CTL and VAAI on 2 datastores on the same host

[Thomymaster]

Hello


I use FreeNAS 9.3 and it has CTL as the default ISCSI target. From what i read and tested, VMWare VAAI seems to be supported:

~# esxcli storage core device vaai status get
t10.FreeBSD_iSCSI_Disk______000c29b4a355000_________________
VAAI Plugin Name:
ATS Status: supported
Clone Status: supported
Zero Status: supported
Delete Status: supported

From this VMware KB (http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/mi...nguage=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1021976) i know that the "clone" feature can bes used to offlad cloning operations of VMs to the array (here the FreeNAS box).

-array-offloaded cloning between seperate ISCSI targets is not supported
-array-offloaded cloning in one datastore on one ISCSI target is supported

But what about this?

-array-offloaded cloning between 2 datastores which reside on one ISCSI target (2 zVols in the same ZFS pool)
-array-offloaded cloning between 2 datastores which reside on one ISCSI target (2 zVols each one in a seperate ZFS pool)


Cheers Thomy

 

[mav@]

With present XCOPY implementation in CTL it is irrelevant where LUNs are stored (same pool, different pools, files, or even different physical devices). In all cases that is just a copy -- read from place A and write to place B.

XCOPY between different iSCSI targets within one FreeNAS box is possible, but for security reasons controlled on per-LUN basis by checkbox in WebUI LUN settings.

What is not supported now is XCOPY between different FreeNAS boxes.

 

[Thomymaster]

Hi

Thanks for the info, but where should this per-LUN checkbox be?

 

[mav@]

In "Extent Configuration Settings" checkbox is called "Enable TPC".

Yes, I know, the name is terrible, but description is more correct: "if checked, an initiator can bypass normal access control and access any scannable target; this allows xcopy operations otherwise blocked by access control"

 

[Thomymaster]

-array-offloaded cloning in one datastore on one ISCSI target should work without that option, right?


To be clear do i need to check this option on every LUN i export as an ESXi datastore? Or only if i want to have 2 datastores in the same target and copy VMs between those datastores offloaded to the array?

Or if i have datastores on different targets on the same FreeNAS box???

 

[mav@]

You need to set it only if you have datastores on different targets of the same FreeNAS box, and only if you trust all your initiators. XCOPY operations between any LUNs of same target are always allowed, independently of this option.

 

[Thomymaster]

OK, thanks :)