EqualLogic, BackupExec 2012, and VMware SAN Transport Mode Part 1/2

Scenario

We have a physical server running Windows Server 2008R2 with 6 NICs, 2 NICs for LAN (which will be teamed), and 4 NICs for iSCSI (which will each be configured with a different IP Address.) We need to configure the server to use Symantec Backup Exec 2012 SAN Transport Mode, to backup a VMware environment running off an EqualLogic PS6100 iSCSI SAN.

Step by Step Walkthrough

Installing Softwares

1. Install Symantec Backup Exec 2012.

2. Install the EqualLogic Host Integration Tools for Microsoft (Complete) from the Setup64.exe (or Setup32)

Image: Components install with HIT/ME Complete

The HIT/ME installer will automatically add Server 2008 MultiPath I/O Feature, along with installing the EqualLogic MPIO DSM.

3. Reboot to complete the MultiPath I/O Feature install.

Diskpart Part 1/2

From the DOS Command Prompt (run as administrator), run the following commands in bold below:

C:> diskpart

DISKPART> automount disable

DISKPART> automount scrub

iSCSI Configuration

1. Obtain the backup server’s iSCSI Initiator Name from Control Panel > iSCSI Initiator > Configuration Tab

2. Enable the iSCSI Initiator on the backup server to have access to the volumes containing the Virtual Machines to be backed up (the easiest way to do this is modifying/create a new ACL Policy via the EqualLogic VSM/HIT for VMware – see http://cosonok.blogspot.com/2013/01/equallogic-install-complete-with-vmware.html - alternatively via the PS Group Manager GUI.)

3. iSCSI Initiator Properties > Dell EqualLogic MPIO tab and MPIO Settings

Image: Dell EqualLogic MPIO tab

Exclude the LAN subnet, change the Default Load Balancing Policy to Round Robin (for VMware), change the Max sessions per volume slice to 4 (4 iSCSI NICs on the backup server, and 4 iSCSI NICs per controller a PS6100)

Image: Configure MPIO Settings

4. iSCSI Initiator Properties > Discovery > Discover Portal… and add the Group IP Address and click OK

Image: iSCSI Discover Target Portal

5. iSCSI Initiator Properties > Targets > click Refresh

And for each of the discovered targets, click Connect

Connect To Target > tick the ‘Enable multi-path box’ > and click OK

Image: Connect To Target and Enable multi-path

Note: If you check back 10 seconds or so later on the Properties or Devices… buttons there will be 4 Sessions/Devices present per target, with paths built by the Dell EqualLogic MPIO.

Diskpart Part 2/2

The EqualLogic GUI doesn’t allow assigning read-only rights, in which case we must use diskpart to set the newly discovered volumes to read only (otherwise the volumes could be re-formatted accidentally or otherwise corrupted) run the following commands in bold below:

DISKPART> list disk

DISKPART> select disk 1

DISKPART> attributes disk set readonly

Do this for however many disks you have.

Note 1: The disk numbers match with the numbers in Disk Management, and they will indicate Read Only when the readonly attribute is set.

Note 2: Setting the disks to readonly prevents accidental formatting/corruption, but also prevents restore to that volume. The volume can be set back to read/write with attributes disk clear readonly.