Dell PowerVault MD Series vCenter Plug-in for VMware vSphere Installation and Configuration Guide (Web Client)
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Contents 1 Overview of the Modular Disk Storage Manager Plug-in for VMware vCenter Web Client..................................................................................................7 MD vCenter Plug-in features................................................................................................................ 8 Installation prerequisites.......................................................................................................................
Installing the SAS provider upgrade of ESXi ................................................................................ 26 Configuring ESXi hosts to Storage Arrays.......................................................................................... 26 Configure ESXi Host to Storage Array wizard...............................................................................27 5 MD vCenter Plug-in manager...........................................................................
Create Virtual Disk Copy............................................................................................................... 56 Stop Virtual Disk Copy.................................................................................................................. 58 Recopy...........................................................................................................................................58 Change Settings......................................................................
ID: 200702748 – ESXi host to storage array wizard usability issues...........................................82 ID: 200716368 – vSphere 6.0 SAS datastore view...................................................................... 82 Configuration worksheet....................................................................................................................
Overview of the Modular Disk Storage Manager Plug-in for VMware vCenter Web Client 1 The Dell PowerVault Modular Disk Storage Array vCenter Plug-in (MD vCenter Plug-in) is a VMware vCenter Server Plug-in that provides integrated management of Dell MD Storage Arrays from in a VMware Web Client session. The Web Client is a single management interface that you can use to manage the VMware infrastructure and all of your day-to-day storage requirements.
Figure 1.
Installing the MD vCenter Plug-in for VMware vCenter web client 2 Downloading the MD vCenter Plug-in for VMware vCenter Download the latest version of the MD vCenter Plug-in from the Dell website. See the support matrix available at the Dell website for the most current web client versions. Copy the file to the host that you are going to use as an application server.
shows the information required for each component. See Configuration worksheet for a printable worksheet. Table 1. Configuration worksheet example Example Information Required Information Example Information vCenter Server Name: VC-01 DNS name:IP Address: vc-01.domain.com192.1 68.51.217 vCenter Administrator Name: administrator Password: Password Application Server Name: APP-01 DNS name:IP Address: app-01.domain.com192. 168.51.225 Storage Array 1 Name: E5400 IP Addresses: Password: 192.
NOTE: If the Plug-in will be installed into a vSphere 5.5 or 6.0 environment with Single Sign-on (SSO), you must change the default user ID have to match the vSphere 5.5 or 6.0 or later domain configuration (For example, administrator@ vsphere.local). 10. Enter the vCenter administrator's password, and then click Next. 11. The installation is now completed. Click Done to close the installation wizard. 12. Windows: To ensure that the application server was installed successfully, run the services.
Configuring the application server and plug‑in 3 After the application server and the MD vCenter Plug-in are installed, verify that the MD vCenter Plug-in was successfully registered with the vCenter server. 1. Open the vSphere Client to the vCenter Server. 2. On the menu, select Plug-ins → Manage Plug-ins. The MD vCenter Plug-in for VMware vCenter is displayed as Enabled.
Figure 2. Application server memory settings 2. Locate the vmarg.3=-Xmx1024M line. 3. Change 1024 to the number associated with the number of storage arrays. 4. Save the configuration file. 5. Restart the Application Server (vCP) service. NOTE: If the application server is reinstalled, this setting is reverted to the original setting of 1024 MB. You must edit it again to adjust the application server memory for your environment.
Figure 3. vCenter server roles list 2. Click the green-color plus icon (+) to add a new role. Figure 4. Create role window 3. In the Role box, type the name of the new role. 4. In the Privileges list, select the access permissions to assign to this role.
NOTE: The administrator role is not editable; therefore, if the administrator user is to manage storage, you must create a new role that has all of the privileges added to it. You must add the administrator to this role by using the following procedure. 5. To allow Read-Only (View) or Read-Write (Configure) access permissions to the storage arrays, select the appropriate permission from the Storage Administrator group. 6. Click OK.
