[Info-vax] Hypervisors and clusters
Mark Berryman
mark at theberrymans.com
Fri Jan 22 20:11:52 EST 2021
As far as I know, there are currently only two ways to build a VMS
cluster where every node has direct access to storage - either a shared
SCSI cluster or using SAN-based storage.
I can't use a NAS because the only protocols on a NAS that present a raw
disk to the host are iSCSI and fibre channel. If I try to run the iSCSI
initiator on a current version VMS, it crashes the system. If there is
a NAS out there that offers fibre channel support usable by VMS, I
haven't found it.
My cluster is currently SAN-based. That means that all disks are named
$1$DGAn: That means that, in order for a virtual host to join this
cluster and have direct access to the storage, the virtual host has to
think it is talking to an HBA. It can't be something mapped to a disk
available to the host system. Are there any hypervisors out there that
will pass access to a local HBA directly to the guest host? If so, does
the guest host need a driver for that specific HBA or does the
hypervisor map it somehow?
My specific situation:
All of my non-VMS systems are Macs. I have no Windows, Linux, or other
systems. The HBA on the Macs is plugged into a thunderbolt port. Now,
since I doubt thunderbolt support is being added to VMS as part of the
port, I'm wondering if a virtual host is going to work for me.
If so, great. If not, is it known yet what generations of the DL380 are
going to be known to work with VMS 9.1 or 9.2?
Mark Berryman
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