[Guide] Installing a Openfiler on VMware Workstation 7.1

  11:05 AM    Santosh

In my previous articles I have showed how to install & configure VMware vSphere 5. But to test/check other VMware vSphere server 5 advanced features we need to have SAN (Storage Area Network). SAN is must for features like VMotion, VMware High Availability (VMHA), and VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS). Here I am going to show you how to install free open source "OpenFiler" iSCSI server & use it as a SAN storage for VMware vSphere 5. 
[Guide] Configure Openfiler 2.99 with VMware vSphere 5 (ESXi 5) iSCSI Storage - Part 1
[Guide] Configure Openfiler 2.99 with VMware vSphere 5 (ESXi 5) iSCSI Storage Part 2
About OpenFiler - Openfiler converts an industry standard x86/64 architecture system into a full-fledged 
NAS/SAN appliance or IP storage gateway and provides storage administrators with a powerful tool to cope 
with burgeoning storage needs. Building upon the popularity of server virtualization technologies such as 
VMware, Virtual Iron, and Xen, Openfiler can also be deployed as a virtual machine instance. This deployment flexibility of Openfiler ensures that storage administrators are able to make the best use of system performance and storage capacity resources when allocating and managing networked storage in a multi-platform environment.
Openfiler addresses all the key data storage concerns:
Reliability - Openfiler supports both software and hardware RAID with monitoring and alert facilities; volume snapshot and recovery
Availability - Openfiler supports active/passive high availability clustering, MPIO, and block level replication
Performance - Linux 2.6 kernel supports the latest CPU, networking and storage hardware
Scalability - filesystem scalability to 60TB+, online filesystem and volume growth support
System Requirements
1. x86 or x64 based computer with at least 512MB RAM and 1GB storage for the OS image. In my Case I am going to install OpenFiler on VMware Workstation 7.1
2. At least one supported network interface card
3.A CDROM or DVD-ROM drive if you are performing a local install
4. A supported disk controller with data drives attached.
Follow below steps to install "OpenFiler" on a VMware Workstation,
Create Virtual Machine under VMware Workstation 7.1
Select the Custom option and click Next.
 In the Hardware Compatibility box and select Workstation 6.5-7.0 & click Next. 
 Specify your "OpenFiler" ISO path in "Installer Disc Image file" & click next.
 Select Operating System as "Linux" & Version as "Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 64-bit" & click next.
 Assign name to your VM.
 In the Processor Configuration , select One processor & 1 Core and click Next.
 Select 1GB memory & click Next
 Here I am using NAT as my network type.
 Select the LSI Logic SCSI adaptor and then click Next
 Select "Create a New Virtual Disk"
 Select disk type as "SCSI" & click Next.
Specify the disk size . This storage space will be used to install Openfiler. I am going to add one hard disk for my OpenFiler Server in next step for Additional storage & that will be used as a iSCSI storage. 
 Click Finish.
 Now turn on the VM. Press the Enter key to start the graphical installation process of OpenFiler.
 Click Next to continue.
 Click Yes to proceed.
 Accept the default option to Automatically Partition and then click Next to proceed further.
 Click yes to continue.
 Specify your host name & click next.
 Select your location by clicking the map
 Enter a password for the Root user account.
 Click Next to start the installation process.
 Once Openfiler has installed, click the Reboot button.
 You will see the login screen after openfiler reboot. Enter username as "root" & password which you specified during setup.
I am going to cover Openfiler Configuration steps in next article so stay tune.