09-24-2014 01:20 AM
Hi All ,
I have the current case and need to clarify how right is the configuration:
I have an 5230 appliance as media server D model ,and initially all HBA port coming with initiator mode to be used as tape out and vmwre host. I will configure some SAN client to be connected to this appliance (Or to be zoned) ,so for this I have to enable FT SAN client inside the appliance to work as target mode.and the other will still works as initiater.
The question is regarding vmware host : I still need to have vmware host in initiater mode to worked proporly Right !!! But I'm going to take backup for VM's using SAN mode first. and all images will be kept in the appliance not on the SAN storage. The confustion is here :
When I'm using SAN client (the data flow from SAN client to the appliance directly through SAN Fabric and for this we configured the Appliance port as Target mode) clear and logic .
But for VMware Backup I see that we should have the same thing ( the data flow from the SAN storage(created snapshot ) to the Appliance but we have to configure the appliance port as initiater.
Could you please help in this : why for vmware host I have to use initiater mode instead of Target mode?
Regards,,,
Solved! Go to Solution.
09-24-2014 05:30 AM
Because technically the VADP backup host is reading from the VM storage, not being written to from it. Unlike SAN Client, where the client itself is pushing the data and sees the appliance port as the SAN target it is writing to.
I've over-simplified it a bit, but that's the basic way to think about it.
09-24-2014 05:44 AM
In the SAN Client Scenario you're changing the ports on the appliance to TARGET mode. Basically you're turning them into TAPE DRIVES as seen by the SAN CLIENT OS. The SAN Clients then think, great, I've got a tape drive connected I"ll write to it.
In the VMware SAN transport method, we are just getting access to the luns/disks where the vmdk's lie, so we can pull them / read them via the SAN instead of the via LAN.
09-24-2014 05:30 AM
Because technically the VADP backup host is reading from the VM storage, not being written to from it. Unlike SAN Client, where the client itself is pushing the data and sees the appliance port as the SAN target it is writing to.
I've over-simplified it a bit, but that's the basic way to think about it.
09-24-2014 05:44 AM
In the SAN Client Scenario you're changing the ports on the appliance to TARGET mode. Basically you're turning them into TAPE DRIVES as seen by the SAN CLIENT OS. The SAN Clients then think, great, I've got a tape drive connected I"ll write to it.
In the VMware SAN transport method, we are just getting access to the luns/disks where the vmdk's lie, so we can pull them / read them via the SAN instead of the via LAN.
09-24-2014 06:00 AM
Appreciate .
SAN Client configuration clear and good.
For vmware host You are right the vcenter create snapshot in the lun , and then vmware host (appliance) reading the snapshot and send it through SAN to the Appliance storage then the snapshot released .Because of this the port should be Always in initiater mode .
thanks I believe it is clear
regards