VMware published KB Article 1037959 ( http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1037959 ) on April 18, 2011 in an effort to clarify VMware’s position on running Microsoft Clustering technologies on vSphere. Below is a snapshot of the support matrix published by VMware in the KB (always refer to KB 1037959 for the most current information).
For those familiar with VMware’s previous position on Microsoft Clustering, you will notice a couple changes. First, VMware has made a distinction in Microsoft Clustering technologies by segmenting them into Shared disk and Non-shared Disk.
Shared Disk – solution in which the the data resides on the same disks and the VMs share the disks (think MSCS)
Non-shared Disk – solution in which the data resides on different disks and uses a replication technology to keep the data in sync (think Exchange 2007 CCR / 2010 DAG).
Next, VMware has extended support for Microsoft Clustering to include In-Guest iSCSI for MSCS.
For those interested in leveraging Microsoft SQL Mirroring, the KB states that VMware does not consider Microsoft SQL Mirroring a clustering solution and will fully support Microsoft SQL Mirroring on vSphere.
Under the Disk Configurations section of the KB, the KB discusses how if using VMFS, the virtual disks used as shared storage for clustered virtual machines must reside on VMFS datastores and must be created using the eagerzeroedthick option. The KB provides detail on how to create the eagerzeroedthick disks for both ESX and ESXi via command line or GUI. Additional information regarding eagerzeroedthick can be found in KB article 1011170 (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1011170). Something to note in KB 1011170, at the bottom of the article it states using the vmkfstools –k command you can convert a preallocated (eagerzeroed) virtual disk to eagerzeroedthick and maintain any existing data. Note, the VM must be powered off for this action.
In closing, the VMware support statement exists to explicitly define what VMware will and will not support. It is very important for you to remember these support statements do not make any determination (either directly or indirectly) about what the software ISV (Independent Software Vendor) will and will not support. So be sure to review the official support statements from your ISV and carefully choose the configuration that makes sense for your organization and will be supported by each vendor.
For those familiar with VMware’s previous position on Microsoft Clustering, you will notice a couple changes. First, VMware has made a distinction in Microsoft Clustering technologies by segmenting them into Shared disk and Non-shared Disk.
Next, VMware has extended support for Microsoft Clustering to include In-Guest iSCSI for MSCS.
For those interested in leveraging Microsoft SQL Mirroring, the KB states that VMware does not consider Microsoft SQL Mirroring a clustering solution and will fully support Microsoft SQL Mirroring on vSphere.
Under the Disk Configurations section of the KB, the KB discusses how if using VMFS, the virtual disks used as shared storage for clustered virtual machines must reside on VMFS datastores and must be created using the eagerzeroedthick option. The KB provides detail on how to create the eagerzeroedthick disks for both ESX and ESXi via command line or GUI. Additional information regarding eagerzeroedthick can be found in KB article 1011170 (http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1011170). Something to note in KB 1011170, at the bottom of the article it states using the vmkfstools –k command you can convert a preallocated (eagerzeroed) virtual disk to eagerzeroedthick and maintain any existing data. Note, the VM must be powered off for this action.
In closing, the VMware support statement exists to explicitly define what VMware will and will not support. It is very important for you to remember these support statements do not make any determination (either directly or indirectly) about what the software ISV (Independent Software Vendor) will and will not support. So be sure to review the official support statements from your ISV and carefully choose the configuration that makes sense for your organization and will be supported by each vendor.
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