best practices for vSphere 4.1 on NFS

[ajay_nabh]

Hi Guys

we have ESX 3.5U4 and ONTAP 7.3.2P4. 2 FAS 3040 running in active active HP Proliant 460c and 490G6 on NFS. we want to upgrade to vSphere 4.1.

Are there any best practices for  vSphere 4.1? I have best practices doc which is for 4.0

Do I need to worry about making any changes in NetApp Setup?

we are alreay complying with ESX 3.5 best practices excep EHU not installed which I am planing to install with vSphere 4.1!!

Thanks a lot for any contribution, will appreciate if you guys could share your experiences

Regards

Ajay

[thomas_glodde]

Ajay,

you should stick to TR-3749, best practices for vSphere.

Also be sure to install Virtual Storage Console 2.0 which serves as a host utils replacement for vSphere 4.1. vSphere needs ONTAP 7.3.1.1 or above btw.

Kind regards

Thomas

[ajay_nabh]

Thomas

brilliant, I don't need to worry about installing EHU then, also SMVI and RCU!! good work by NetApp!!

So you are saying TR3749 is the doc i should be refering for vSphere 4.1, Right? nothing has changed from NetApp's perspective in 4.1?

Thanks a lot

Cheers

Ajay

[radek_kubka]

Ajay,

There are some new features in 4.1, like Storage & Network I/O Control which aren't (yet) covered in the TR in question - it's beyond my knowledge when it gets updated.

Having said that, there are many principles which haven't changed from 4.0 to 4.1, so the TR3749 is still a (very) valuable resource

Regards,
Radek

[dbkelly]

Ajay,

VSC 2.0 will ensure all your ESX 4.1 hosts follow NetApp Best Practices.    Its installs on a Windows Management server (yes, it can be installed on the same server as your vCenter Server), and communicates with your ESX hosts using APIs.   You do not need to install anything on the ESX hosts anymore.