High availability is one of the key requirements for high-load infrastructures. When organizing such systems, the main prerequisite is the use of external storage. External storage block devices are connected to cluster nodes via iSCSI, FibreChannel, or other network protocols.
The VMmanager virtualization platform allows you to automate the connection of external iSCSI devices to all nodes at once. Previously, the administrator had to manually configure LVM volumes on each cluster node, connect external storage, and activate it on each server. After this, the “ready-to-go” device was added as a storage through the VMmanager interface.
Now everything has become much simpler – in the VMmanager interface, simply specify the address of the external storage system, after which the platform will automatically detect available LUN devices and prompt you to select the ones you need for use. The selected device will be configured on all cluster nodes, and the administrator will be able to provide this storage to users for virtual machine hosting. This approach minimizes manual labor, reduces the risk of configuration errors, and speeds up the deployment of infrastructure.
Benefits for business
- Speed and simplicity. The entire connection process takes minutes: now there is no need to configure each host separately. It is sufficient to set up the connection configuration on one host and apply the specified parameters to the entire cluster or to selected nodes.
- Reducing the risk of errors. Manual setting always means there are errors due to the human factor. Automation eliminates this risk.
- Centralized monitoring and control over storage connections. The platform ensures that the storage configuration is the same on all nodes. If an incident occurs and the storage becomes unavailable, the system will report an error.
Roadmap for the development of new option
The functionality is currently under active development. The plans for the near future:
- implementing connection management via the Fibre Channel protocol;
- implementing the function of direct disk connection (Direct LUN/Shared LUN).
What users need to get started
If you install a system from scratch using the VMmanager distribution kit, all the necessary components are already there “out-of-the-box”. If you upgrade the platform to a new version, you may need to install additional packages. We recommend referring to the documentation for details of your configuration.
