Upgrading QNAP NAS (2x) - tough choices

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

DerKeyser wrote:

Remember that for iSCSI you don’t need faster ethernet links. iSCSI can use several gigabit links in parallel if you set it up correctly.

Yes - but it does require more than one cable. My servers are spread around the house in closets, and there are only two Cat5 outlets in each room.

On ESXi you need to make more than one VMKernel adapter that you do iSCSI port binding on. On your QNAP you need to present the same LUN on several NIC targets. Then you should enable Round Robin I/O i ESXi, and you will have 2Gbit, 3Gbit or however many adapters you enable.

And there I would need more than one (iSCSI) NIC on the QNAP. They only have two.

I would setup two adapters on easu ESXi server, and three or four on the QNAP. That way each server can do 2Gbit, and the QNAP can do 3 or 4Gbit combined across the ESXi hosts.

Obviously that also requires a SSD layer in the QNAP if there is anything remotely random in the IO pattern (And there is since you have 15 VMs)

The most “felt” gain will definitely come from adding a large SSD tier to your iSCSI LUNS. The boottime and “interactiveness” of your VM’s will become MUCH better.

Well, for the most part my servers are all test servers, and some are getting quite old indeed. I still have three NetWare servers, two of them clustered. The only one that much matters is my Opensuse server that hosts my web site.

Anyway, to do bonding or multipath, which I've done before with iSCSI, I'd need more cabling than I have. If I start looking at replacing the cable plant, things are going to an extreme here. I'd have to start by upgrading at least the iSCSI QNAP, and right away I'm looking at over $1000, perhaps close to $2000 or more with SSD's and faster NIC's.

Right... I would suggest you shuffle the deck and start over. The power savings, performance and flexibility given by throwing it all away and replace it with just one new unit is going to make a huge difference. MUCH less time spent mending problems in such a setup.