I agree with all points but have never seen hard documentation about using too high a MS iSCSI version.  Every time I’ve checked the compatibility matrix it said to use version x.xx or higher / newest.  We heavily use 4.2.1 as well, do you know off hand what versions of iSCSI are too new?

 

Setting preferred filer ip will solve a lot of weird issues with snapdrive, as well as make it 10x more responsive.

 

- Hadrian

 

 

In my experience with dozens of customers, I found that instable snapdrive issues where almost always caused by the customer not following the hardware interoperability matrix (wrong MS iSCSI version (even too new!), incompatible HBA or HBA driver/firmware, not supported server HW or OS version, ...). Also MPIO problems can cause Snapdrive instability. Do upgrade to DSM 3.1 as it is much more stable than 3.0.

 

I have very good experience with Snapdrive 4.2.1. This was really a nice piece of software, so I tend to stay with it and still have to be convinced to go to 5.x ...

 

A nice trick with slow performing Snapdrive software can also be to set the preffered filer IP address in the Snapdrive configuration for all filers you connect to. This can make a huge difference in visualisation speed. I got this trick from Netapp support, they can really help solving Snapdrive issues so do create a case there !

 

Grtz,

Tom De Wit

Uptime Belgium

 

From: owner-toasters@mathworks.com [mailto:owner-toasters@mathworks.com] On Behalf Of Webster, Stetson
Sent: vrijdag 25 april 2008 13:38
To: Smith,Eddie; lists@up-south.com; toasters@mathworks.com
Subject: RE: Snapdrive alternative

I went back and read this email and found a promising aspect of the nature of this setup.

With FC, the odds are extremely high that your issue is in the configuration of your MPIO stack which is an important pre-requisite step for a stable SnapDrive deployment.  You can actually verify these steps in the SnapDrive installation guide.

But either way, the support center is very capable of isolating this and is your best source for detailed, conclusive analysis.




Pardon brevity, typos, etc; sent from mobile.

 -----Original Message-----
From:   Smith,Eddie
Sent:   Friday, April 25, 2008 02:59 AM Pacific Standard Time
To:     Webster, Stetson; lists@up-south.com; toasters@mathworks.com
Subject:        RE: Snapdrive alternative

I think Stetson forgot to mention that you also need to shut the OS down as well otherwise your NTFS buffer cache will not get flushed and you will still be inconsistent...

You really need SnapDrive or a piece of software like the "sync" driver in VMware which will ensure that your system will boot up afterwards.  Not sure if there are any alternatives on the market though.

SnapDrive isn't unstable  (I have multiple happy people who think it isn't) ...I'm sure if you have any issues they can be sorted without looking for an alternative.

Even better use SnapManager for SQL, this uses Microsoft APIs to ensure that not only the OS but the database is properly consistent during backups.

Honestly though, if SnapDrive is causing you pain I'm sure it can be fixed - call up NetApp support and you'll get a good response.

If you don't have support, firstly you should....but if its a generic issue I'm sure there are people out there that can help.

cheers
Eddie
________________________________

From: Webster, Stetson
Sent: Friday, April 25, 2008 4:44 AM
To: lists@up-south.com; toasters@mathworks.com
Subject: RE: Snapdrive alternative



Yes.  It's simple.  Just stop the db's, confirm completion of the stop, take a snapshot, restart db's.


Pardon brevity, typos, etc; sent from mobile.

 -----Original Message-----
From:   Steve Rieger [mailto:lists@up-south.com]
Sent:   Thursday, April 24, 2008 07:32 PM Pacific Standard Time
To:     toasters@mathworks.com
Subject:        Snapdrive alternative

We found that snapdrive is not very stable. Are there any alternatives ?

Setup is as follows
Win 2k3 servers
Sql dbs
3070c running 7.2.2
With fiber
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile