Adding external storage to HP Proliant G7

[fzdog2]

So I've been wanting to add a new datastore to my HP Proliant G7 ESXI 4.1 machine. The store does not need to be fast by any means, so i picked up some cheap 3tb hitachi 7200 rpm sata3 drives. Now I need to figure out the best way to make these drives available to make a new ESXI datastore.

Anybody have any insight or ideas?

 

[fzdog2]

Anyone? Usage will be for basic security camera recording and light file transfers.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Something like this?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816111099

 

[mv2devnull]

Physically, you want the drives in a box and cables connected. The 1U JBOD above would work, if "some" is at most 4 and your "Proliant G7" has four eSATA connectors. However, that requires something from the controller in G7 (of which I know nothing about).

Typically you would use a RAID-controller (or software RAID) to turn JBOD into storage volume. SAS cable rather than four eSATA between the boxes (real cheap ones would use USB). The next step in price is to have the RAID-controller in the storage box. You'd still need a cable: USB, SAS, Ethernet, or FibreChannel.


Apart from physical connection (but affecting you choices) is what the ESXI can do, how does it manage storage, etc. I assume that it is a commercial product and I've always been told that commercial solutions are so good due to you paying for support ...

 

[fzdog2]

The Proliant is a 2U HP server, I'd have to look and see if there are any open SAS channels to work with.

The ESXI from VMware creates a datastore that can be used by all virtual servers.

Something like this could work I guess, if the card can fit in a 2U rackmount.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16816111164