Figure 6. Add permission wizard 4. In the wizard, click Add, and select the User IDs that requires access to the storage arrays. 5. Select the assigned role from the drop-down menu, and then click OK to apply changes. 6. Click OK to apply permissions to the role. No access If you are not member of a role that has either the View or Configure MD Storage Administrator permission, you cannot view any statistics from the MD vCenter Plug-in.
Mozilla firefox For Mozilla Firefox, you can currently accept the self-signed SSL certificate by using the Getting Started pages and permanently store the certificate in Firefox’s truststore, which is remembered for future connections between the Web Client and the application server. Google Chrome For Google Chrome, 1. Enter the URL for the vCenter Server to connect, and then select the Advanced option. 2.
Figure 7. Chrome security page Microsoft Internet Explorer For Internet Explorer, 1. Enter the URL for the vCenter Server to connect to, and then click the Continue to this website (not recommended) link. You may also have to install the vCenter Server SSL certificate to establish connection. 2. After connected to the vCenter Server, click the MD vCenter Plug-in icon from the home page, and then click the How to configure browser security link and follow the procedures on the SSL Certificate Setup page.
Figure 8. Internet Explorer certificate error page Application server certificate management To resolve the self-signed certificate errors with latest browsers, you must have the application server certificate signed by a trusted Certification Authority (CA). During the installation of the MD vCenter Plugin, an SSL certificate was generated for the application server along with a certificate signing request (CSR) that is specific to that application server.
5. Ensure that the certificate is working by accessing the following URL (Assumed default port number for https connection.): https://:8084/vcenter2/ About.html NOTE: Mozilla Firefox users also need to ensure the CA certificate has been imported into the browser’s authorities’ truststore (Options → Advanced → Certificates → View CertificatesAuthorities).
Figure 10. Import or export a configuration file page Export To export the current configuration file, click the Export button and select the location to which to save the file. Import To import a previously saved configuration file, perform the following task: 1. Click the Browse button. 2. Navigate to the configuration file to import and click Open. 3. Select the import option button to use (Merge or Overwrite). 4. Click the Import button.
hashed in the String box, and then click Generate MD5 Hash. Copy the hashed results to the users.properties file in place of the existing user password hash (#). Alternatively, you may use md5sum on a UNIX system to generate the MD5 has by using the following (substitute your password for YOUR_PASSWORD_HERE): $ echo -n "YOUR_PASSWORD_HERE" | md5sum | awk '{print $1}' 635893277b6b217e327565d3427ee5e8 Copy and replace the MD5 hash, in the users.
Configuring VMware ESXi hosts 4 Configuring ALUA SUPPORT Firmware versions 7.84 and later allows for support of an Asymmetric Logical Unit Access (ALUA) configuration when the Target Port Group Support (TPGS) flag is set to ‘on’ (default for 7.84). This support allows for active-active I/O throughput between all paths to the current owning RAID controller module and LUN transfer to the alternate RAID controller module in failure scenarios.
Figure 12. ALUA configured storage Configuring iSCSI storage To configure the network for software iSCSI storage, create an iSCSI VM kernel port, and map it to a physical network interface card (NIC) that handles iSCSI traffic. On the basis of number of physical NICs that you use for iSCSI network traffic, the networking setup can be different. To configure iSCSI adapters with this wizard, iSCSI HBAs must already be defined in vSphere.
Figure 14.
Enabling root login from a console login on ESXi hosts 1. Press F2 to switch to the diagnostic console. 2. Select Troubleshooting Options. 3. Select Enable Remote Tech Support. 4. Select Restart Management Agents. 5. Press Esc to close the Configuration menu. Creating a new user login 1. Connect the Web Client directly to the ESXi host to be configured. 2. Select the User & Groups tab in the Home → Inventory → Inventory window. 3. Right-click, and then click Add. 4.
Figure 15. Configure ESXi host to storage array configuration wizard menu The Configure ESXi host to Storage Array wizard is displayed. From this wizard, you can see how the current ESXi host is configured to the storage array (if it is already configured). You can also add a host or host group, rename a host or host group, remove a host or host group, and automatically configure the ESXi host to another storage array.
