A quick overviev of our situation:
- 6 hosts named ESXPRD01 to 06
- 4 datastores named VMFSP01 to 04
- Hosts are set-up in 2 host groups according to their respective location
- Host ESXPRD01, ESXPRD03 and ESXPRD05 are in host group MER 4.64
- Host ESXPRD02, ESXPRD04 and ESXPRD06 are in host group MER 5.11
- Datastores are set-up in 2 storage groups according to the location of the host groups
- Datastore VMFSP01 and VMFSP03 are in storage group MER 4.64
- Datastore VMFSP02 and VMFSP04 are in storage group MER 5.11
Our Storage is comprised of 2 EMC VNX5300, one is in MER 4.64 and the other is in MER 5.11, the VMFSP datastores are mirrored.
At this point I am able to do the following to keep everything together:
VM's are put in VM groups according to their location (VM group MER 4.64 and MER 5.11) and these are connected to their respective Host groups in a VM to Host group.
If I want to move a VM from one host to another I can choose wether I only want to change host or datastore or both. If I choose to let DRS do it for me it will only change hosts based on rules I define. If DRS decides to change the location of a VM from ESXPRD02 to ESXPRD01 I will have a VM in a remote location while it's files are in the original location.
VMware does not support connecting Storage groups to Host groups so that in the case of a DRS move a sDRS will be triggered too so I will keep my VM's and VMDK's on the same site.
Can anyone tell me if this is posible or maybe it can be entered as a new feature in an new ESX release.
Cheers,
David Courchaine