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OpenSolaris/ESXi network config question

T

TheLastBoyscout

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 13, 2011
Messages
142
My test setup:
All-in-one server using ESXi 4.1.0 348481 (free) on Supermicro X8DTL-3, a 60GB SATA drive provides storage for OI_148b. LSI1068E SAS controller is "VT-d passed through" to the Openindiana VM to provide the data storage for the other VMs.
The 'external' (building) GigE network I'm dealing with is controlled by a Win2008 AD server (DHCP) - I have no control over the assigned IP addresses or IP address reservation.

Now, I want to access the ZFS pool that contains the VM images from the outside of the box (for backup), so I have the following assumptions:
1. I need to have a valid IP address assigned by the Win2008 server (via DHCP). Since this data is leaving the Supermicro X8DTL-3 box, OI needs to have access to the physical network ports (via a VLAN) and needs to be configured to use DHCP.
2. To provide storage for the VMs to ESXi, I want/should use the much faster vmxnet3 network 'adapter'.
3. This means I have to create a additional completely virtual VLAN (between OI and ESXi only).
4. Since this is an 'internal' network that is not connected to the external/building network, it needs to be a static IP network.

The above leads me to a configuration like this:
1ow07t.png


Did I miss something so far? Assumimg that I think too complicated, the simpler scenario where I have a single network adapter (vmxnet3) in OI connected to the a single VLAN that is also connected to vmnic0/1 (the building network), would mean that OI would get its IP address from the Win2008 AD server and thus the IP address of the VM storage pool is not 'fixed' (as the DHCP server might decide to change IP address assignments) and I could loose the data storage, right?

If my assumptions are all correct so far, this means that I need to configure OI to use two network adapters:
e1000g0: DHCP (default gateway device)
vmxnet3s0: static (e.g. 192.168.0.2/8)

How do I accomplish this? With the pictured configuration, I've tried this using the UI utilities, but after a reboot the static IP for the vmxnet3 adapter is always reset to "0.0.0.0". I found some threads about nwam not supporting multiple, differenly configured network adapters, but those were older articles, so I am not sure whther this is still true for OI_148b.

Thanks for your help!
-TLB
 
I think you are overcomplicating things. OI should use dhcp by default, so that is easy. The assumption that vmxnet3 is much faster is not really true, in my experience. On top of which, it seems buggy under opensolaris - I had to remove it and config OI with an e1000. Note that between VMs on the same machine (OI and say, ubuntu), I routinely get more than 3gbp/sec. Just because the e1000 is a gigabit adapter doesn't mean it's limited to gigabit speeds when virtualized. I would just stick the with basic single NIC DHCP setup.
 
I see. So assume that I have a single VLAN which connects to the 'external' (i.e. building) network which is also used by ESXi to access the storage provided by OI (via NFS), wouldn't I run in into the problem that ESXi cannot find the NFS storage, whenever the Win2008 AD server 'decides' to re-assign the IP addresses?
My understanding is that I have to provide the IP address of the NFS storage to ESXi so that it can find it. Is there a different way that does not primarily rely on IP addresses directly (i.e. via host names)?

-TLB
 
Oh, I see what you're concerned about. There is no way to get a static IP from whoever runs the DHCP server?
 
YEAH !!! Finally it works:


danswartz' link above and some examples from here did it!

Already got my first Windows OS installed without any problems!!!

Now, I probably have to tear it all down to reproduce (and document) all steps required :eek:

-TLB
 
An alternative I never thought of until now: enable IPv6 on ESXi. Use the IPv6 link-local address to connect the NFS datastore to the OI VM... It should work...
 
danswartz said:
An alternative I never thought of until now: enable IPv6 on ESXi. Use the IPv6 link-local address to connect the NFS datastore to the OI VM... It should work...
Click to expand...
Hm, I have basically no experience with IPv6 yet, but don't I need a DHCP server for the IPv6 local network with that setup as well? Or is the trick that OI treats IPv4 and IPv6 completely different, so that the 'typical' problems with multiple NICs (that all use IPv4) don't apply here?
 
Update: I just went through the same routine with OpenIndiana 151 on a different system and was able to configure the network within the OI GUI without any problems: One NIC on DHCP and another one using static IP.

-TLB
 
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