Cannot Create ESXi Datastore on Volume Group

You've got two separate questions here.

1 - Cannot Create ESXi Datastore on Volume Group
Are you trying to present a VG to ESXi and run VMFS on it?

If so, that is not supported.

I'm curious though, what is your requirement that you'd need to run VMFS on a VG?

2 - Two node clusters
Also not supported.

Is there a specific requirement you're trying to fulfill?

Licensing avoidance? Solution cost? Form factor/physical space/power/cooling?

Hi Jon,

Thanks for reply,

For two nodes cluster is more like budget concern. The 6235C will be used for file sharing. Deploy the VM providing file sharing service. Any other option to achieve the goal ?

Regards
Budi

Note that the 6235C model, ending in the "C", is a "cold" node, and is not used to run VM's. It has just enough resources to run our software.

It's like a "smart" storage shelf/DAE.

You'd likely be looking at some NX-6035-G4's, which are similar form factor, but have enough resources to host your file server and more.

Also note that we can deploy a highly available high server within a cluster, called Acropolis File Servers

WRT Pricing - talk to your Nutanix account team, and they can try to work within your budgetary requirements (can't promise any pricing here, but it's worth a conversation with them).

Hi Jon,

If using NX-6035-G4, can we create cluster with only two nodes ?

Regards
Budi

Nutanix in general does not allow two node systems.

If price is the concern, have a conversation with your Nutanix account team to discuss your requirements for virtual workloads, and the associated project budget.

If you dont know who your account team is, feel free to drop me an email at jon@nutanix.com, I'd be happy to connect you to the right people.

Jon

hello jon,
I. I understand VG is for ISCSI protocol usecase. and there is a customer just prefer to using ISCSI then NFS in ESXI environment. When can VG be used ? and is there a plan to support VG/ISCSI with ESXI future ?

2. Vmware cluster/HA can use two server for working, What`s the reason nutanix don`t support two-node cluster ? roadmap plan ?

3. I have heard many times about Acropolis File service. What is it ? how it works ? CVM act as a traditional file server with large storage ? but I understand VCP platform is designed for Virtual environment only , not for other traditonal storage and file service !

RE iSCSI for ESXi vs NFS for ESXi
With Nutanix, the storage protocol should be almost 100% irrelevant. The user doesn't see it, they don't configure it, they don't touch it. We just make it easy for them

That isn't to say that one protcol is ultimately better than another; however, we've simply found that NFS works best with Nutanix and ESXi together, and we've literally got _thousands_ of implementations running this specific configuration (NFS with ESXi), and it works really, really well.


Also note, we have tested just about every combination you could imagine, and have found that NFS is best for ESXi/Nutanix, SMB3 for Hyper-V/Nutanix, and iSCSI for AHV/Nutanix.

If the client absolutely, positively needs to use iSCSI for their VM's virtual disks, let's get them configured with AHV hypervisor, which works great, and just so happens to use iSCSI as the protocol.

That said ... AHV + iSCSI is a background detail, the user still doesn't have to configure anything at all, we take care of that for them in the software configuration.

RE When can VG's be used
VG's should be used for either in-guest iSCSI (for Microsoft Clusters, as an example) or bare metal iSCSI connections using Nutanix as a storage array.

Otherwise, use the default mechanisms (NFS for ESXi, SMB3 for Hyper-V, and iSCSI for AHV) and you'll be good to go.


RE two node clusters
I commented about this in two of your other posts, see those ones

For others reading this, no, we do not currently support 2 node clusters, and have yet to find a technical requirement that can't be satisfied by a 3 node cluster. The only constraint we've found in the field is cost, and we've addressed that with the new SMB and ROBO bundles, as well as the SX product line, so cost should be taken care of in most situations.

RE Acropolis File Services
First, read this section of the Nutanix Bible: http://nutanixbible.com/#anchor-file-services-75

Secondly, as you've read in the Bible, this is a new feature to Nutanix that was recently released as a beta/tech preview in NOS 4.6.

AFS will allow you to host a highly available, scale out file server on the Nutanix cluster.