[TriLUG] iSCSI to FC SAN connectivity

Matt Pusateri mpusateri at wickedtrails.com
Wed Apr 18 20:40:34 EDT 2012


Put another way you're server mounts a LUN from your SAN either via FC or iSCSI and see's it as a raw disk.  The OS on the server can then format that raw SCSI LUN as any filesystem is wants.  In the case of ESX, it formats it as VMFS.  The OS on the server could just as easily be RHEL or Ubuntu and format it as EXT2/3/4, XFS, BTRFS, etc.  It could also be Windows and format it as NTFS,  or *BSD and format it as UFS etc. 



On Apr 18, 2012, at 8:33 PM, Matt Pusateri wrote:

> FC is not served up as VMFS, that was probably a poor way for me to word it.
> 
> Main data center:
> The Cisco UCS blades will mount via FC and HBA adapters the LUNS presented by your EMC VNX
> 
> DR site:
> You have not said what type of SAN is at the DR site, only that it doesn't have FC now.  Nor have you answered the question of how you will get the data between the two sites.
> 
> If you replicate data between the two sites, you will be fine.  If you're planning on physically moving your VNX to the DR site, then your ESX servers will either need FC HBA's and switches or yoru VNX will need to be able to also export those FC LUNS as iSCSI.
> 
> 
> Hopefully that makes more sense.
> 
> 
> On Apr 18, 2012, at 8:20 PM, Chris Bullock wrote:
> 
>> if FC is served up as just vmfs, I guess I will be good.
>> I'm currently looking at a single EMC VNX (for now) that will provide FC to my local ESX servers.  I am looking to replace my HP iSCSI ESX servers with Cisco UCS Blade servers, while keeping my ESX servers and moving them to my DR site.  My issue is what happens if for some reason I lose my entire UCS blade chassis?
>> I'm sure I could keep a server at my main site and put a FC HBA in it, but what if I want to move it to my DR site without FC.
>> 
>> 
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Matt Pusateri <mpusateri at wickedtrails.com>
>> To: Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion <trilug at trilug.org>
>> Cc: 
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 8:08 PM
>> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] iSCSI to FC SAN connectivity
>> 
>> How are you getting the data from your FC SAN at the main datacenter to the iSCSI SAN at the offsite data center? Are you replicating/syncing data between the two?  Or are you planning to physically move you're FC SAN to the offsite datacenter.  Are the SAN's from the same vendor?
>> 
>> The ESX servers in the main data center will have FC HBA cards vs. iSCSI HBA's or regular NIC's(1G or 10G) at your offsite datacenter.  From the ESX side of things, your ESX server will just see them as  VMFS volumes presented on the LUNS presented by your SAN.  If you're replicating data between the two sites over the wire, you'll probably be fine as long as you can replicate data between the two SANs.
>> 
>> More specifics  of your SAN intentions would help.
>> 
>> Matt P.
>> 
>> On Apr 18, 2012, at 11:10 AM, Chris Bullock wrote:
>> 
>>> Please forgive my ignorance on this subject but I would like to see what my options are.
>>> We currently have an iSCSI only SAN.  I am planning to move to a FC and iSCSI SAN in the next few months.  My question is the following:
>>> I want to move my VMWare farm at my main datacenter to FC, my question is, for some reason I lose my FC ESX servers at my main data center, can I use my iSCSI ESX servers at my offsite data center to connect to the FC LUNS that my VMs will be living on? ie, Is there a way to publish a LUN as FC and iSCSI?
>>> -- 
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> 
> -- 
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