Just a doubt about VMware on NFS stability.
NFS strage by default have
NFS locks enabled: this permits best protection and avoids more than one access
at time on a vmdk file.
During a vMotion, a backup or
a snapshot (VMware one), with NFS locks enabled, the ESX o.s. creates some
freeze extended in time, sometimes also dozens of seconds. These limits have
been improved with ESX 3.5U3 but not completely solved.
To avoid these strange
problems we need to disable NFS locks. But in this case the issue (I’ve
already experienced it a couple of time) is that if VMware cluster fails or
malfunctions while it’s in maintenance mode there’s the risk that
the VM will run on two different hosts at the same time: the result is a BSOD
on that VM and that VM file system (vmdk) will be definitively corrupt!!!
Wth NFS is true that we can
have good performances, high flexibility but we can’t use VCB, storage
vMotion, linked clone and VDI. There aren’t SCSI reservations as VMFS
has, so it’s less stable.
Regards,
Da:
owner-toasters@mathworks.com [mailto:owner-toasters@mathworks.com] Per conto
di Page, Jeremy
Inviato: luned́ 27 aprile 2009 15.14
A: Paul McGuinness; toasters@mathworks.com
Oggetto: RE: NetApp3140 v EMC CX4-240
Running ESX over NFS is (imo) the way to go. I moved from FC to
NFS about 2 years ago (2.5.4) and have never looked back. Being able to restore
crash consistent out of the box and the extra flexibility of being able to
access your VMDK files directly instead of through VMFS is very nice.
We’re currently running 300 VMs on 5 IBM 3850m2s with dual 1 gig
connections to our switches and then dual 10g to the filer itself. Most of my
VMs are on SATA with the higher IO boxes on 15k FC disks. Dedup is also very
nice, just realize that the first time you run the SIS job (the dedup process)
it will hammer your disks since it has to look at every block with data on it.
If you’re hard set on block based storage then I
don’t think the Netapp boxes are worth it, but I really think NFS is the
way to go. Having the extra layer of abstraction may be a bit less efficient,
but the extra flexibility and related uptime is very much worth it.
Jeremy M. Page____________________
Systems Architect
* email:Jeremy.Page@gilbarco.com - ( phone: 336.547.5399 - 6 fax: 336.547.5163 - ( cell: 336.601.7274
From: owner-toasters@mathworks.com
[mailto:owner-toasters@mathworks.com] On Behalf Of Paul McGuinness
Sent: Monday, April 27, 2009 5:19 AM
To: toasters@mathworks.com
Subject: NetApp3140 v EMC CX4-240
I am after opinions / Pros and Cons on
running a substantial VMware infrastructure of approximate 200+ VMs using the 2
mentioned storage systems.
Obvious benefits of the NetApp seem to be
around the De-Dupe out of the box. Any other thoughts / experiences would be
appreciated
Fibre attached Dell R900s will be running
the ESX side of things.
Paul McGuinness
Infrastructure Services Manager
FINEOS
Corporation
ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS for
INSURANCE, BANCASSURANCE AND SOCIAL INSURANCE
__________________________________________________________
FINEOS
Corporation is the global brand name of FINEOS Corporation Limited and its
affiliated group companies worldwide.
The
information contained in this e-mail is confidential, may be privileged and is
intended
only
for the use of the recipient named above. If you are not the intended recipient
or a
representative
of the intended recipient, you have received this e-mail in error and must
not
copy, use or disclose the contents of this e-mail to anybody else.
If
you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender immediately by
return
e-mail
and permanently delete the copy you received. This e-mail has been swept for
computer
viruses. However, you should carry out your own virus checks.
Registered
in Ireland, No. 205721. http://www.FINEOS.com
__________________________________________________________
Please be advised that this email may contain confidential information.
If you are not the intended recipient, please do not read, copy or
re-transmit this email. If you have received this email in error,
please notify us by email by replying to the sender and by telephone
(call us collect at +1 202-828-0850) and delete this message and any
attachments. Thank you in advance for your cooperation and assistance.
In addition, Danaher and its subsidiaries disclaim that the content of
this email constitutes an offer to enter into, or the acceptance of,
any
contract or agreement or any amendment thereto; provided that the
foregoing disclaimer does not invalidate the binding effect of any
digital or other electronic reproduction of a manual signature that is
included in any attachment to this email.