Storage

Configure Synology

Configure the Synology with a static IP address.

Create a new user that we’ll use to mount the ISO:

Control Panel > User > Create
User Groups > choose http and users

Create Storage Pool

Storage Manager > Storage Pool > Create

Choose max size, RAID 5 (with 3 disks, this gives me ~7 TB usable storage with 3x4 TB disks)

Create Volume

Storage Manager > Volume > Create

Defaults are fine (Btrfs)

Create SSD Cache

Storage Manager > SSD Cache > Create

Add the 2 SSDs in RAID 1 configuration and attach to the volume.

Create Shared Folders

Create 2 shared folders: one for the ESXi ISO, and one as the main datastore for virtual machines.

Shared Folder 1 - ESXi ISO

Permissions: admin and (custom-username) read/write

Shared Folder 2 - Datastore

Select Hide this shared folder in “My Network Places”
Select Hide sub-folders and files from users without permissions
Disable Recycle Bin
NFS Permissions: create an entry for each ESXi IP address (default settings, Read/Write, asynchronous)
Permissions: admin read/write, everyone else no access

Setup a NFS Datastore

References

name: NFS_DATASTORE
server: 192.168.10.5 or 192.168.10.6 or carbonite.markalston.net
share: /volume1/Datastore
user: vmware
password: Cl0udFoundry!

Failed to mount NFS datastore Cannot open volume: /vmfs/volumes/bd2406e0-487aba0c-0000-000000000000 esxcfg-nas -d NFS_DATASTORE

vCenter backups nfs://carbonite.markalston.net:2049/volume1/backup http://carbonite.markalston.net:5000/backup/ admin nh4sRCiMicvA8SU

http://carbonite.markalston.net:5000/backup/vCenter/sn_vcenter.markalston.net/S_6.7.0.1400020210101-235906

nsxt backup fqdn: carbonite.markalston.net protocol: sftp port: 22 directory path: /backup/nsxt username: admin password: nh4sRCiMicvA8SU passphrase: Cl0udFoundry!

cleanup vcenter logs https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/83070

https://blog.iops.ca/2021/02/08/macos-how-to-guide-installing-vcenter-server-appliance-from-iso-directly/

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/7.0/com.vmware.vcenter.install.doc/GUID-1E39EF05-1DD7-4E9B-B9FE-6F373AA81862.html

macpro.markalston.net root Cl0udFoundry!

vcenter root R@d10head!@#$

harbor ssh -i ./harbor_id_rsa bitnami@harbor.markalston.net admin r7zqm0n10CIG

you create volumes then you create luns and map them to the volumes create targets when you create the luns connect hosts to targets using iscsi

click on storage adapters on each host, click on software iscsi

storage pool 1: volume 1: LUN-1,LUN-2,LUN-3: 3.2/4.7TB volume 2: LUN-4: 2TB/2.3TB

extents https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/02/vmfs-extents-are-they-bad-or-simply-misunderstood.html

i can look at iscsi manager in synology lab and see that target-1 has connections and the iqn tells me what to set the static target to when i add a static target in the “software iscsi” for the adapter. now when i create a new data store i should see the disks i want to use.

in the iSCSI Manager I have the following LUN to Target mappings

In vSphere, datastore LUN-2 is using Target-1 and mapped to LUNs in Synology like so: LUN-1 mapped to Target-1 LUN-2 mapped to Target-1 LUN-3 mapped to Target-1 LUN-4 mapped to Target-1

In vSphere, datastore SharedDatastore is using Target-2 and mapped to LUNs in Synology like so: LUN-1 mapped to Target-2 LUN-2 mapped to Target-2 LUN-3 mapped to Target-2 LUN-4 mapped to Target-2

LUN-1 on Volume 1 (1TB) LUN-2 on Volume 1 (1TB) LUN-3 on Volume 1 (1TB) LUN-4 on Volume 2 (2TB)

To update the mappings, select the target or lun in the iSCI Manager and edit it

In vSphere, after you’ve added the target to the iscsi software, you can create the datastore, but you can only select 1 partition at a time. You can add another extent by increasing the datastore size.

LUN-1: 1TB LUN-2: 1TB LUN-3: 1TB LUN-4: 1TB

Target-1 IQN: iqn.2000-01.com.synology:naslab.Target-1.7f8ac03c78 -> LUN-1, LUN-2 Target-2 IQN: iqn.2000-01.com.synology:carbonite.Target-2.7f8ac03c78 -> LUN-3, LUN-4

vsphere datastores:

LUN-2 -> Target-1 SharedDatastore -> Target-2

macpro iscsi iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:macpro.markalston.net:799408921:64

nuc1 iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:nuc1-3902918a

nuc2 iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:nuc2-747d192c

nuc3 iqn.1998-01.com.vmware:nuc3-1fcfc3af

https://serverfault.com/questions/549505/iscsi-luns-per-target Best practice is to have multiple LUN’s hanging off a single target. How many targets that is in total varies, as well as how many of those targets are actually exposing the same LUN’s. I tend to recommend one target per MPIO path your clients will set up, so if I’m setting up the system there’s going to be at least 2 targets (but they’re just part of the same Target Group and Target Portal Groups and are offering up the same views - it’s entirely for iSCSI MPIO).

The only reason to be going past 2 Targets is generally for logical separation brought on by business, network or other use-case specific pressures. 4, 8, and even up to 16 Targets is not that crazy, depending on the size and complexity of the environment. If you’re going over 16, especially by a lot, it’s increasingly possible you’ve got a mistake in the architecture and should engage an expert to review. If you’re making use of iSCSI MPIO (and you must, because if you’re not making use of iSCSI MPIO, probably the sole major win of zvols & iSCSI over filesystems & NFS is lost and there’s now very little upside to going iSCSI over NFS, and absolutely tons of downsides), you should also generally have an even number of Targets (2, 4, 6, 8, etc), with each pair offering up the same views (LUN’s).