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Post by fatgrass2006 on Mar 14, 2008 1:12:32 GMT 7
Hello everyone
I recently purchased a 5200PRO and would like to understand if the current firmware of the 5200PRO will allow me to use the advanced features on ESX 3.5 (vmotion via shared storage etc).
I have read some of the threads, but I am unsure if I can use iscsi or even NFS (performance issues?) with ESX 3.5 in a two host cluster?
If anyone is currently running this setup, I would greatly appreciate your help or advice on setting up my lab with ESX 3.5.
Questions -
IMGDUP module - what is this, where can I download it from and how do I install on 5200PRO? - does this help with the issues above? if yes, how? - does it give 16 connection temporarily or permanently to the two ESX hosts?
Apologies, im a novice and only recently received my 5200PRO
ps - I intend to use 4x500gb in raid 5
All help appreciated
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wnx
New Member
Posts: 4
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Post by wnx on Mar 16, 2008 2:06:55 GMT 7
Hello, using a Thecus box as a shared storage for ESX will work. I'm using a 1U4500 (which is using almost the same firmware as the 5200) on a 2-node ESX 3.5 for testing purposes and a productive 6-node ESX 3.0.2 with datastores on a Netapp Filer 3020 as well as on another 1U4500 (just for a few testing machines). All datastores are connected thru NFS. However the performance of the VMs hosted on the Thecus isn't great. So don't expect too much. But it works and 10 VMs are okay (not good - but ok  ). The advanced ESX features you were asking are working too. VMotion is a feature of the VirtualCenter Server and doesn't depend upon the datastore as long as you are having the correct (same) settings and datastore names on both ESX hosts. About IMGDUP .. no idea what this for - but you definitely don't need it to make your Thecus work with your setup. A list of modules can be found at www.onbeat.dk/thecus/index.php/N5200_Module_List (N5200 modules work with the PRO too). |
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Post by fatgrass2006 on Mar 16, 2008 2:23:36 GMT 7
Hello, using a Thecus box as a shared storage for ESX will work. I'm using a 1U4500 (which is using almost the same firmware as the 5200) on a 2-node ESX 3.5 for testing purposes and a productive 6-node ESX 3.0.2 with datastores on a Netapp Filer 3020 as well as on another 1U4500 (just for a few testing machines). All datastores are connected thru NFS. However the performance of the VMs hosted on the Thecus isn't great. So don't expect too much. But it works and 10 VMs are okay (not good - but ok ). The advanced ESX features you were asking are working too. VMotion is a feature of the VirtualCenter Server and doesn't depend upon the datastore as long as you are having the correct (same) settings and datastore names on both ESX hosts. About IMGDUP .. no idea what this for - but you definitely don't need it to make your Thecus work with your setup. A list of modules can be found at www.onbeat.dk/thecus/index.php/N5200_Module_List (N5200 modules work with the PRO too). I dont believe it works with the current 5200Pro firmware, others have tried and hit issues - thecususergroup.proboards106.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=n5200wishlist&thread=1746&page=1Are you using NFS (performance?) on the your test NAS or ISCSi, both currently have issues with the way the latest 5200PRO firmware is configured. If you could provide additional details regarding your 1U4500 and how its setup to work with ESX 3.5 - it really would help me. Like yourself, I want to use 5200PRO for testing and not production. Thanks |
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wnx
New Member
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Post by wnx on Mar 16, 2008 3:15:19 GMT 7
In the thread you are referring to they are talking about installing a VMware server DIRECTLY on the Thecus. We are just talking about using the Thecus as a datastore.
I'm using NFS to access the datastore.
Try this:
1) Open Thecus folder settings, create a new folder (e.g. "esx"), export as NFS (NFS button -> Add). Now for testing purposes you are fine to enter "*" (without comma) to hostname, privilege "writeable" and access as "root user" - later you will want to enter the IP adresses just of your ESX servers.
2) On both ESX servers do the following: Configuration -> Storage -> Add Storage. In the new window choose NFS and on the next page enter the IP of your Thecus box as server, folder name /raid0/data/<name of folder created at Thecus> (e.g. "/raid0/data/esx") and a datastore name (how the datastore should be visible in ESX - must be the same on both ESX for VMotion!) -> finish
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Post by fatgrass2006 on Mar 18, 2008 3:56:37 GMT 7
In the thread you are referring to they are talking about installing a VMware server DIRECTLY on the Thecus. We are just talking about using the Thecus as a datastore. I'm using NFS to access the datastore. Try this: 1) Open Thecus folder settings, create a new folder (e.g. "esx"), export as NFS (NFS button -> Add). Now for testing purposes you are fine to enter "*" (without comma) to hostname, privilege "writeable" and access as "root user" - later you will want to enter the IP adresses just of your ESX servers. 2) On both ESX servers do the following: Configuration -> Storage -> Add Storage. In the new window choose NFS and on the next page enter the IP of your Thecus box as server, folder name /raid0/data/<name of folder created at Thecus> (e.g. "/raid0/data/esx") and a datastore name (how the datastore should be visible in ESX - must be the same on both ESX for VMotion!) -> finish Hi WNX Just a quick message to say thanks for the information. I finally managed to setup a two host cluster, as you mentioned all the ESX 3.5 functionality works fine via NFS. I guess the next challenge will be testing iSCSi  Thanks! |
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