vSphere Storage - ESXi 5.0 - Documentation - VMware
vSphere Storage - ESXi 5.0 - Documentation - VMware
vSphere Storage - ESXi 5.0 - Documentation - VMware
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<strong>vSphere</strong> <strong>Storage</strong><br />
Boot from SAN The host boots from a LUN configured on the SAN rather than from the server<br />
itself.<br />
Direct connect The server connects to the array without using switches. For all other tests, a<br />
fabric connection is used. FC Arbitrated Loop (AL) is not supported.<br />
Clustering The system is tested with Microsoft Cluster Service running in the virtual<br />
machine.<br />
General Setup Considerations for Fibre Channel SAN Arrays<br />
When you prepare your FC SAN storage to work with <strong>ESXi</strong>, you must follow specific general requirements<br />
that apply to all storage arrays.<br />
For all storage arrays, make sure that the following requirements are met:<br />
n LUNs must be presented to each HBA of each host with the same LUN ID number.<br />
Because instructions on how to configure identical SAN LUN IDs are vendor specific, consult your storage<br />
array documentation for more information.<br />
n Unless specified for individual storage arrays, set the host type for LUNs presented to <strong>ESXi</strong> to Linux, Linux<br />
Cluster, or, if available, to vmware or esx.<br />
n If you are using vMotion, DRS, or HA, make sure that both source and target hosts for virtual machines<br />
can see the same LUNs with identical LUN IDs.<br />
SAN administrators might find it counterintuitive to have multiple hosts see the same LUNs because they<br />
might be concerned about data corruption. However, VMFS prevents multiple virtual machines from<br />
writing to the same file at the same time, so provisioning the LUNs to all required <strong>ESXi</strong> system is<br />
appropriate.<br />
EMC CLARiiON <strong>Storage</strong> Systems<br />
EMC CLARiiON storage systems work with <strong>ESXi</strong> hosts in SAN configurations.<br />
Basic configuration includes the following steps:<br />
1 Installing and configuring the storage device.<br />
2 Configuring zoning at the switch level.<br />
3 Creating RAID groups.<br />
4 Creating and binding LUNs.<br />
5 Registering the servers connected to the SAN. By default, the host automatically performs this step.<br />
6 Creating storage groups that contain the servers and LUNs.<br />
Use the EMC storage management software to perform configuration. For information, see the EMC<br />
documentation.<br />
<strong>ESXi</strong> automatically sends the host's name and IP address to the array and registers the host with the array. You<br />
are no longer required to perform host registration manually. However, if you prefer to use storage<br />
management software, such as EMC Navisphere, to perform manual registration, turn off the <strong>ESXi</strong> autoregistration.<br />
Turning it off helps you avoid overwriting the manual user registration. For information, see<br />
“Disable Automatic Host Registration,” on page 58.<br />
Because this array is an active-passive disk array, the following general considerations apply.<br />
n The default multipathing policy for CLARiiON arrays that do not support ALUA is Most Recently Used.<br />
For CLARiiON arrays that support ALUA, the default multipathing policy is VMW_PSP_FIXED. The<br />
<strong>ESXi</strong> system sets the default policy when it identifies the array.<br />
44 <strong>VMware</strong>, Inc.