VMWare ESX 3.5 config...

[rwmevarts]

I know that this is a new topic for Open-E users, but wondering if anyone out there could share some tips on setting up the DSS as an iSCSI target for VMWare.

I have already got this functioning at a basic level in a test environment so I know the basics of the setting up the iSCSI initiator in ESX, but this *very* new stuff for me so just had some questions on best practices, etc.

What we have hardware-wise is the DSS running the latest release in an Intel-based server; the storage server has the built in dual-port GigE NICs and an additional Intel Pro/1000 dual-port NIC. The ESX servers are also Intel-based with the same NIC config. We are booting ESX from a straight SATA drive so will be using the DSS NAS to store the VMs. We want to use VMWare HA.

So I guess the main questions are:

How to best configure the network (assuming a dedicated GigE switch with link aggregation for the SAN traffic) to get the best throughput.

How to set up iSCSI volumes and targets for best results with VMWare (from a performance and HA perspective.) (I have already switched the iSCSI setup to use FileMode I/O.)

Thanks for any guidance!

- Max, Realware LLC

[SeanLeyne]

(I have already switched the iSCSI setup to use FileMode I/O.)

Max,

You have me confused by this statement. How did you switch the iSCSI setup to FileMode I/O?

As far as I know iSCSI == Block IO.

Sean

[toepytoe]

You will need to have file I/O to work with Vmware and when creating the luns vmware does not like lun0 so use lun 1 or 2

Regard bonding it can be done in different interfaces: balance-rr (Round-Robin), active-backup, balance-xor, broadcast, 802.3ad and balance-tlb.

You may want to test to see which will work to best for you

[SeanLeyne]

You will need to have file I/O to work with Vmware and when creating the luns vmware does not like lun0 so use lun 1 or 2

I afraid this doesn't answer my question -- File I/O means CIFS or NFS, iSCSI means Block I/O.

I have never heard of iSCSI with File I/O.

[To-L]

SeanLeyne you are correct
check out this post
http://forum.open-e.com/showthread.p...ght=File+I%2FO

[rwmevarts]

Thanks all, helpful stuff here.

- Max

[SeanLeyne]

SeanLeyne you are correct, check out this post http://forum.open-e.com/showthread.p...ght=File+I%2FO

Thanks for the link, I had read it at the time.

Although we only started using Open-E last November, I had made a deliberate effort to read many of the historical postings back to Jan 2007, and all new posts to the iSCSI-R3 and this forum.

I always want to know the background/ugly details of all products that my firm uses, this way I can have a sense of what is a problem vs. what is a real problem.

Thanks again.