Best NFS Server on VmWare host

[TechBoyJK]

I have an environment setup in vmWare that has several web/application servers.

I need to present to them an NFS share with storage acquired from an iSCSI datastore. For simplicity, let's call it /files

As of now, I'm using CentOS Minimal, and only installing the bare essentials for hosting NFS. I setup the vm using local storage (about 8GB) and setup a 2nd hard drive using storage from an iSCSI (remote NAS) datastore. I mount that drive as /files on the server. Then, I setup an NFS share to /files so that the other (mostly centOS) servers can mount it.

Is there a better way? Should I be using a storage OS? Or is the need for a storage OS negated by the fact that I'm doing a basic NFS share and nothing more?

I'm exploring the possibility of having the remote NAS storage provided as an NFS share, and having the VM's mount directly to that. I haven't had a chance to try that yet though.

 

[smangular]

Best vm host for performance, security, simplicity, ...?

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Well I guess the initial thought I have reading this is why you don't have VMWare hosts read/write directly from iSCSI?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Well I guess the initial thought I have reading this is why you don't have VMWare hosts read/write directly from iSCSI?

Because iSCSI is block level - have you seen what happens when two VMs try to RW the same iSCSI LUN? Yikes.

@OP - that's fine. Most "storage OS" distributions are just Linux with a couple of performance tuning options set as default. You shouldn't have any trouble doing what you're doing.

 

[yinan]

This seems to be kind of a messed up way of doing this. Why not just present the iSCSI LUN to the hosts? This would cut down on one hop that is required to write data, and iSCSI is perfectly supported in ESXi.

Any current storage server product will have no problem with 2 ESXi hosts accessing a LUN.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Unless I'm really misunderstanding TOP, he's presenting the iSCSI LUN to a guest, to use as a file server, not using it as a VMware datastore.

 

[Emulex]

VMFS can handle shared ISCSI LUN's and dole it out to VM's properly as sliced up storage no problem (SCSI based).

Adding NFS through ISCSI is asking for latency issues aka the dreaded warnings in esxi event log that precurses datastore offline's.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

VMFS can handle shared ISCSI LUN's and dole it out to VM's properly as sliced up storage no problem (SCSI based).

Adding NFS through ISCSI is asking for latency issues aka the dreaded warnings in esxi event log that precurses datastore offline's.

Because iSCSI is block level - have you seen what happens when two VMs try to RW the same iSCSI LUN? Yikes.

@OP - that's fine. Most "storage OS" distributions are just Linux with a couple of performance tuning options set as default. You shouldn't have any trouble doing what you're doing.

Yes, I know exactly how it works, and as Emulex said, it's not a problem. VMWare can absolutely write multiple VM's to the same LUN. The vast majority of iscsi setups are logical based on set sizes or storage performance targets. I've seen very few environments where there is a dedicated LUN for every VM.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Yes, I know exactly how it works, and as Emulex said, it's not a problem. VMWare can absolutely write multiple VM's to the same LUN. The vast majority of iscsi setups are logical based on set sizes or storage performance targets. I've seen very few environments where there is a dedicated LUN for every VM.

Yeah, not for datastores, but OP isn't talking about datastores. At least I don't think so.

I have an environment setup in vmWare that has several web/application servers.

I think OP is talking about VMs.

I need to present to them an...

By "them", I'm assuming he means the VMs, not the VM hosts.

...NFS share with storage acquired from an iSCSI datastore. For simplicity, let's call it /files

Yes, VMware hosts can share an iSCSI LUN as a datastore, but the actual VM guests will only see stuff within their associated vmdks.

OP wants to present the same filesystem to a bunch of VMs so that:

...the other (mostly centOS) servers can mount it.

This is what NFS is designed for.

There may be a better way to accomplish what OP wants to, depending on the specific applications involved, etc., etc. But with the information presented, passing a LUN to a vm that plays file server is probably the best way to do it. ("It" being, "presenting the same file system to multiple servers with different operating systems.")

 

[thecoolnessrune]

If the above is really the case, then TechBoy gave a superior choice already at the end of his post:

I'm exploring the possibility of having the remote NAS storage provided as an NFS share, and having the VM's mount directly to that. I haven't had a chance to try that yet though.

Unless he has ridiculous bandwidth requirements (which I doubt given his current implementation requirements), and does not require some odd feature that his NAS does not already provide, having the share presented from the NAS is a far better idea, if anything just from a management perspective. That's one less device to go down and makes it less likely you'll get a Storage outage wreaking disaster on the environment.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

You're right that it'll probably be easier to manage. But a separate NAS appliance isn't "one less device to go down" - it's one more. (Unless OP doesn't have to manage it or be responsible for it. Then, well, yeah. Winning.)

...

Which one is cheaper?

 

[TechBoyJK]

Sorry for not jumping back into this

1) I need NFS so that multiple guest VM's can access the same share.
2) the vmWare Host machine will be delivered storage via iSCSI, configured as a datastor.
3) guest VM's can use both the local datastor or iSCSI datastore, depending on their application