Figure 16. Configure ESXi Host to Storage Array wizard 1. Click Next after reading through the Introduction page. The Inspect Configuration page is then initiated which verifies user privileges, gathers information about the selected ESXi host, and gathers information on the configured storage arrays. This process may take a few minutes depending on the number of HBAs, and storage arrays configured in the system. 2.
c. If the host group for the cluster already exists, select the host group name to add this host to. Click Add Host button and enter the name for this ESXi host and select the check boxes next to the HBAs to be used for the host definition. Figure 17. Suggested ESXi host configuration 6. Select Next after completing manual configuration. NOTE: Additional host configurations in a different host group from the previously defined host. Figure 18.
You cannot rename or remove existing configured hosts or host groups. Existing host and host group configuration changes must be performed from the MD storage management software. Click Next after all host groups and hosts have been defined. 7. The Review Changes page is then displayed showing the changes that are applied to the storage array. If you accept the changes, click the Next button. 8.
MD vCenter Plug-in manager 5 MD vCenter Plug-in features To use the MD vCenter Plug-in to manage MD storage arrays, click the MD vCenter Plug-in icon on the Web Client home page in the Inventories section. Figure 20. MD vCenter Plug-in for VMware vCenter icon The Storage Arrays container displays in the upper-left corner and the Getting Started page in the main window. The Storage Arrays container provides direct access to management of the configured storage arrays in the plug-in.
Figure 21. Getting started page The MD vCenter Plug-in Summary tab provides summary information about all of the storage arrays configured in the plug-in including: • Plug-in version and copyright • Aggregate storage capacity • Storage array status breakdown • Storage array objects • Storage array hardware details Figure 22.
Storage Arrays Objects view 6 Storage Arrays Objects view The Storage Arrays Objects view displays all of the known storage arrays in a list view that you can customize by clicking the arrow symbol in the column header and selecting which columns to display. You can also sort the columns. Figure 23. All Storage Arrays Table view The Storage Arrays container view shows a list of known storage arrays and allows you add or remove storage arrays.
Add Storage Array The Add Storage Array enables you to add a single storage array to the array manager view and type storage array password, if necessary. The Add Array also provides the ability to assign asset tags to the new storage array. If you need to add multiple arrays, see Discover Storage Arrays. 1. In the Commands area of the MD vCenter Plug-in Array Manager view, click Add Storage Array. The Add Storage Array dialog box is displayed. Figure 24. Add Storage Array window 2.
Figure 25. Discover Storage Arrays window 2. Enter the starting TCP/IP address of the IP range to discover storage arrays on. 3. Enter the ending TCP/IP address of the IP range to discover storage arrays on. 4. Click the Discover button to start the scan. NOTE: This process may take several minutes depending on the scope of discovery. 5. (Optional) If the same array password is used for all the arrays to be added, you can specify it now in the Password box. 6.
Figure 26. Collect Support Bundle dialog box After the file vcpsupport_.zip is downloaded to your system, you may then send it to Dell technical support upon request. Edit Storage Array The Edit Storage Array option provides the ability to modify the selected storage array. Select the storage array to modify, and then click the Edit Storage Array icon. You have the option to modify the settings for the selected array. Figure 27.
Figure 28. Remove Multiple Storage Arrays window A message is displayed asking whether or not you want to remove storage arrays. 3. Click Yes. Saving the storage array configuration The MD vCenter Plug-in supports storage array configuration backups to script files that can be applied to a storage array from the MD Storage Manager software.
Enabling automatic save configuration backups You can set these backups to automatic or manually initiated. To enable automatic backups of the storage array base configuration, perform the following task: 1. Select the target storage array from the list of managed storage arrays. 2. Click the Auto Save Configuration icon. Figure 29. Auto Save Configuration dialog box 3. Select the Enable automatic save configuration check box. 4. Click OK. 5. Click Close.
