EquaLogic Volume Provisioning

Hello Stan, 

 No I can't move info from one thread to another systematically. 

 Did you have any remaining questions about thin provisioning? 

 Don 

Hi Stan, 

 re: UNMAP.  You do not HAVE to run the unmap utility.  At some point the array will show 100% in-use space consumed.  That just means that every page on that volume has been written to at least once.  The VMFS filesystem knows what blocks can be re-used. 

 Running UNMAP is useful when you are low on space.  If you add more volumes and get closer to your max space and/or want to use snapshots, thin provision helps in those cases. 

 re: NICs/Switches.  Just remember that an iSCSI failure means those running VMs on that host will crash. 

You can pick up used Power Connect 6224 GbE switches for under $100.  Upgrade the firmware and configure to best practices and in such a small environment those will do just fine.  Just remember to create a trunk between the switches using 4xGbE ports.  Unless the switches you get include the 10GB stacking modules and cables. 

 Regards, 

Don 

Hi Don,

If I create six 800 GB volumes and thin provision them, do i set the 3 sliders at 100% or do i set to alert on, say 90% usage ?

I then need to use UNMAP every so often,,?

As for the nics, we don'r have two switches to use, so the most i could do is two nics in case of a nic or port failure.  If I use one nic, worst case is i lose connection to the SAN until i reconnected to a new nic or port. 

Stan

Thanks again..

Do i set the 3 sliders to 100% ?

If the vSwitch has two iSCIS port groups (two iSCSI connections) on two separate nics and I lose one nic on an iSCSI connection, won't the outer iSCSI take over?

Based on your reply and documents you provided, I see the best configuration may be (if I understand):

EqualLogic controller 1 eth0 to Dell Switch 1 (to port 4) vlan 30
EqualLogic controller 1 eth1 to Dell Switch 2 (to port 4) vlan 30
EqualLogic controller 2 eth0 to Dell Switch 1 (to port 5) vlan 30
EqualLogic controller 2 eth1 to Dell Switch 2 (to port 5) vlan 30
Port 3 Trunk on both switches

Trunk port  VLAN 30 (includes ports 2,3,4,5,6)

ESXi vSwitch 2 nics
  iSCIS Port Group nic 1 to Dell Switch 1 port 3
  iSCIS Port Group nic 2 to Dell Switch 2 port 3

Stan

Hello, 

 Re: Slides.  Since you know you have enough space, yes.  this just prevents warning alerts when you get near 100% in-use space. 

 Re: NIC.  Did you configure MPIO per the Tech report?   If you are just using the teaming function in ESXi, then you aren't going to get the best performance.  You have to create two VMKernel ports, one for each physical NIC you want to use, then bind them to the software iSCSI adapter.  (along with changing the MPIO policy for Round Robin)    Once that is done then both NICs will be active for iSCSI and if one fails the other will take over.  EQL doesn't support teaming/bonding so only one NIC would be active.  

 The wiring looks good. 

Regards,

Don 

I followed the info in the doc below and have two port groups. Currently to one switch until we get another. We need to start some testing and I created one 800 gb volume.

http://en.community.dell.com/dell-groups/dtcmedia/m/mediagallery/19997606/download

Also, do i also need to deploy MEM per 

http://en.community.dell.com/dell-groups/dtcmedia/m/mediagallery/19991633/download

thanks

Stan

Hi Stan, 

 You are very welcome.  I'm glad I could assist you. 

 re: Topic.  Much appreciated.  It makes searching easier and following topics easier too. 

 Don