I made a HOW-TO and some Scripts.

tig_jeff · Fri Jan 19, 2018 9:04 pm

Everyone-
I have written up some instructions for those having issues and want to get going quick.
You can see them on my FreshDesk site:
http://theinternetguy.freshdesk.com/sup ... 2016-core-

I've included some modified scripts (Thank You StarWind for the base of my scripts) you can download.

I hope this helps.
If you encounter problems, please let me know.

Sat Jan 20, 2018 12:06 pm

Thanks for sharing this with the community.

tig_jeff · Sat Jan 20, 2018 5:22 pm

Boris-
Very, very welcome.

I had been working with sales and tech support last year to do a comprehensive write-up on this for my Blog.
However, at the time, there were some things that were not working 100% in the StarWindX PowerShell module and I put it on pause.

I recently got back to it and have tried a couple of things with VMs as well as physical machines.

The performance, in the example I posted, is (what I would consider) horrible... it is 2 VMs on one machine... on standard desktop drives... with 2GB of ram.
This performance is not due to the StarWind vSAN product... but the environment it put it in (JUST TO BE CLEAR).
But, for testing and practice... It is a good start.

I'm anxious to see what other features you will incorporate into the StarWindX PowerShell module as time goes on.

And to everyone else-
I would also like to say this...
I could not have done any of my testing and script writing without the help and support of the StarWind Support Engineers and the community that is actively involved.

I would also like to say...
If you really want to use the StarWind vSAN product in production... buy it. The GUI makes life so much easier!!
And, you get top notch support with your purchase.

And, if your have read this far...
Keep you eye on this thread. I'll be posting links to more HOW-TO articles as time goes on.
Up next is getting a 2 node HA Hyper-V cluster rolling using vSAN Free, Hyper-V Core and RSAT for Windows 10!!! i.e., FREE CLUSTERING!!!

Mon Jan 22, 2018 8:38 am

The performance, in the example I posted, is (what I would consider) horrible... it is 2 VMs on one machine... on standard desktop drives... with 2GB of ram.
This performance is not due to the StarWind vSAN product... but the environment it put it in (JUST TO BE CLEAR).
But, for testing and practice... It is a good start.

Indeed, this setup is very far from the minimum hardware and networking specs recommended by StarWind. But again, for tests and tries that would be a good fit for sure.

Keep you eye on this thread. I'll be posting links to more HOW-TO articles as time goes on.
Up next is getting a 2 node HA Hyper-V cluster rolling using vSAN Free, Hyper-V Core and RSAT for Windows 10!!! i.e., FREE CLUSTERING!!!

I believe your articles will be useful for the community. Keep doing this great job.

tig_jeff · Wed Jan 24, 2018 2:20 pm

UPS driver dropped off my Mellanox 10Gbe adapters and cable today!!
Will be doing an update to my original HOW-TWO with PRODUCTION in mind.

This will be done on two Dell CS24-NV7 servers with 64GB RAM, 12 AMD Cores and multiple disks... each.

Hoping to knock this out in a week or two...

...stay tuned!

Wed Jan 24, 2018 5:25 pm

Well... If you want more as part of the StarWindX please let us know: we have a dedicated engineer working on it (+there's web-based UI based on StarWindX on the way) so you have some great chances to see what you want.

If you want the whole process being put on steroids please drop me a line to anton AT starwind DOT com and I think I could help

Thank you for your efforts! Great job!

Anton

tig_jeff wrote:Boris-
Very, very welcome.

I had been working with sales and tech support last year to do a comprehensive write-up on this for my Blog.
However, at the time, there were some things that were not working 100% in the StarWindX PowerShell module and I put it on pause.

I recently got back to it and have tried a couple of things with VMs as well as physical machines.

The performance, in the example I posted, is (what I would consider) horrible... it is 2 VMs on one machine... on standard desktop drives... with 2GB of ram.
This performance is not due to the StarWind vSAN product... but the environment it put it in (JUST TO BE CLEAR).
But, for testing and practice... It is a good start.

I'm anxious to see what other features you will incorporate into the StarWindX PowerShell module as time goes on.

And to everyone else-
I would also like to say this...
I could not have done any of my testing and script writing without the help and support of the StarWind Support Engineers and the community that is actively involved.

I would also like to say...
If you really want to use the StarWind vSAN product in production... buy it. The GUI makes life so much easier!!
And, you get top notch support with your purchase.

And, if your have read this far...
Keep you eye on this thread. I'll be posting links to more HOW-TO articles as time goes on.
Up next is getting a 2 node HA Hyper-V cluster rolling using vSAN Free, Hyper-V Core and RSAT for Windows 10!!! i.e., FREE CLUSTERING!!!

tig_jeff · Fri Jan 26, 2018 4:15 pm

Started the next HOW-TO.
You can find the layout and sketch of what I'm planning here: http://theinternetguy.freshdesk.com/sup ... 2016-core-

I'll be working through this 6 NIC setup over the next week.
Once complete, I'll be replacing the quad port NIC with a 10Gbe NIC.

Stay tuned!!

Fri Jan 26, 2018 5:12 pm

tig_jeff,

Thanks for your efforts. It will be great to see the resulting article. Keep us posted.

tig_jeff · Fri Mar 09, 2018 2:49 pm

EVERYONE-
I'm so sorry... work has been so busy that I have not had a chance to work on my 2 node / 6 NICs / HA Hyper-V Cluster how-to.

I've got a bit of a back-log but will work on this as soon as I can.

Sorry for the delay guys.

Sat Mar 10, 2018 3:26 pm

No worries, tig_jeff. I believe everyone will be interested in reading about your experience. So, let us know when your article is ready.

tig_jeff · Fri Jun 01, 2018 1:43 pm

Okay... I'm back... sorta.

I'm working on using Mellanox 10Gbe adapters (passively connected) and two 1Gbe adapters for a "free" Hyper-V cluster.

I did this because using my quad-port 1Gbe adapter proved to have poor performance when the NICs were not bonded (preferred configuration from StarWind).

I'm working to get the TOTALLY FREE HYPER-V CLUSTER going right now! Like today (6/1/2018)!!

Stay posted.

Wed Jun 06, 2018 7:24 pm

Great. Keep us informed about your progress.