View Event Log The View Event Log utility provides access to the selected storage array’s major event log. To access a storage array’s major event log, perform the following task: 1. Select a storage array from the list of managed arrays. 2. Click the View Event Log icon or the View Event Log option, from the Actions drop-down menu. Figure 30.
Selected Storage Array Summary tab 7 When you click a storage array from the Storage Arrays list, a summary of the selected storage array is displayed on the page. This summary includes information about the status of the storage array, the number of RAID controller module, their status, their IP addresses, the storage array WWN, the chassis serial number, firmware and NVSRAM versions, and physical disk information. The storage array Summary tab also provides access to the Recovery Guru information.
• Storage array WWN • Storage array chassis serial number • Storage array firmware version • Storage array NVSRAM version The Summary view tab also provides general information on the selected storage array’s physical disk configuration under the Hardware portlet, which include: • Number of expansion enclosures • Number of physical disks • Type of physical disks used • Number of hot-spares defined • Number of hot spares in-use • Number of hot spares in stand-by Recovery Guru information
Figure 32.
Selected storage array Manage tab 8 The Manage tab provides for management of the selected storage array. In this tab, you can select one of the following views: • Virtual Disks view features • Mappings view features • Virtual Disk Copy view features • Snapshots view features • Remote Replication view features • Remote Replication (Legacy) view features Figure 33.
Figure 34. Storage array virtual disks view • • • • • • • Create Disk Group Create Virtual Disks Create Snapshot Redistribute Virtual Disk Rename Disable Snapshot Recreate Snapshot Additional options available from the Actions drop-down menu include: • • • Disable Data Assurance Delete Delete Multiple Virtual Disks Create Disk Group The Create Disk Group command opens a wizard to help you in creating a new disk group.
physical disk enclosure or complete drawer failure without failing the virtual disk(s) in the disk group. DA provides data integrity checking between the RAID controller module to the physical disk, ensuring data is written to disk correctly. Figure 35. Create Disk Group dialog box Selecting physical disk in the table view updates the Capacity information in the upper right corner of the page showing the final capacity for the new disk group or disk pool.
New virtual disk on a disk group 1. Click the Create Virtual Disk icon. The Create Virtual Disks wizard is displayed. Figure 36. Create Virtual Disk dialog box 2. In the Name box, type the disk name. 3. From the disk space drop-down menu, select a disk group to use for the new virtual disk. 4. In the Capacity box, type the disk space of the new disk, and select the modifier from the dropdown menu. 5. In the I/O Settings area, select the segment size for the new disk. 6.
4. In the Size box, type the size of the new virtual disk, and select the rate from the drop-down menu. 5. Select the Create thin virtual disk check box. 6. (Optional) Select the Map now check box if the new virtual disks must be mapped immediately to a host or host group. 7. (Optional) Select the Enable Data Assurance check box to enable DA for the new virtual disks. 8. Click Next. Figure 37. Create Virtual Disk - Thin virtual disk Capacity Settings 9.
The Create Snapshot wizard is displayed. Figure 38. Create a snapshot dialog box • Snapshot name: the name of the new snapshot virtual disk. • Snapshot repository name: the name of the new repository virtual disk. • Percent of base virtual disk: the percentage of the base virtual disk to use for the repository. • Disk group: the name of the disk group in which to place the repository virtual disk. 2. Enter the parameters to be used for the snapshot in the Create a snapshot wizard. 3.
Rename The Rename feature allows for renaming the selected object from the VirtualDisk tree view. 1. Select the object to be renamed, and then click the Rename icon. 2. Type new name for the object. 3. Click OK to apply the change. Disable Data Assurance The Disable Data Assurance allows for disabling data assurance (T10 PI) on the selected virtual disk. You can only disable Data Assurance (DA) on virtual disks residing in a virtual disk group and not on virtual disks residing in a disk pool.
