Timothy,
 
You are correct. If we want to use the features of SME and SD for managing backups (Snapshots) we have to use a software iSCSI initiator inside of the VM. The implementations I have done this in have been pretty small, so performance wasn't too much of a worry. I would want to be certain I had enough performance if I was going to do this on a large/high performance system, so lots of testing would be in order.
 
This is pretty much a limitation (feature?) of VMware rather than NetApp. VMWare sits between the VM and the NetApp system, so the NetApp software (SME/SD) is unable to tell that it is talking to NetApp disk. If VMWare could pass it through properly then there should be nothing stopping the NetApp software recognising it, but at this stage that doesn't work.
 
Thanks
Oliver Bassett
 

From: owner-toasters@mathworks.com on behalf of Timothy Hollingworth
Sent: Wed 31/01/2007 2:06 PM
To: toasters@mathworks.com
Subject: Netapp and VMware... It's all so confusing!

So, say for example, I want to virtualize an Exchange server. Lets also say that I want to manage it via Snapdrive and SME. Lets also say, just for the heck of it, that I want both the new front-engined Acura NSX as well as the Porsche RC3.
 
The cars aside, I would have to run iSCSI from within the VM, install and use Snapdrive from within the VM to provision LUNs, install Exchange and then use SME? It seems kind of silly to use iSCSI from within a VM if the ESX box were fiber attached to the Filer, just to be able to use Snapdrive and SME, no?  
 
I would love to be able to use the features of SD and SME within a completely virtual environment and am wondering what some real world implementations other VMware/Netapp customers are running. Do you run storage for the databases and logs in VMDK's and manage snapshots and backups from a VMware virtual machine perspective or do you manage them as iSCSI LUNs and use SD and SME?
 
Or am I completely blind and missing something?
 
 
Timothy L. Hollingworth
Sr. Network Engineer, ePlus Technology Inc.
678.462.6698 (cell)
AIM: HollingworthTim
YIM: t_holling
 

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