Microsoft DSM Question

[Claritytech]

We are working with production Storevirtual VSA with a Hyper-V cluster and we've had some trouble with iSCSI reconnecting after switch failures so we're thinking about trying the Microsoft DSM instead of the HP DSM to simplify things, but I have a question.

When the Microsoft DSM connects to the VIP, it creates a single iSCSI session (Data + Control) per volume and seems to balance somehow (half to one Node and half to the other). I'm wondering what happens if the node it's connected to goes down? I know the VIP will move (eventually if the node was the VIP owner), but will the iSCSI initiator with the Microsoft DSM only figure out that it needs to reconnect to the other nodes and if so, will it happen fast enough to not take down the Hyper-V volumes?

If anyone has had any experience with the Microsoft DSM during a node maintenance or failure and can let me know, I would appreciate it. Testing is difficult because this system is in production. Thanks! 

[oikjn]

Are you 100% sure the issue is with the HP DSM?  The function itself is pretty basic and much more optimized than the MS one.  It has been stable and working fine for years.  I would sooner make sure you actually configured it correctly than try and switch to the MS one. 

When you say reconnection problems, is that at the initiator level or is that the individual MPIO link connection you are having trouble with.  If its not the MPIO level, changing the DSM will not likely help.