2 Server FC SAN Configuration
- by BSte
I have 2 identical servers:
-48GB Ram
-8GigE NIC's
-2FC NIC's
-2x72GB RAID1 Hard Drives
-Server 2008R2 Host
I also Have a Fibre Channel SAN:
-16x146GB RAID10 Hard Drives
-2xDual-port FC Controllers (Controller A and B both have ports 1 and 2)
-Server 1 has Fiber to Ports A1 and B1
-Server 2 has Fiber to Ports A2 and B2
-I kept the default config with 1 Virtual Disk and 1 Volume
-The default mappings show ports A1,A2,B1,B2 on LUN 0 with read-write
My goal is:
-2xVM's with IIS and Guest Level Failover
-2xVM's with SQL 2008 Enterprise using a Single DB and Guest Level Failover
-1xVM that is an application server, preferable with Host Failover. From what I read, this will also need AD for clustering to work.
-I need at least 1 VM always running for IIS and the SQLDB. This includes hardware failover and application (ie: reboot a VM for Critical updates)
I was told I could install the VM's and run them from the SAN, and this is what I've tried:
Installed MPIO and HyperV on Server1 and Server 2
Added the SAN as Disk E: on both servers, made it GPT and formatted NTFS
Configured HyperV on both server to store use E:\VD and E:\VHD
On server1, I was able to install 3 VM's on the SAN and all worked well. On server2, I would start installing the other 2 VM's, but always at some point the VM's would get a corrupt .VHD message (either server). Everything I found about the message typically related to antivirus, so I removed all antivirus on both Host servers (now only running 2008R2). I reformatted drive E: (SAN), recreated the VHD and VD directories, installed 3 VM's on Server 1, and then had the same issue when installing VM's on Server2. Obviously something is wrong, but I'm not certain what exactly.
My questions:
1) Are my goals possible with this hardware setup?
-I've read 2008R2 supports FC SAN's, but a lot of articles seem to only give examples with iSCSCI setups
2) What would be the suggested route on setting up the SAN (disks,volumes,LUN's)?
I've worked with HyperV on a single machine before and never had issues. Actual experience working on SAN's and clustering is new to me. Any suggestions or recommendations to get me in the right direction would be much appreciated.
