Cluster dynamic disk group in VirtualBox

[mikebounds]

Has anyone being able to get cluster dynamic disk groups working in VirtualBox.  I have SFWHA 5.1 installed on W2003 and I can create a normal dynamic disk group, but I cannot create a cluster dynamic disk group on a fixed size shared disk - I get error message:

V-76-58645-585: Failed to reserve a majority of disks in cluster dynamic disk group

I think the issue is that I don't think VirtualBox supports SCSI II as when I use  "scsicmd -d1 -sscsi_reserved_status" it reports:

Failed SCSI-3 PR READ on Harddisk1, scsiStatus: 0x0, system error: 0x0

Harddisk1 is writable but it is not supporting SCSI-3 read.
SCSICMD can't determine whether Harddisk1 is being SCSI-2 reserved or not.

Wally says at https://www-secure.symantec.com/connect/forums/v-76-58645-585-failed-reserve-majority-disks-cluster-...

The second etrack is 2252699.  This one is a private patch that is only available through opening a support case.  This etrack adds support for internal disks to the Windows 2008 OS and it also includes the Windows 2003 drivers needed as well (I'm not sure if the Windows 2003 drivers are actually updated in this release or not.)

You will need to open a support case to get the private patch in etrack 2252699 to disable SCSI 2 reservations when using internal disks in an VCS cluster.

Has anyone got this patch and does it work on Windows 2003 - I only need it for lab set-up for virtual box on my laptop, so I'm not looking for any official support for this.

Mike

[Wally_Heim · Accepted solution]

Hi Mike,

The patches that disable SCSI reservations are no longer recommended.  Too many customers refused to follow directions with them and did not always use local disks.  This lead to data corruption.  As such, Symantec is not giving out those patches any more. 

Instead, we have new resources in the 6.x product that allow for Secondary diskgroups.  These resources do validation checks to ensure that they are used on a local I/O bus.  These are typically used in VMWare environments.

Everything that I find for Virtual Box states that it does not support scsi reservations.  Many people get around this by using iSCSI disks to a freenas or Microsoft iSCSI target server to get around this.  I use Microsoft iSCSI Target software in many lab kits here in Symantec without issues. I've heard some problems with freenas not supporting all SCSI-3 reservation commands, so I'm a little reluctant with using it without testing.

I hope this helps.

Thank you,

Wally