Figure 39. Delete Multiple Virtual Disks wizard 3. Select the virtual disks that you want to delete by selecting the check box next to the virtual disk name. 4. Click Next after all virtual disks are selected. A confirmation message dialog box is displayed. 5. If the information about the virtual disks you want to delete is correct, click Finish to delete the selected virtual disks. NOTE: Because of SDK limitation, you can delete a maximum of 80 virtual disks at a time by using this command.
Figure 40. Storage array mappings view Add Mapping To present a virtual disks to an ESXi host or host group, perform the following task: 1. Click the Add Mapping icon. Figure 41. Add virtual disk to Host Mapping 2. Select host or host group. The virtual disk is displayed from the drop-down menu. 3. Accept the default logical unit number (LUN) or change to required LUN number for the new mapping. 4. Select the virtual disk to be mapped. 5. Click Add.
6. Repeat steps 3–5 for additional virtual disks to present or click Close. NOTE: When your storage array uses multiple groups of HBAs per ESXi host, balance the new virtual disks across all hosts or host groups. Do not add all the virtual disks to a single host or host group because I/O balancing cannot occur if you do. Rescan Storage Adapters After you map the virtual disks to the ESXi hosts, you must rescan the storage adapters on the ESXi host to detect the new storage virtual disks.
Figure 43. Storage Details path view Add Host The Add Host command enables you to define hosts that are used to present virtual disks. To add a new host, perform the following task: 1. Select a host group to add a new host to and click the Add Host icon. 2. Enter the name for the new host. 3. Select the host type (VmwTPGSALUA for ESXi host) from the drop-down menu. 4. Select the interface type, and then click Next. 5.
Figure 44. Host Port Adapters wizard 7. Click Next. 8. Select the option button to indicate if this host will be added to a host group (shared virtual disk mappings). 9. If the host will be added to a host group, indicate the option button for either a new host group or existing host group. 10. Enter a new host group name or select an existing host group from the drop-down menu. 11. Click Finish.
Figure 45. Add Host Group wizard 2. Type the name for the new host group. 3. Select the names of the hosts that you want to add to the new host group. NOTE: Only hosts that are currently in the default host group are listed in the available hosts list. 4. Click the right arrow to add the hosts to the new host group. 5. (Optional) Repeat steps 3 and 4 for adding more hosts. 6. Click OK after you add all hosts to the new host group.
• Stop Virtual Disk Copy • Recopy • Change Settings • Remove Copy Pair Figure 46. Virtual Disk Copy view tab Create Virtual Disk Copy 1. To create a new virtual disk copy, click Create Virtual Disk Copy . The Create Virtual Disk Copy wizard is displayed.
Figure 47. Select source Virtual Disk NOTE: While the virtual disk copy is being established, a snapshot of the source virtual disk is created which is used to create the virtual disk copy from. This ensures that the data is consistent at the time the virtual disk copy was initiated and continued read-write access to the source virtual disk during the copy operation. NOTE: Snapshots for virtual disks residing on a disk pool are not supported in this release.
Figure 48. Select target virtual disk and priority 4. Select the copy priority to use while establishing the new virtual disk copy. 5. Click Next. 6. Review and verify the virtual disk copy settings and click Finish to start the virtual disk copy. Stop Virtual Disk Copy The Stop Virtual Disk Copy command stops the current virtual disk copy operation for the selected copy pair. Select a copy pair that is in progress, and then click the Stop Virtual Disk Copy icon. A confirmation message is displayed.
Figure 49. Change virtual disk Copy Parameters 3. From the Copy Priority drop-down menu, select the new priority for the virtual disk copy. 4. Clear the Target virtual disk Read-Only check box to allow for read-write of the target virtual disk copy. 5. Click OK. Remove Copy Pair The Remove Copy Pair command removes the relationship of the source and target of a virtual disk copy pair. This command does not remove the target virtual disk or the data residing on the target virtual disk.
• Delete Figure 51. Snapshot view NOTE: To rollback a snapshot image to the base virtual disk, you must use MD Storage Manager. Image rollback is not currently supported in the MD vCenter Plug-in. You can also use MD Storage Manager to set up scheduled snapshot images automatically. Create Snapshot Group A snapshot group is used to hold snapshot images of a storage array virtual disk. To create a new snapshot group, perform the following task: 1. Select the base virtual disk from the Virtual Disk tree.
