Problem Vmware & Clustering

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Hi all

Wonder if someone can help me, i'm currently studying the 70-293 Windows Server 2003 network planning course and am really wanting to test and setup clustering. Ive got vmware workstation 7 at home and previous version 6 that i upgraded from but looking online it seems a bit of a mission to setup all the configuration or its not possible......there seems to be lots of mixed messages about if it can be setup and with which version.....ive even scoured the vmware website but most of the info on there is asking questions about vmware in corporate environments

Now from what i can see vmware esx looks like a possibility for setting up clustering and just wondered if anyone had previously set it up on workstation 6/7 or maybe used esx as i really dont like to leaves stones unturned with my study and dont like using tutorials as my experience, if i could get this setup and working it would be a great weight of my shoulders as we all know what hands on does for us

If anyone has any help or info regarding this it would be a massive help
Thanks
Richard

 

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you basically need three VMs
Two Win servers
1 iSCSI Target server

get the networking right, and you can do clustering
I had Exchange 2003 clusters running in VMware Workstation 3 or 4 back in 03


generally i would do it this way

Win servers, 3 Nics, one direct, two host only on seperate networks, one for iSCSI one for heartbeat
iSCSI Target, 2 nics, one direct (management) one host only (for iSCSI)

iSCSI targets are operating systems such as OpenFiler, FreeNas, or Windows boxes running iSCSI Target software like Softwinds, Datacore, etc etc

 

I threw a quick visio together to explain this better

 

Thanks Phoenix

Are any of those operating systems or ISCI targets software freeware do you know? I kinda get what your saying to do but not 100% sure how to put it all together, simply cos ive not yet had any hands on experience of clustering

Would it be a case of building 2 x Virtual machines, loading the OS or ISCI targets on the 3rd machine, setting up as per your diagram then proceeding with setting up clustering creating the quorum disk settings to the ISCI target machine? i only ask that cos from my tutorials ive seen so far there isnt much to the clustering setup itself yet when people are setting up vmware and changing settings via the internet sites there creating quorum disks to share etc which seemed like a mission

I'll be honest i'm plucking at straws here cos its all a bit new to me at the mo, i understand the concept, just would like to put something together to test in vmware, i get what your saying but not sure how to go about setting up your diagram and configuring it - thanks for the diagram though its much appreciated just if you could maybe give a bit more of an insight into setting that up it would be great

 

which one out of freenas etc would you recommend? which way of setting it up?

Cheers
R

 

I have setup many clusters using openfiler as the back end, its easy to setup and there is a load of free help openfiler.com will get you everything you need.

Steve.L

 

Damn, just saw this reply
I too would recommend openfiler over freenas more often than not!

 

Seconded, Freenas is actually having issues atm with regards to direction it wants to take. One of the original devs has branched out and is developing his own NAS software (OpenMediaVault).

OF is pretty much straight forward to run, you can even download a vm appliance for it.

 

I tried Starwind recently and found it much easier to set up than the iSCSI features in FreeNas. You can download a free trial / free limited license of Starwind. The main limitation is a max volume size of 2TB and only 2 clients (initiators) can connect to it. The help is good also, had step by step instructions for setting up to use clustering with Windows etc...

 

Any MCP/MVP/MCT/VCP/VCI/vExpert can get StarWind for free too!
the full fat version!
http://www.starwindsoftware.com/news/30 <--- VCPs
http://www.starwindsoftware.com/news/31 <--- MCPs

 

That's good to know, thanks matey!

 

Thanks for the heads up Pheonix!

Steve.L

 

Hmm, Starwind haven't gotten back to me yet. I emailed them (using the address in the offer) but no response yet.

 

Same with me, not a good start.

 

They are not super fast with the replies, it goes through their marketing department from what i understand, its not a sales offer

 

They must read CF. They sent me my key through this morning just to make me look bad for complaining here!

 

Snap, I had a nice email from Vadim

Not too sure whether the key is for VMware or MS tho as he didn't explain that in the mail.

 

I assumed they just did a Windows based iSCSI target program, where does VMWare come into it?

 

From here.

I would have thought that you would need to ends, the iscsi server and the iscsi target. Perhaps I need to have a closer look.

 

Well there is the initiator (the client) and the target (the server). Starwind just provide the target, so it's wether or not the OS you are trying to connect to it has an initiator built in (Vista, W7 and Server 2008 do). I think it has to be added as a seperate download to XP & Server 2003.

I think the reason they offered it to VCP's etc.. originally is just to promote it to the kind of people who might want to play around with it, rather than there being a different version of the software etc..