultantCommented:
If standalone device is not using NAS or iSCSI it does not need it for local storage
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Andrew Hancock (VMware vExpert / EE MVE^2)VMware and Virtualization ConsultantCommented:
You would normally configure all host nic uplinks to a vSwitch and connect all VMs to that vSwitch
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