ONTAP Hardware

Netapp and Xenserver new system from scratch

wrfoster3
2,348 Views

I have a FAS2040 which was recently purchased.
The unit is up and running and I have On command able to connect to the Netapp.
I have gotten some conflicting information and would like to know how to best start out putting my new system together.

The system will be on the netapp fas 2040 and it will use Citrix Xen server to run the VM on my three host machines.

I need to set up OS and data stores for the environment.

I've read that the best installation for an OS is to use a volume and use NFS so block level recovery is possible.

I'd like to know best practice for setting up a volume and then If I need to set up a LUN inside that volume for the Server 2008 OS or just set up the OS on that volume.

Does that volume or LUN need to be iscsi or nfs protocol or does it matter?

the next thing I've read is that the SQL data and log need to be on iSCSI for speed and response performance.

I've set up one OS and I can't tell if what I am doing will cause problems in the future or if I am using all the benefits of my Net app.

If there is a best practices reference any one knows of please let me know. I'm a bit lost in all the features and On command is easy to use but offers little in guidance for best use and application.

1 REPLY 1

ralfaro01zero
2,348 Views

Hi William,

I have used and installed XenServer and NetApp extensively, I would recommend NFS over iSCSI or FC, there's a discussion going on in Citrixs' support forum where I posted some information that you may find useful.

http://forums.citrix.com/message.jspa?messageID=1614051#1614051

Regarding the SQL LUNs, in XenServer the only possible way to connect a LUN to a VM is using iSCSI with software initiators (I don't think that this is officially supported by NetApp, but I have done that without problems) because XenServer don't support Raw Device Mapping.

Cheers.

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