Using the ReadyNAS as a VMware ESX Datastore

October 1, 2009 by chirpa
Filed under How-To's, News & Events, ReadyNAS in Business, VMware

Method 1 : ReadyNAS NFS share as a Datastore

FrontView: Enabling the NFS protocol

Go to the Services->Standard File Protocols tab.
Enable NFS by clicking the check-box beside it, then clicking Apply.

FrontView: Enable NFS for the share

Go to the Shares->Share Listing tab.
Click on the NFS icon beside the share you will be using (‘esx’ in our case).

Be sure Read/Write access is enabled, clicking Apply if needed.
Additional security settings can be applied here, such as root privilege.

vSphere: Add the new NFS datastore

Open up the vSphere client.
Navigate to the Configuration tab, and select the Storage option under the Hardware section.
Click on Add Storage in the upper-right corner.

For Storage Type, select the Network File System option. Click Next.

Fill in your ReadyNAS details; IP/Hostname, Share Name.
Choose a name for your datastore to be referenced in ESX. Click Next.

The next page will display the summary. If everything looks good, click Finish.

If no errors occurred (invalid hostname/share, permissions), you should now see your ReadyNAS share displayed in the vSphere client.

vSphere: Using the new datastore

Now that the ReadyNAS is connected to your ESX server, you can now create new Virtual Machines, and store their files directly on the ReadyNAS!

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Method 2 : ReadyNAS iSCSI target as a Datastore

FrontView: Enabling the iSCSI service

Go to the Volumes->Volume Settings tab.
Click on the iSCSI tab.
Select the checkbox for Enable iSCSI support if it is not already enabled, then click Apply.

FrontView: Create an iSCSI target

On the same iSCSI tab, click the Create iSCSI Target button.
Enter a target name and capacity (‘test’ in our case, with a capacity of 5GB).

When finished, click Apply and wait for the target to be created.

Additional security settings can be applied here, such as CHAP authentication (username/password auth) and IQN access control lists (required for Persistent Reservations).

vSphere: Configure iSCSI HBA

Open up the vSphere client.
Navigate to the Configuration tab, and select the Storage Adapters option under the Hardware section.
Select the iSCSI Software Adapter (vmhba33 in our case), then click the Properties button in the section below.

In the Properties window, click on Configure, then select the checkbox to Enable the service. Click OK.

In the same Properties window, select the Dynamic Discovery tab.
Click the Add button, and type in the IP/hostname of your ReadyNAS.
Fill in any CHAP information here if specified, then click OK, Close.

The server will then ask you to rescan the bus, select Yes.

If no errors occurred, you should now see your ReadyNAS iSCSI targets displayed in the vSphere client.

vSphere: Add the new iSCSI datastore

Now that the ESX server can talk to the ReadyNAS iSCSI target, we will create a datastore on the target.
Navigate to the Configuration tab, and select the Storage option under the Hardware section.
Click on Add Storage in the upper-right corner.

For Storage Type, select the Network File System option. Click Next.

Select the recently created target. Click Next.

This next page reviews the target layout. Click Next.

Enter a name for the datastore. Click Next.

This next page lets you select the formatted block size, here we will leave the defaults. Click Next.

You are now shown a review confirmation page. Click Finish if everything looks good.

vSphere: Using the new datastore

Now that the ReadyNAS is connected to your ESX server, you can now create new Virtual Machines, and store their files directly on the ReadyNAS!

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Need assistance?

If you have questions with anything in this article, head over to our community forums. The ReadyNAS team, including developers and support personnel, along with regular ReadyNAS users frequent the forum and are always willing to help out.