On Tue, 19 Jun 2012 07:47:10 -0400 Tanstaafl <tansta...@libertytrek.org> wrote:
> Hi everyone, > > Ok, here's my dilemma... > > I have some new Dell R515 servers (12 bay versions). These do not > have any Dell supported internal SD (or CF) card options for the > hypervisor, but they do have an internal 2.5" dual SATA/SAS drive > cage, for running a bootable OS (in my case the ESXi hypervisor)... > > Well, I really hate the idea of wasting money and disk space (for 2 > 146GB SAS drives to be run in a mirror, what is being recommended to > me) on something that only requires about 32MB to install (the > hypervisor) when apparently there is a really cool option like: > > for CF cards: > http://www.addonics.com/products/ad2sahdcf.php > > or > > for SD cards: > http://www.addonics.com/products/ad2sahdcf.php > > I could get 2 of these for each server, each with a mirrored pair of > CF (or SD) cards (mirror mode is defined by a jumper or switch on the > adapter), then mirror those (in the BIOS), which would result in a > total of FOUR CF (or SD) redundant cards (a mirror of 2 mirrored > pairs) for the hypervisor... and I can do this for quite a bit less > than even a SINGLE 146GB SAS drive... > > Is there any reason NOT to do this? > > What am I missing (other than the fact that Dell won't support this > config, but I'm not using them for software support anyway)? > > Appreciate any/all comments... > > Charles > > With my last batch of ESX hosts, someone "forgot" to order the R710 SD internal add-on. But it has 8 x 600M SAS drives.... So what I did is configured all drives as a RAID 10 and let ESX grab enough for the hypervisor and leave the rest for regular storage. I figured that ESX is an appliance anyway, there's nothing on it I can't get back by running the installer again, I have backups of the isos and templates. And if a drive pokes and takes out a guest, I still equally screwed regardless of whether I gave some space away to the hypervisor or not. -- Alan McKinnnon alan.mckin...@gmail.com
