software RAID for VMs

[kvlrr]

Hi

I have few Intel SSDs each 40GB. I want to configure these SSDs in software RAID (I dont have hardware RAID controller) and then create a VM on this volume. Is it possible to have a sfotware RAID in ESX? If yes, can some one tell how to do it.

In some of the community dicsussions it was mentioned that software RAID is not possible in ESX. But this was posted in 2008. Is it true now also?

Thanks,

RamaRao

[FranckRookie]

Hi RamaRao,

Software RAID is still not available on vSphere. You need to create several datastores, create virtual disks, attach those disks to a virtual machine and create a RAID array in the guest OS. Not sure to be a good idea...

Regards

Franck

[kvlrr]

Hi Franck,

Thanks for your reply.

Are there any 3rd party tools/software available for creating the software RAID on ESX? Or is it possible to port the Linux LVM (Logical Volume Manager) and DM (Device Mapper) to ESX?

The vmkernel is very different from Liniux at block layer. So for me it seems it is not a straight forward task to port the DM to ESX. Do you have any idea on this or did some body tried to port the Linux DM to ESX in the past?

Thanks,

RamaRao

[npeter]

Try http://www.stormagic.com/SvSAN.php

[cylent77]

Franck Lopez-Rua wrote:

Hi RamaRao,

Software RAID is still not available on vSphere. You need to create several datastores, create virtual disks, attach those disks to a virtual machine and create a RAID array in the guest OS. Not sure to be a good idea...

Regards

Franck

this is interesting cause raid0 makes a huge difference.

can you ellaborate more on how to do this?

so far i've gotten to the point where i've created the datastores,

when you say create hard disks you mean in the VMs? or where?

[rickardnobel]

cylent77 wrote:

Franck Lopez-Rua wrote:

Hi RamaRao,

Software RAID is still not available on vSphere. You need to create several datastores, create virtual disks, attach those disks to a virtual machine and create a RAID array in the guest OS. Not sure to be a good idea...

Regards

Franck

this is interesting cause raid0 makes a huge difference.

can you ellaborate more on how to do this?

so far i've gotten to the point where i've created the datastores,

when you say create hard disks you mean in the VMs? or where?

I would assume it means create several VMDK files to a single VM, place the VMDKs on different datastore and then use for example the native software RAID 0 feature in Windows Server. I do also agree that this might not be a good idea.

[stefanjagger]

If the drives are only 40GB i'd either extend to create one large datastore, or separate the datastore with OS/Data or your VM's split between the drives.

For RAID1 - you could throw in a SATA disk alongside the SSD's to backup.

Or maybe buy a HW RAID card if the RAID is important?

SW RAID generally isn't a good idea... unless there's a specific reason for it?

Stefan

[leenux_tux]

Hello,

Not sure if this would help or if you have any additional "budget" for this, however, I am currently running VMWare ESXi4 with an NFS datastore connected from another machine wherebye the volume on that machine uses software RAID.  Works quite well in my environment, though it is only used for testing and development.

Nige...