ESX 3.5 Certified?

[SeanLeyne]

Todd,

How was the active-active HDD controller portion of the config accomplished?

Or does active-active refers simply to the iSCSI target functionality via the 2 GbE controllers?

[To-M]

Hey man - long time no speek!

Yes you are correct it is with 2 x GbE NIC's (Balance rr)

Go to page 45 then Table 56. ""Open-E""

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi35_san_guide.pdf

[silicon]

The certification is great news.
Can I ask if there's any thought to certifying DSS running on the Intel SSR212MC2?
I guess this is a question for Open-E and Intel combined.

I know Intel have done ESX running on SSR212MC2 hardware, and now Open-E have done ESX connected to DSS running on a standard Intel hardware platform.

Some cutomers may still say that the OPen-E certification config (SR2500+S5000PAL) is close but not the same as what our company is tying to sell them (the SSR212SSR has a Xyratex chassis/enclosure management+S5000PSL+etc). We would say to them that it's "effectively" the same so they should be comfortable with that, but would have to agree that it's not identical.

How do you think we should handle this situation?
Thanks for the help.

[To-M]

I understand there are other systems many of you would like to have certified but unfortionalty the VMware certification is very expensive. At the time we started the certification process the MC2 was not on the VMware's HCL and the SRS2500 was. We are currently certifying with the Intel Modular Server MFSYS25 because of the blade technology plus other features. This does not rule out that in the future we won't certify with the MC2. So with the combination of these 2 systems we should be on a good start.
So please be patient as we grow to other platforms.

[SeanLeyne]

...We are currently certifying with the Intel Modular Server MFSYS25 because of the blade technology plus other features...

I'd like to hear more about the choice of this platform, especially since this server has a storage controller module which by my reading provides SAN functionality.

So, I liked to head how Open-e fits into this picture.

[To-M]

This was pushed from some very large opportunities that evolved us developing an installable version of DSS (not yet available for public - but soon). More information will be provided once this is listed. Until then only one of the blades was used and with all 2.5" drives RAID 0.

[beng]

G'day Sean,
I agree it can be a bit frustrating selling solutions to customers if they are not strictly on the HCL.
However, perhaps Open-E can help here.
Since iSCSI and/or NAS are the protocols involved.

Tom, can Open-E provide a statement that would confirm that Open-E DSS conforms to the ESX VMFS requirements, regardless of the underlying hardware?

What I mean is, if when using iSCSI for example that there is no difference to ESX, regardless of whether you are using SAS or SATA, or a particular Raid Controller.
Therefore, so long as the Hardware is certified by Open-E for use with DSS, then we as integrators can be confident that it will work. In particular I am thinking of the drama around the SCSI RESERVE and RELEASE commands.

(Forgive me if the iSCSI protocol does not work this way, as I am not as familiar with it as other protocols)

I know that will not satisfy all clients, but it would give me the confidence to try to sell it to them. Particularly if I can convince them to try DSS-Lite in their Test environments first.

Rgds Ben