What we've been planning is to run all the virtual machines on the local ESXi datastore, rather than the DroboElite, and use the Elite only for the windows iSCSI volumes and backups of the VMs.Ģ ESXi 4.0 servers with idential hardware. We have not made any attempts to align the VMFS datastores, and perhaps we should. Usually, it only happens in the above scenario. This is only the second time we've run into this (lockup when taking a snapshot). The lockup occurred this morning when I attempted to take a snapshot of a virtual machine that is stored on the DroboElite. The DroboElite is a production unit, offsite from us, so when it locks up, it's an out-of-office trip for us. The workaround is to pause all VMs (except the main Windows VM) first, and only then can we reboot the main Windows VM - quite a pain when installing updates, but it's a work-around that we've found that consistantly works. This VM is on local storage of the ESXi server. Most of our lockups happen when we reboot the Windows VM that contains the NTFS Volumes connected via iSCSI on the DroboElite. not on the DroboElite) or b) on the DroboElite as iSCSI connected volumes via the Windows Server VM. All "data" partitions are actually either a) stored as VMDKs locally on the ESXi server (ie. Also, that alignment document states to not align boot partitions. We haven't performed the alignment because we are under the impression that the DroboElite Dashboard is the only way to manage volumes and partitions. I believe we came to this conclusion when we attempted (during testing) to create a software mirror within the Windows Disk management between 2 Drobo units. The only exception is the VMFS partitions. Basically, all volume management and formatting is done in the Drobo Dashboard. We remember either from a support call or from reading (unfortunately I can't find references) that you should never perform any volume management or formatting of these NTFS volumes using Microsoft's disk management tools. These volumes are then connected via iSCSI from the Windows VM. The DroboElite actually performs the volume creation and NTFS formatting from within the Dashboard. The document refers to re-partitioning and formatting volumes on the device. The VMFS filesystem of this VM is actually stored on a local disk of the ESXi server. This happens most often during reboots or our main virtual machine that connects via iSCSI to the DroboElite volumes. When this happens, our only option is to hit the power button on the DroboElite, wait for it to power down, then power it back up again. The DroboElite is reachable via ping, but that's it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |