Support for Microsoft clusters using FC RDM LUNs

SnapDrive provides support for Microsoft clusters using FC RDM LUNs on two different virtual machines that belong to two different ESX servers. This is also known as across-the-box clusters.

The following configuration requirements must be met in order to use FC RDM LUNs on virtual machines in a Microsoft cluster:

The virtual machines must be running the same Windows server version.
Virtual machines must both be running either Windows server 2003 or Windows server 2008.
ESX server versions must be the same for each VMware parent host.
Each parent host must have at least two network adapters.
VMware recommends that the shared datastore should be created on an FC SAN; however, the shared datastore can also be created over iSCSI.
The shared RDM LUN must be in physical compatibility mode.
A SCSI controller must be configured on each virtual machine in the cluster in physical compatibility mode.
Windows Server 2003 requires you to configure the LSI Logic SCSI parallel controller on each virtual machine, and Windows Server 2008 requires you to configure the LSI Logic SAS SCSI controller on each virtual machine.

SCSI controllers of type paravirtual are not supported on VMware Microsoft clusters.

Note: When you add a SCSI controller to a shared LUN on a virtual machine in physical compatibility mode, you must select the Raw Device Mappings option and not the Create a new disk option in the VMware Infrastructure Client.
Microsoft virtual machine clusters cannot be part of a VMware cluster.
You must use VCenter credentials and not ESX credentials when you install SnapDrive for Windows on virtual machines that will belong to a Microsoft cluster.
A single initiator group must be created for both nodes in the cluster.
You can create the initiator group automatically during disk creation or connection using the SnapDrive MMC. SnapDrive automatically selects an FC initiator from each of the ESX servers in the cluster. You can also create the initiator groups manually. If initiator groups do not already exist, you must create one manually on the storage system.