Connect ESXi to a NAS

[louisgarceau]

Hello.

I have 3 servers running ESXi 4. We also just purchased a Dell NX3000 NAS server. I would like to know how to connect my ESXi servers to the NAS with NFS (or anything else) so I can store my VMs on it and vMotion.

I don't necesseraly need steps by steps but maybe the great lines and i'll do my researchs.

We are on an Active Directory 2008 domain also.

Thanks

[vmroyale]

Hello and welcome to the forums.

Everything you need to get this working can be found in the ESXi Configuration Guide.

Good Luck!

[louisgarceau]

Yes I understand how to connect the ESXi to the NFS share, but I would like to get a better understanding of what needs to be done on the NAS/domain side to create the share and accomodate the ESXi connection.

[a_p_]

Just want to mention that for vMotion you need a licensed version of ESX/ESXi (Advanced, Enterprise or Enterprise Plus) as well as a vCenter Server.

see: Compare vSphere Editions

André

[Borja_Mari]

Hi,

checking this video you will gain the necessary knowledge about a nfs configuration and connectivity with esxi 4.0.

The nfs server is on a linux server and in the video is shown how configure it using webmin.

Hope this helps :smileyhappy:

Regards/Saludos,

Pablo

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[Borja_Mari]

Hi,

if you want to configure a iscsi connectivity between your SAN and the esxi servers i would recommend you to check the the vmware documentation about this topic.

Regards/Saludos,

Pablo

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[louisgarceau]

thanks for the great answer.

and no i don't have the free version, so I have vmotion enabled. also the NFS server, like I said is a NAS and not a SAN, running on Windows Storage Server 2008. THe physical device is a Dell NX3000.

I will check your video, but I would need something for Windows.

[Borja_Mari]

Hi,

if you want to learn how configure a nfs server on Windows i will recommend you watch this video. You can check the second and third videos in the right zone of the web.

Obviously you can bypass the final esx configuration from this videos. The esxi nfs configuration is already shown on the video in my previous post.

Please, remember to mark the helpful replies. This is the way to award users that helps others :smileyhappy:

Regards/Saludos,

Pablo

Please consider awarding any helpful answer. Thanks!! - Por favor considera premiar las respuestas útiles. ¡¡Muchas gracias!!

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[louisgarceau]

Borja nice video but this describe how to do it on Windows 2003 server not Windows 2008. The username mapping for unix is no longer available on 2008. I think the mapping have to be done in AD. This is where I need help.

Thanks

[Borja_Mari]

Hi,

this are (i guess) useful links about configuring NFS services on a Windows 2008 server:

(search nfs string on the page)

Anyway in this and others tasks it's a good practice doing some of the path by yourself :smileywink:

It's amazing the information that can be found making a little google search :smileylaugh:

Hope this (definitely) helps :smileyhappy:

Regards/Saludos,

Pablo

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[PaulSvirin]

Here are some ideas and precautions about ESX+NAS best practices:

Nice thread, I really like it. It helped me so much when I did it fot the first time.

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iSCSI SAN software

http://www.starwindsoftware.com