3PAR virtual copies in 3PAR management console vs in vCenter

[mujzeptu]

As the title states, I am wondering what the differences are between using the 3PAR management console to make Virtual Copies of VMFS datastore LUNs (all vCenter environment) vs using the vcenter plugin.

I know that the vCenter plugin allows users to schedule and use virtual copies within the client, and that it takes a VMFS snapshot prior to the virtual copy, but I am not finding much else?

The reason I ask is we seem to have nothing but issues with RMV and vCenter integration. We constantly see issues quiescing and it fails the job, if we restore a version of a VM in the VC tree it now shows the VC schedule associated with both vms? We also have issues with the RMV services and communicating between vcenter and the 3par and all of this of course kills our VC schedule.

I am debating just doing all VC's within 3PAR management console and removing the vCenter plugin usage and scheduling. What will I lose by doing this? What gotchas or potential risks/issues am I not realizing or accounting for?

[hdtvguy]

The vcenter plugin is a dog, we gave up on it. IF you have a small array you may be fine, but I have 2 arrays and hundreds of VVs and the plugin is unusable.

[nsnidanko]

. We constantly see issues quiescing and it fails the job, if we restore a version of a VM in the VC tree it now shows the VC schedule associated with both vms?

How many VMs do you have per datastore (VV). According to support max of 8 VMs per datastore, anything above and you will have issues.

[mujzeptu]

Yeah, we have about 75 VMs spread across ~40 datastores. It just seems inconsistent and unreliable.

I am curious on no more than 8 vms per datastore? What kind of issues will you begin to have?

I am thinking I will just schedule a job to do every LUN(datastore) within 3PAR management console, and drop the plugin usage.

Does this mean it will not be able to grab what is in memory of running vms? So I wont get anything actively running?

[hdtvguy]

If you look in the script forum I have some scripts posted that I use to snap vmware luns. IT will go datastore by datastore and snaps the VMs then snap the lun then throw away the vm snap. It has the option to try and quiesce the VMs as well, but I find that to be a pain in the ....

The script also names the array snap with a name that includes the date and time in the snap name to make working with the snaps easier.

[nsnidanko]

Yeah, we have about 75 VMs spread across ~40 datastores. It just seems inconsistent and unreliable.

I am curious on no more than 8 vms per datastore? What kind of issues will you begin to have?

We were told if you have more than 8 VMs per datastore RMV software might fail to quiesce properly (via VMware tools), thus you will end up with not consistent snapshot.
We were looking to use it for our DR purposes but quickly dismissed this idea.

Page 27 HP 3PAR Management Plug-In and Recovery Manager 2.5.0 for VMware vSphere VI Client User's Guide:

In order to maintain a VM consistent Virtual Copy, a VMFS snapshot will be created before creating
an HP 3PAR Virtual Copy and the VMFS copy will be deleted when the HP 3PAR Virtual Copy is
created. HP 3PAR Virtual Copies and VMFS snapshots cannot coexist. HP 3PAR Virtual Copy
creation in VM, Datastore, or Remote Copy will fail if there are preexisting VMFS snapshots for
the VM.

Additional licenses required for basic functionality:

The HP 3PAR Virtual Lock license is required for setting retention policies in Virtual Copy
creation. RMV will check for an existing HP 3PAR Virtual Lock license on the Storage System
when a Virtual Copy is created with retention. However, it is not mandatory to have a Virtual
Lock license.

Everything has to be scheduled under one account, and if your have multiple people managing VMware infrastructure it becomes a nightmare to manage.

[mujzeptu]

Yeah, so it is really sounding like I will just drop the vCenter plugin. I will lose the ability to do quiesce the vm, but in 3PAR management console I can at least manage the virtual copies of each LUN easier and still have a "backup" if necessary. All we are really trying to do is have 15 days worth retention with a VC taken every 24 hours in case a mistake is made and they need to revert the server (test environment).

Does all the vCenter plugin do is allowing quiesceing and allow vCenter users access to virtual copies? It just feels so beta and so sloppy that it cant be relied on... :/

[hdtvguy]

Go look at the script I posted here:

viewtopic.php?f=17&t=830

PowerCLI and Powershell are your friends. I automate the snapping of over 800 VMs every day and then snap the respective VVs. The script can do a standard snap of the VM or actually do a quiesced snap. I am not the best scrip writer, but th script works and at least can give you a framework to tweak for yourself.

[mujzeptu]

Great, thanks HDTVGuy!