multiple servers can access the same LUN?

[wolfgang]

Hi,

Have following questions:

a) want to run multiple ESX/ESXi servers, this means each ESX server
needs its own LUN to boot..correct?

b) can I have one or multiple LUN's shared between multiple ESX
servers for data (not boot) ? this means 2 ore more servers have
access to same LUN and can read and write (like on a network share) is
this possible?

c) If I want to have 2 ESX servers, each needs 10 GB disk to boot,
this would correspond to 2 LUN's with each LUN made of a vmdk file on
the boot disk of iscsi cake. If I have 3 disks (each 1 TB)in my iscsi
server, I could now assign disk 2 and disk 3 each to own iscsi LUN and
could now share this 2 data luns (each 1 TB) with all VM's in each ESX
server. Is this correct?

d) for this config I would need the standard license, all for LUN's
would be used up and I could have theoretical unlimited VMs accessing
2 data LUN's

e) as disk 3 and 4 would be fully assigned to iscsi cake, this 2 disks
can NOT have any drive letter assigned on iscsi server and so are also
not accessible from iscsi server...correct? This means backup would
need to be made from a VM accessing the 2 data LUNs via iscsi and do
the backup to some other external or network disk ..correct?

Is this correct assumption? or does this need some corrections ?

Thanks,Wolfgang

[Jin]

a) If multiple ESX servers use the same booting image, you can use
normal client instead of superclient to boot each ESX. But the changes
to the base booting image will be discarded upon disconnection. If the
booting images are different or you want to keep the latest changes,
seperate LUNs for each ESX server is a better solution.

b) iSCSI Cake is supposed to work with ESX sharing.

c) Correct

d) Yes

e) Yes, you have to do backup from client side if superclient is used.
By the way, what kind of backup do you need? Maybe we can add some new
features to do backup at iSCSI Cake server.

Though ESX servers can share the same LUN, I don't think it means the
data writen by one VM in one ESX can be seen by another VM in another
ESX. I haven't done much test on this. I would be appriciated if you
could keep posting some follow-up.

[wolfgang]

Thanks for the answer. I am still in the planning phase to do this on
a new server. Will keep you informed how it goes, but will take some
time.

//Wolfgang

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