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Go to SolutionConsolidated Backup needs shared access to LUNS
I have 2 ESX hosts in 1 storage group. There are 3, 1TB LUNS in that SG as well. VM Consolidated Backup needs access to these luns and it will need another LUN as a "holding tank". I am trying to determine if i can add my proxy host for VCB (call it proxy01) to the SG with ESX. If i do that i will need to have proxy01 in another SG as well so i can attach the holding tank storage.That seems wrong to me.
My other option would be to create a SG called SGproxy01, attach the holding tank LUN and also attach the 3 LUNS for ESX, these 3 LUNS would obviously still be attached to the ESX SG. I understand that i can have multiple hosts in a SG if they are clustered but what about this? Any thoughts or docs on this is much appreciated.
BTW;
CX4-120
Both ESX hosts and Proxy01 are iSCSI connected
VCB v1.5
My other option would be to create a SG called SGproxy01, attach the holding tank LUN and also attach the 3 LUNS for ESX, these 3 LUNS would obviously still be attached to the ESX SG. I understand that i can have multiple hosts in a SG if they are clustered but what about this? Any thoughts or docs on this is much appreciated.
BTW;
CX4-120
Both ESX hosts and Proxy01 are iSCSI connected
VCB v1.5
- host can belong to only one storage group, while you can put LUNs into multiple storage groups. In your case i would create a new SG for your proxy server, add ESX LUNs to it (you will need to select "LUNs already presented to other hosts" from the menu) and then its own LUN.
- Thanks Dynamox,
It seems that is the answer. Before i attach the VM LUNS to the SG with the proxy server i need to be sure the proxy server wont corrupt anything. Is LUN masking another process i have to run or is it simply the fact that i am allowing other hosts to see LUNS? - proxy server will not corrupt your ESX LUNs, vcb software when initiated will make a snapshot of the VM (vmware level snapshot), mount it as a drive letter to your proxy server and then you can use any third party software to spin it to tape/disk.
- OK, so...
I prefer to avoid using snaps/clones in this case because i think i can get the same results without allocated storage for destination of snaps/clones. I would also like to keep this process automated, which means i would need licenses for Replication Manager if using snaps. Those licenses are almost $3000 each.
That being said, I now have a Storage Group for the proxy server and i have added the LUN which i will be testing backups from. The proxy server is a W2K3 box, I am getting conflicting informaton about assigning a drive letter to the LUN. If i can understand better what causes disk contention when 2 hosts see the same LUN, i would be better equipted to configure this. I had a ticket in with EMC, the response is that they dont support multiple hosts in a lun and i need to use snaps/clones. - VMWare Consolidated Backup uses the snapshot capabilities of ESX not the array based snapshots. The VCB proxy software is installed on your backup host and interacts with the Virtual Center to access the snapshot of the VMFS LUNs or the Virtual Disk image. The VMFS LUNs are masked to the backup server, but the backup server will not mount and assign a drive letter to the LUNs. That is all controlled through Virtual Center and the VCB software. That is how the drive contention issue is resolved.
We use VCB along with CommVault to backup our entire VMFS LUNs using this method.
High level overview here:
https://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_consolidated_backup.pdf
brendm
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Posted April 30th, 2009 06:00
Dynamox is quite correct and I agree ¿ you should make another storage group with your other host, and are welcome to give it access to LUNs already allocated as well as additional LUNs (the ¿holding tank¿ for example). If you are concerned with your secondary host negatively impacting the data presented to it, I would consider using replication options like Snapview Snapshots (best for read-only views of data that have some impact on the source LUN) or Clones (full copies of source LUNs with little impact). Both are good methods towards protecting your data. I have a number of useful documents below to help you think through these processes.
Snapview Snapshot/Clone Whitepapers: http://powerlink.emc.com/km/appmanager/km/secureDesktop?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=default&internalId=0b01406680178da8&_irrt=true
CX4-120 Whitepapers:
http://powerlink.emc.com/km/appmanager/km/secureDesktop?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=default&internalId=0b01406680350480&_irrt=true
and just incase, the CLARiiON iSCSI Server Setup Guide for VMware ESX Server 3i and 3.x Hosts:
http://powerlink.emc.com/km/live1/en_US/Offering_Technical/Technical_Documentation/300-003-807_A06_elccnt_0.pdf?mtcs=ZXZlbnRUeXBlPUttQ2xpY2tDb250ZW50RXZlbnQsZG9jdW1lbnRJZD0wOTAxNDA2NjgwMzYxMWRlLG5hdmVOb2RlPVNvZndhcmVEb3dubG9hZHMtMg__