Adding a vdisk (LUN) from HP EVA to multiple ESX hosts

[st3reo]

Hello,

I'm kind of new to the SAN world, I have a HP EVA 4400 disk array, which basicaly is made up of 2 FC switches, 2 controllers and 2 disk enclosures.

And I have a bunch of ESX hosts (HP servers) each with a dual port HBA, and of course each port is connected to a different FC switch.

Ok, so I created a vdisk from command view EVA, and presented it to 2 ESX hosts...but when I try to add storage from the configuration tab, I can only see it on one host and not on the other..only if I were to remote it from the first host then it shows up on the second one.

So can anyone tell me what do I need to do to be able to see a LUN on multiple ESX hosts at the same time?

Do I need to setup zoning?

Thanks,

[AWo]

Check your zoning in the FC switch. Create a single zone for every connection > host HBA - SAN port.

So if you have two host HBA's and two SAN ports you'll end up with 4 zones.

AWo

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[st3reo]

Ok thanks,

But do I have to also make zones for the ports to which the controllers connect into the FC switches?

[jpdicicco]

Traditionally there have been 2 types of zoning: hard zoning and soft zoning. Hard zoning is zoning the switch port your HBA is plugged in to with the switch port your array port is plugged in to. This type of zoning has fallen out of favor, unless you have a secure switch room separate from your datacenter where your servers and/or arrays are.

Soft zoning is zoning the HBA with the array port. This means that whatever port you move your HBA or array port to in the fabric, you will still be allowed to connect from that HBA to that array port. This is by far the most common method of zoning.

So, short answer, you just need the HBA and array ports in the zones.

Happy virtualizing!

JP

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[AWo]

You need to create a zone for the connection HBA - EVA controller. So you have to include the HBA and the particular controller into a zone.

So you need to have th efollowing zones for a dualattached host:

HBA 1 - Controller1

HBA1 - Controller2

HBA2 - Controller1

HBA2 - Controller2

AWo

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Author @ vmwire.net

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[st3reo]

Hey,

Thanks a lot for your answers.

I managed to also upgrade my brocade switches to the lastest firmware version, which was a bit of a pain.

So my setup is made of 2 FC switches...and a HSV300 (EVA) which is a dual controller...and each controller has 2 ports and the connections are like this:

FC-switch1-port0 == Controller1-port0

FC-switch1-port1 == Controller2-port0

FC-switch1-port2 == Server1-HBA-port0

FC-switch1-port3 == Server2-HBA-port0

FC-switch2-port0 == Controller1-port1

FC-switch2-port1 == Controller2-port1

FC-switch2-port2 == Server1-HBA-port1

FC-switch2-port3 == Server2-HBA-port1

So from what you are telling me I should make the following zones:

On FC-switch1:

Zone1 = Server1-HBA-port0, Controller1-port0

Zone2 = Server1-HBA-port0, Controller2-port0

Zone3 = Server2-HBA-port0, Controller1-port0

Zone4 = Server2-HBA-port0, Controller2-port0

And on FC-switch2:

Zone1 = Server1-HBA-port1, Controller1-port1

Zone2 = Server1-HBA-port1, Controller2-port1

Zone3 = Server2-HBA-port1, Controller1-port1

Zone4 = Server2-HBA-port1, Controller2-port1

So is this the correct configuration for me?

Thanks,

[jpdicicco]

Looks spot on.

Happy virtualizing!

JP

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[AWo]

Yes.

AWo

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Author @ vmwire.net

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[jpdicicco]

AWo,

I've heard that it is OK to put 1 initiator/HBA into a zone with multiple array ports from the same array. Can you clarify whether this is OK or not and why?

Thanks,

JP

[AWo]

You can put as much port pairs into a zone as you like. But it is a good practice to create one zoner per pair.

You can see at once if a host is dualattached and if you have created all necessary zones etc.

AWo

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Author @ vmwire.net

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