[clue] VMWare question (and VMware Server EOL)

[adam bultman]

On 11/08/2012 09:46 AM, Jim Ockers wrote:
> adam bultman wrote:
>> On 11/08/2012 09:15 AM, Jim Ockers wrote:
>>   
>>> That said, the VMDKs for startup disks do need to be on a VMFS5 (or
>>> VMFS3) formatted datastore. The secondary/tertiary disks (which in our
>>> case are individual iSCSI targets) can be formatted however the guest
>>> OS wants, because the block device is passed directly through from the
>>> ESX iSCSI initiator into the guest OS as a plain disk, which it can
>>> format however it wants.
>>>     
>> Huh?  Can you define "startup disk?"  Are you referring to the HDD that
>> the server and ESXi boots from, or the VM?  VMs can boot from whatever
>> they want; but ESXi can PXE boot, if you set them up to.
>>
>>   
> The ESX server boots from whatever it wants, of course.
>
> We find it's most convenient for VMs to boot from a "startup disk"
> which is located on a VMware datastore and is typically a VMDK.  Yes
> there are lots of other alternatives, but what I was getting at is
> that it is most convenient for VMs to boot from a VMDK on a VMFS
> datastore.
Oh, ok.  I guess I understand now, although I want to be a nit-picker
and clarify that you can boot VMs from whatever you want.  NFS, FC LUNs,
iSCSI LUNs, or even raw-mapped luns. 


>>
> I guess you know a lot more about this than I do.  One thing I noticed
> is that in our environment we have 5 different networks (IP address
> ranges) and our ESX servers participate in those (so that VMs have
> access to them).  When moving VMs I find I have to re-choose the VM
> Network from the connections picklist because they may be in different
> orders and have different network names between different servers.  I
> guess if you have vMotion then you have to have the discipline to
> cable each ESX server the same and also name the networks the same on
> each ESX host?  I was wondering how you make sure the network
> connections work the same from one ESX server to another. 

Oh, *that's* the fun point.  The ESX servers need to be configured
identically. (Which is what makes host profiles useful - it does that
all for you.)  So your vSwitches and Port Groups need to be named
consistently across all the servers, with identical VLANs. 
Additionally, your mounted storage (for example, NFS) has to be mounted
identically as well (same name, but also mounted from the same source,
and the same way - via DNS name, or IP, or whatever. Mounting
192.168.1.45:/vol/nfs on one host and openfiler:/vol/nfs on another
isn't allowed.) 

Once things are configured the same across all your hosts, it shouldn't
ask you anymore.  Then, if you have the necessary licences (for example,
vmotion) you can migrate VMs from host to host, or from datastore to
datastore with ease, and you'll miss only a few pings as it does the cut
to the new host.

Whee, what fun, huh?



-- 
Adam