Setting up Hyper-V lab, ?'s about iSCSI

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Vader

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I'm in the process of setting up a Hyper-V lab as we are going to be hosting a system very shortly that will mirror my lab environment, with much better hardware of course. My server admin up and quit on me and my expertise is Network/Telephony..very little Storage experience. Until I find another Server admin, i'm it...lol.

Anyway, here is my test equipment:

Dell Powedge 1950 Quad Nics: Windows Server 2008 R2
WorkStation (Acting as a Hyper V Server): Quad Core q9300/8GB Memory 3 Nics: Windows Server 2008 R2

The PowerEdge 1950 will house the storage for the VM's. I'm a little confused on how to create my iSCSI target in Windows Server 2008 R2. From the searches I found, mostly talks about Windows Storage Server and using the Microsoft iSCSI console to create the target. I also need to create a storage area to accomodate the SQL Database.

My question is do I need Storage server or will Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise allow me to do that?

I'm not really that concerned with the client piece as of yet..it's pretty straight forward from what i've read. I just need to create the VHD's on the 1950 and setup those to be accessed from the Hyper-V VM's.

End state, I need to have:
1 Physical Server to accomodate storage for bootable VM's and SQL Server Dbase.
1 Physical Server for Hyper-V
1 Hyper-V VM: Application Server
1 Hyper-V VM: SQL Server 2008 Enterprise
1 Hyper-V VM: Web Server
 
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Windows Server does not have an iscsi target software builtin.

You either need Storage Server (OEM only) or thirdparty software.
I would suggest starwind iSCSI
 
How much space do you need? Another option is to install Ubuntu 10.04 server in a Hyper-V VM and use that as your iSCSI host.
 
Not much really...it's only a lab..i'm using the Starwind software as suggested....setting up my VM's now..then i'll install the iSCSI initiator then see if I can connect.

Are there any options booting from iSCSI?
 
The Microsoft iSCSI Target software is free to DL on MSDN if you have an account.
 
nitro, appreciate it..the starwind software worked like a charm very easy to setup. I have the free version for now..and I have two hyper-v 2008 R2 Enterprise servers connected. Works very well.

In the prod environment, we will probably be using an EMC CX300 so it's definately going to be different becuase it's FC. Now I have to get familiar with Navisphere and FC.

Prod will contain:

Application:
1. 2 Physical Web Clustered 2008 R2 Ent
2. 2 Physical SQL Clustered 2008 R2 Ent/SQL 2008 Ent
3. 2 Physical App Clustered 2008 R2 Ent

Custom:
1. 1 Physical PIN Indentifier Server 2008 R2 Ent
2. 1 Physical SQL 2008 R2 Ent/SQL 2008 Ent
3. 1 Physical Web 2008 R2 Ent

Test:
1. 1 Physical Web, 3 Hyper-V Web 2008 R2 Ent
2. 1 Physical SQL, 3 Hyper-V SQL 2008 R2 Ent/SQL 2008 Ent
3. 1 Physical App, 3 Hyper-V App 2008 R2 Ent

Development:
1. 1 Physical Web, 3 Hyper-V Web 2008 R2 Ent
2. 1 Physical SQL, 3 Hyper-V SQL 2008 R2 Ent/SQL 2008 Ent
3. 1 Physical App, 3 Hyper-V App 2008 R2 Ent


Now I have to figure out SAN Storage. We currently have 2 x 16Pt Broacade FC Switches but there is only 8 channels left so I want to upgrade to 2 x 32Pt Broacades and replace the 16's and still have left over capacity over this environment.

I'm a little confused on storage, however. For the SQL DB's, would RAID 10 Arrays suffice? The SQL servers will have dual HBA connections to the Broacades. I've read that SQL tends to take a lot of I/O so will I need Separate RAID 10 arrays with their own disks?

I also want to house the Hyper-V VM's on the SAN as well for the Test and Dev environments in two shared Mirrored arrays, thoughts?

Any of you storage experts have any advice on this?
 
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