Figure 52. Create snapshot group dialog box 3. Modify the displayed parameters as necessary. 4. Click OK. Create Snapshot Image A snapshot image is a point-in-time copy of the base virtual disk. After an image is created, you can use it to roll back the base virtual disk to, or you can use it to create a virtual disk from. To create an image, perform the following task: 1. Select the base virtual disk from the virtual disk tree window. 2. Click Create Snapshot Image.
Figure 53. Create Snapshot Image dialog box 3. From the Base virtual disk drop-down menu, select the base virtual disk of the snapshot image. 4. Select an existing snapshot group to use for the new image. NOTE: If this is the first snapshot image for the base virtual disk, a new snapshot group is created if not already manually created. 5. Click OK. Create Snapshot Virtual Disk A snapshot virtual disk allows for a snapshot image to be mapped to a host or host group for data access.
Figure 54. Create Snapshot Virtual Disk dialog box 3. Select a snapshot image from the available list of images or select the A new snapshot image option, and then click Next. 4. In the Snapshot virtual disk name box, enter a name for the new snapshot virtual disk. 5. Select the access mode for the snapshot virtual disk. 6. Click Finish. Delete The Delete command allows for removal of snapshot virtual disks, snapshot images, or snapshot groups depending on the object select.
Figure 55. Delete snapshot images 4. Select the check box next to the leaf objects to be deleted. 5. Click OK. 6. In the message displayed, click OK to delete the object, or click Cancel to cancel the operation. Remote Replication view features The Remote Replication view feature allows for management of Asynchronous Remote Replication (aRR). aRRs are available on MD storage arrays with controller firmware 7.84 and later.
Figure 56. Asynchronous Remote Replication Asynchronous remote replication (legacy) details The aRR feature is similar to Remote Replication (RR) by allowing source virtual disks from a primary storage array to be replicated to a target virtual disk on a remote storage array. However, aRR supports both iSCSI and fibre channel connections between the storage arrays and uses point-in-time replication strategy.
Create Replication Group An RRG is used to group replicated pairs as a single entity and control replication settings for all members of the RRG. A replicated pair may only reside in a single RRG. There is a limit of 4 RRGs per storage array. To create a new RRG, perform the following task: NOTE: To configure remote replication in the MD vCenter Plug-in, both arrays (local array and remote array) must be added to the MD Storage Manager Plug-in Array Manager.
Figure 58. Create Asynchronous Replicated Pair dialog box 3. From the Select a Primary Virtual Disk drop-down menu, select the primary virtual disk for the replicated pair. 4. Click Next. 5. From the Select a Secondary Virtual Disk drop-down menu, select the secondary virtual disk for the replicated pair. 6. Click Finish. Figure 59.
Resume Replication You can resume the replication only when all members of the remote replication group are in the Optimal status. You can perform the resume operation only by the storage array that has the primary role for the RRG. To resume replication, perform the following task: 1. Select the suspend RRG in the Remote Replication Group window. 2. Click Resume Replication. 3. Select Yes, I wish to perform the operation. 4. Click OK.
Figure 60. Test Replication Communication results Change Roles A Change Roles feature promotes the current secondary replication group to the primary role and demotes the current primary replication group to the secondary role. After roles are changed, hosts mapped to the former primary virtual disks in the RRG no longer have write access to the replicated virtual disks. Hosts in the RRG that was promoted to the primary role now have write access to the replicated virtual disks.
Delete Replication Group You can also delete Remote Replication Groups after all replicated pairs have been removed from the RRG. After you remove all of the replicated pairs, select the Delete Replication Group option from the Actions drop-down menu. Remote Replication Group Removing a replicated pair breaks the relationship between the primary virtual disk and the secondary virtual disk. Both virtual disks are return to standard virtual disk status.
