SMSQL Multiple instances on same LUNs / FlexVols

GREGDAVIS — Thu, 05 Jun 2025 05:54:44 GMT

Hi NetApp Communities,

I have a question I should be able to answer myself from numerous SMSQL installations, but unfortunately I've never tried this particular setup. IHAC who has 20 SQL 2K8 instances installed on a standalone W2K8 Enterprise x64 server. I am planning the migration to SnapManager for SQL and associated storage layout and sizing. At the moment all the instance DBs and logs are installed on the C: drive. If it were just a few instances I would plan for the following for each instance: DB LUN / FlexVol, Logs LUN / FlexVol, SnapInfo LUN / FlexVol , System DB LUN / FlexVol. However with 20 instances this leads to 80 LUNs / FlexVols.

I am wondering if it is possible to rationalize this setup and put multiple instances on the same set of LUNs / FlexVols. So for example, have 5 sets of LUNs / FlexVols, with 4 instances sharing each LUN / FlexVol set - is this possible to do and supported? And here is the key question, if so, would it be possible to have a single backup job spanning the instances sharing the same LUNs / FlexVols, and just creating a single SnapShot on each FlexVol for the backup job? I know it's possible to federate backups, but my main concern is if this operates serially and backups are still per instance, then I would end up with multiple SnapShots on each FlexVol which are not consistent for all instances, a big mess in other words. Has anyone tried this setup?

Thanks in advance.

Greg Davis

VMtech PSC, Australia

Re: SMSQL Multiple instances on same LUNs / FlexVols

DARTHVADERNW — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 10:52:06 GMT

Hi Greg,

did you ever get an answer to this post?

I am currently in the same situation and would like to know in advance if it is possible.

Greetings from Switzerland,

Stephan

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SMSQL Multiple instances on same LUNs / FlexVols

Re: SMSQL Multiple instances on same LUNs / FlexVols