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HP P2000 G3 iSCSI MSA Array System as a NFS in Windows

 
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idasiak
Occasional Contributor

HP P2000 G3 iSCSI MSA Array System as a NFS in Windows

Hi Everybody :)

 

I need to ask your for help.

We have HP P2000 G3 iSCSI MSA Array System with BK829B iSCSI controller.

Now I configured all the parameters on the P2000 and it works ok.

 

What I want to acheve is that this array is visible as a network share on many Windows XP / 7 hosts.

How can I do it?

 

What I did up to now:

Solution 1

Connect the array to the network via one of iSCSI interfaces with proper IP. Use Windows iSCSI Initiator SW, integrate array to Windows Server 2003, create new dynamic disk and then make it a network share.

 

Solution 2

Connect P2000 to ESXi via iSCSI so it's visible as additional datastore with VMFS5.

 

Unfortunately both solutions don't fit to my needs.

I want to have separate VLAN for this and this P2000 should be visible over the network as a standalone NFS.

Solution 1 generates a lot of traffic in the network as host will write some data to mounted share -> this data is transfered to Windows Server 2003 -> over iSCSI connection it goes to P2000.

 

Solution 2 is poor, because I can't mount such datastore to my virtual machines (Windows XP, 7) on this ESXi.

 

 

Please help, as I run out of the ideas.

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

P.S. This thread has been moved from Storage Area Networks (SAN) > Storage Area Networks (SAN) (Small and Medium Business) to Disk Array.p-HP Forum Moderator

6 REPLIES 6
idasiak
Occasional Contributor

Re: HP P2000 G3 iSCSI MSA Array System as a NFS in Windows

Additionaly I can say, that the best possbility would be direct connection of this P2000 to our ESXi server, as our virtual machines will use this disk array.

PAC-MAN
Frequent Advisor

Re: HP P2000 G3 iSCSI MSA Array System as a NFS in Windows

hi Idasiak,

 

P2000 does not support direct NFS, It has to be zoned to a host and the LUN can be used in any way. But i dont think Storage management utility has such option to make a volume as NFS.

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David_Schwartzs
Honored Contributor

Re: HP P2000 G3 iSCSI MSA Array System as a NFS in Windows

HP's recommended solution to host SAN devices as NFS or SMB shares, essentially turning the SAN into a NAS, would be to use one of their NAS devices as a gateway.  You can use the StoreEasy 1000 or StoreEasy 3000 (formerly X1000 and X3000) series products to achieve this goal.  However, this is essentially the same thing you're currently doing with "Solution 1" as you noted yourself.

 

I'm curious, though, why "Solution 2" isn't working for you - if the primary use of the SAN is to store virtual machines and data from those virtual machines, using iSCSI should work fine and be ideal, and whichever VM the LUN is assigned to would see the iSCSI LUN as if it were a local hard drive.  Additionally, a VM running Windows could optionally enable file serving services to share that LUN out as a SMB share if more than one system needed access to a particular data set.

Regards,
--
David Schwartzstein
IT Channel Sales Expert / Solutions Architect

Currently looking for my next opportunity - http://www.linkedin.com/in/pctechyoda

If my post solves your problem, please kindly take a moment to mark my post as a solution. Thank you.
idasiak
Occasional Contributor
Solution

Re: HP P2000 G3 iSCSI MSA Array System as a NFS in Windows

Hi David Schwartzs,

 

I'm curious, though, why "Solution 2" isn't working for you - if the primary use of the SAN is to store virtual machines and data from those virtual machines, using iSCSI should work fine and be ideal, and whichever VM the LUN is assigned to would see the iSCSI LUN as if it were a local hard drive.  Additionally, a VM running Windows could optionally enable file serving services to share that LUN out as a SMB share if more than one system needed access to a particular data set.

 To have it clear - I don't want to store VMs on this HP P2000 disk array. I just want that all VMs host will be able to use this disk array, as a normal network share.

 

So if I understood you correctly, bold sentece means: connect HP P2000 via iSCSI to one of VMs, then start to share it from this VM, right?

 

If yes, then I already tried it ;)

 

 

 

 

David_Schwartzs
Honored Contributor

Re: HP P2000 G3 iSCSI MSA Array System as a NFS in Windows

Got it. And, yes, that's the recommended solution without buying new additional hardware, to have a single VM act as a file server gateway host to the storage.
Regards,
--
David Schwartzstein
IT Channel Sales Expert / Solutions Architect

Currently looking for my next opportunity - http://www.linkedin.com/in/pctechyoda

If my post solves your problem, please kindly take a moment to mark my post as a solution. Thank you.
idasiak
Occasional Contributor

Re: HP P2000 G3 iSCSI MSA Array System as a NFS in Windows

Ok, so I connected HP P2000 to dedicated VM with Windows Srv 2003, then share it and add special, dedicated VLAN for all this traffic, so it's separated.

 

Thanks for support.