This chapter outlines how to configure an Oracle VM 2.2 pool with SAN, iSCSI and NFS back-end storage. The chapter also covers guest front-end storage options and configurations. The chapter starts with an overview of the Oracle VM storage stack, followed by an introduction to Oracle VM back-end storage options, configurations and considerations. Next, we will summarize storage administration with Oracle VM 2.2 followed by example root and extended storage repository (SR) configurations using SAN, iSCSI and NFS storage arrays. The chapter concludes with a review Oracle VM guest front-end storage options and configurations.
Table of Contents
An Oracle VM storage solution consists of three distinct layers. Each layer has its own unique requirements, configurations, dependencies and features. The first layer is the storage array, which is referred to as back-end storage. Oracle VM supports local, SAN, iSCSI and NFS back-end storage. The second layer is the server layer, which consists of the Oracle VM server storage configurations and the virtual machine file system, i.e. the Oracle Cluster File System 2 (OCFS2) or NFS. Oracle VM supports a wide variety of configurations for SAN, iSCSI and NFS storage arrays. The third layer is the guest front-end storage, which consists of multiple guest storage and driver options.
Note: Oracle VM supports both local and shared back-end storage. Local storage refers to a file system that can only be accessed by a single Oracle VM server. This chapter covers shared back-end storage supporting a clustered multi server pool environment, not local storage.
Figure 1 shows a high-level overview of the three layers of the storage stack with a virtual machine running on an Oracle VM server, connected to a storage array. At the bottom of the stack is the storage array. The storage array layer is where the physical disks are managed and presented to the Oracle VM pool members as logical disks. Above the storage array is the server layer. The server layer is where the storage configurations and the OCSF2 or NFS virtual machine file system (the cluster stack) are managed. At the top of the stack is the virtual machine layer. The virtual machine layer is where virtual machine storage is presented to the virtual machine by the Oracle VM server.
Figure 1 shows the Oracle VM storage stack.
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