Snap Drive 6.3

[itmsnetapp]

Is there any word on release date of snap drive 6.3? We are right in the middle of a migration project and would rather go straight to 6.3 for NFS support.

cheers

[kris_boeckx]

Hi,

As far as I know it will be there 1ste week op september.

See http://blogs.netapp.com/storage_nuts_n_bolts/2010/07/snapdrive-63-support-for-vmfs-and-nfs.html for more info.

greetings,

Kris Boeckx

Pidpa

[kris_boeckx]

Snapdrive 6.3 is here ...

https://now.netapp.com/NOW/download/software/snapdrive_win/6.3/

Greetings to you all !

Kris Boeckx

Pidpa

[radek_kubka]

Wow, awesome - thanks for the heads up!

I had an opportunity to play with beta version & must admit I'm loving the fact that MS SQL can now run over NFS end-to-end (well, you need the latest & greatest SMSQL as well, but I've heard it was supposed to be released together with SDW6.3)

Regards,
Radek

[erick_moore]

Don't forget to read the fine print, you need VSC 2.0.1 for SMSQL 5.1 and SD 6.3 to do VMDK snaps on NFS.  Unfortunately VSC 2.0.1 is no where to be found.

[radek_kubka]

It actually worked for me with VSC 2.0.

[erick_moore]

I can't use it in production if the release notes don't support it:

Note: Support for performing Snapshot copy operations on virtual machine disks (VMDKs) in an NFS or VMFS datastore requires SnapDrive 6.3 for Windows or later and Virtual Storage Console 2.0.1 or later. Please check the availability of SnapDrive 6.3 for Windows and Virtual Storage Console 2.0.1 and install it before using this feature.

[radek_kubka]

Yeah, no argument here - fully appreciated.

I was just happy as a kid when I managed to successfully set it up in our lab Requirement for official support in a prodcution environment is a different story though.

Having said this, I have a gut feeling VSC 2.0.1 should surface soon, so people can actually make a practical use of this cool feature (unless someone made a typo writing the note! )

[chriszurich]

I'm having issues with viewing LUNs provisioned over FC from a filer running 8.0.1.  I'm curious what version of Data ONTAP you're running?

Test Environment

FAS3140 8.0.1 7-Mode

FAS3170 (HA Cluster) 7.3.3 7-Mode

Windows 2003 Professional Server (32-bit)

NetApp Host Agent ver. 2.7

DFM 4.0

SnapDrive 6.1.1 Shows LUNs provisioned from filers running 7.3.3 but fails to show LUNs from filers running 8.0.1.

SnapDrive 6.2 works with no errors

SnapDrive 6.3: Shows LUNs provisioned from filers running 7.3.3 but fails to show LUNs from filers running 8.0.1.

Error:

Failed to enumerate LUNs.

Error code : An attempt to obtain list of volumes on the storage system <8.0.1 array name>' failed. Error code: 13011. Error description: No netapp element in response.

[itmsnetapp]

ok, this is starting to make a little bit of sense... I would like to make use of the new snap drive vmdk on NFS feature, but once I have installed snapdrive 6.3 and try to create a disk there is no option to create it on a nfs volume.

I have looked through the admin guide and it mentions that all of this is possible within snapdrive 6.3 but there is no information on how to do it, only info on how to create a new lun.

can anyone possibly point me in the right direction?

I have the latest vsc installed.

[radek_kubka]

I'm running ONTAP 7.3.4.

[radek_kubka]

Hi,

This may be a tad confusing - you actually can manage NFS VMDKs with SDW6.3, but you cannot create them from within SDW console.

What you have to do is: add virtual disks on vSphere side via vCenter, edit VM config, add disk(s) and choose their location within NFS datastore of choice.

When you go back to SDW, you will be then able to see added disks.

Regards,
Radek

[kris_boeckx]

Hi,

So this means that creating a disk with snapdrive within the virtual machine is not working ? Or is it not supported ?

This would be very stupid because you always should create your luns with snapdrive to be fully supported.

Greetings,

Kris Boeckx

Pidpa

[radek_kubka]

So this means that creating a disk with snapdrive within the virtual machine is not working ?

It is not working if you want to use NFS datastore.

This would be very stupid because you always should create your luns with snapdrive to be fully supported.

Arguably it is confusing, but bear in mind these are no longer LUNs - you are dealing with VMDK files located within NFS datastore!

Regards,
Radek

[kris_boeckx]

As I read in the Admin guide, the RDM file (of VMDK file) still needs to be on a VMFS datastore. So we are still stuck with those VMFS datastore only because the raw device mapping files needs to reside on a VMFS datastore.

The disk create command om page 221 of the admin guide tell us:

If the virtual machine
resides on an NFS datastore, you must specify a VMFS datastore for the VMDK file.

I've tested it in our test enviroment and it's working as described in the admin guide. It seems that this is a VMware issue because when I want to move this machine from a VMFS datastore to a NFS datastore. This is not working and I get the message:

"Virtual Disk '...' is a mapped Direct-Access LUN which is not supported on the datastore "nfs_datastore"

I tought this was solved in 6.3 but it's NOT

"Support for VMDKs in NFS and VMFS datastores" on page 37 in the admin guide is not clear to me. I need to do more investigation on this topic.

Greetings,

Kris Boeckx

Pidpa

[radek_kubka]

OK, I need to revisit it with the official code then (I was using beta version)

What I can say though is it did work nicely for me, without pestering for any RDM references, etc. - it was a 'plain' VMDK file (crated by 'add new disk' in vCenter \ edit VM properties), located in an NFS datastore, seen & being fully manageable via SDW interface.