vSphere Storage - ESXi 5.0 - Documentation - VMware

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