MSA1000 and vSphere (ESX4)

[Albatross]

Hi Folks,

We've got an MSA1000 running fine with ESX3.5 and Firmware v.7. The MSA is under an extended warranty contract.

I've just checked SPOCK and it shows no official support for ESX4 with an MSA1000. Cross-checking with VMware HCL yields the same result.

Due to budget constrains the MSA could not be replaced in the near future, but the ESX4 upgrade is imminent...

Do you have any experience regarding a setup like this?

In the VMware Community forums I found at least 1 working occurrence of this scenario, do you think it is viable?

Thanks a lot for any insight!

Albatross

[Amol Garge]

Hi,

No info on SPOCK or HCL does not mean it will not work.
It simply means that not ALL the scenarios have been tested with the OS.
So, in my opinion, the hardware will work just fine, but the MSA may not behave as expected under certain situation.
but, since the ESX is going to be upgraded anyway, you don't have a choice, do you?

[dphillips]

I've got the MSA1000 as well and I'm in the process of consolidating servers. I was really disappointed to see that the MSA1000 isn't support.

I'm assuming this has to do with the "End of life" status of the MSA1000 and the fact that the VMWare folks aren't going to certify it for use with the vSphere suite.

Does this mean it doesn't work?

What was your solution or have you done anything to test?

[Albatross]

Hi,

We made a little testing, and it basically worked OK, light VMs only.

In our final report to management we recommended to buy a new MSA array to decrease risks.

Thanks,