VSA and some questions

[mure79it]

Hello,

I have a 2 years old server (Host-A) with installed Microsoft SBS 2011. Now I want to intruduce a new physical server (Host-B) with Vmware Essential Plus license (for HA, Vmotion and VSA).

SBS 2011 will be converted in virtual by vmware Converter standalone application to the new esxi server (Host-B).

On the okd server (Host-A) I will install esxi 5.1 and vcenter server for manage my little cluster of two esxi server (Host-A + Host B)

At this point i will intruduce VSA for resilience of my storage without physical SAN

At this point i have several questions:

1) Vcenter server must be on Windows or i can use virtual appliance (developed by vmware in linux)?

2) Two datastore that i want to migrate to VSA cluster must be the same (same space, same type of sas controller)?

3) Two hosts must be the same or they can be different (an HP server and one IBM server)?

4) Vcenter server before create VSA cluster can be on NAS and after creation of VSA cluster can be moved to new datastore?

Thanks a lot,

Moreno    

[SantiniStorMagi]

Hi Moreno,

I think I can help with some of the questions here

1) Vcenter server must be on Windows or i can use virtual appliance (developed by vmware in linux)? vCenter Server instance running in a virtual machine is supported on a three-node cluster configuration because it is not involved in tiebreaker situations. A vCenter Server instance running in a virtual machine is supported on a two-node cluster configuration when the VSA Cluster Service is running outside of the VSA storage cluster (on an external system or

GuruPlug).

2) Two datastore that i want to migrate to VSA cluster must be the same (same space, same type of sas controller)? VMware typically requires the hardware on either side to be identical, may be worth checking the HCL if it mentions any combinations.

3) Two hosts must be the same or they can be different (an HP server and one IBM server)? Same as above

4) Vcenter server before create VSA cluster can be on NAS and after creation of VSA cluster can be moved to new datastore? Yes

Do you only have the 2 servers? I believe with VMwares VSA you need 3 servers. As in the explanation to answer 1, you either need 3 instances of VSA or 2 instances with VSA cluster service running on a 3rd machine.

You may be interested in looking at StorMagics VSA, its essentially designed for multi-site environments buts suits well here as well. You can mix hardware and dont require the 3rd server. http://www.stormagic.com/SvSAN_5.php 

[mure79it]

Hi Santini,

i'm downloading SvSAN software for testing pourpose.

I'm very interested to apply SAN features like HA and Vmotion in small environment.

Thanks a lot