VI3 iSCSI Setup Howto
Quick howto with screen-shots for the setup of a iSCSI initiator in VI3.
Up to this point I have not done extensive testing on the overall performance of my setup. What I do know is it performs more than well enough to run an IIS Web Server, an average load SQL Server, and AD Server, an Exchange Server and a File Server without breaking a sweat on the Linux iSCSI Server resources. In addition, the applications respond incredibly well considering the fact that my “Enterprise SAN” cost me less than $500 total. For development purposes to test VMotion, DRS, and HA, this is DEFINITELY a good solution to take a look at. Some brave people, like myself, may even consider using it for production data. I make sure I have a good solid backup every night.
This is running the following setup:
Virtual Machines Running
- Windows 2003 Domain Controller – 384MB Memory
- Windows 2003 SQL Server – 512MB Memory (Scripts running consistent read/write/update load on server)
- Windows 2003 Exchange 2003 Server – 512MB Memory (10 Mailboxes, 5 with a TON of spam being sent for load)
- Windows 2003 File Server – 384MB Memory
From the looks of some of the comments this is not totally production ready, although this probably has improved in the last six months. It does point to the way things are going though.
Diskless Processing Units, net (PXE, ISCSI, or ?) booting to a hypervisor and running Software Appliances back-ended to Storage Appliance (brandware or software) Units holding the data.
Some hints here for this right with Netapp equipment.