• Change Replication Settings • Change Replicated Roles • Test Replication Communication • Remove Replicated Pairs Figure 62. Remote Replication (Legacy) view Create Remote Replication (legacy) The Remote Replication (Legacy) command is used to establish a remote replication (legacy) between two storage arrays connected using fibre channel.
Figure 63. Create Remote Replication (Legacy) dialog box Suspend remote replication (legacy) To suspend remote replication (legacy) of a replicated pair, perform the following task: 1. Select the replicated pair in the Replicated Pairs window. 2. Click Suspend Replicating. 3. Click OK to suspend the selected replicated pair or Cancel to cancel the operation. The I/O between the replicated pairs is suspended, but the replicated association is maintained.
Change Replication Settings To modify the parameters of a replicated pair, such as the synchronization priority, the resynchronization method, or the write mode, perform the following task: 1. Select the replicated pair to modify. 2. Select Change Replication (Legacy) Settings command from the Actions drop-down menu. Figure 64. Change virtual disk copy parameters 3. Modify the displayed parameters as needed. 4. Click OK.
1. Select Test Replicated Communication from the Actions drop-down menu. 2. Click OK to close the dialog box after reviewing the information display. Figure 65. Test Replicated Communication results Remove Replicated Pairs Removing a replicated pair breaks the replication association between the virtual disk at the primary site and the virtual disk at the secondary site. After the operation completes, the replication status between the virtual disks is lost.
9 MD storage Manager Datastore Summary information Datastore summary information may also be displayed by performing the following task: 1. Go to the Storage view from the home button. 2. Select the Datastore to view from the Navigator list. 3. Click the MD Storage Manager Datastore Summary link. Figure 66.
The summary information for the selected datastore is displayed. This information includes storage array specific information on the underlying virtual disks servicing the selected datastore. Figure 67.
Best practices 10 This section provides best practices for using MD storage arrays in VMware vSphere environments. Defining virtual disks for vsphere Before you provision virtual disks for VMFS datastores, you must plan how to set up storage for the ESXi systems, including deciding on the number of virtual disks to use and the size of the virtual disks.
4. Use disk shares to distinguish high-priority VMs from low-priority VMs. NOTE: Disk shares are relevant only in a given host. The shares assigned to VMs on one host have no effect on VMs on other hosts. 5. Run the applications to determine whether or not VM performance is acceptable. Using the adaptive scheme to make virtual disk decisions 1. Create a large virtual disk, such as RAID 1+0 or RAID 5, and enable write caching. 2. Build a VMFS datastore on that virtual disk. 3.
This example shows a fully redundant fabric configuration. If a Fibre Channel (FC) switch or HBA fails, the alternate switch still connects to both storage RAID Controller Modules in the storage array. If a storage RAID Controller Module also fails, the ESXi host can still access the remaining RAID Controller Module, and all virtual disks fail over to that RAID Controller Module. A complete loss of access to storage occurs if any other element fails. Figure 69. Single failure Figure 70.
one HBA is active at a time. To achieve higher I/O throughput from the ESXi host to the storage array, group the HBAs in pairs, and create virtual hosts for each pair of HBAs. This allows for a fully redundant configuration, but also allows for two of the HBAs to be active at the same time versus a single HBA. From the storage array, the second pair of HBAs is defined as a separate host, and then you can map virtual disks directly to the new host or host group.
Figure 72.
Appendices 11 Current restrictions This section describes known issues and available workarounds with MD vCenter Plug-in. ID: 200627833 – multiple item delete restricted to less than 80 objects Issue: When using multiple array delete or multiple virtual disk delete, you must limit the number of selected objects to less than 80 per invocation of the command. This is due to the addressing space allowed by the SDK.
DNS Name: ___________________________________________________________ IP Address: _________________________________________________________ vCenter server Administrator Name: ________________________________________ Password: ___________________________________________________________ Application Server Name: __________________________________________________ DNS Name: ___________________________________________________________ IP Address: _________________________________________________________ Storage Ad
