Direct SAN access mode on a (vSphere) Virtual Machine?

[verre]

Hello everyone, if I have an iSCSI SAN but don't want to use a physical machine for proxy server, could I use a virtual machine with windows and iscsi software initiator and collects the data in Direct San Access mode?

[veremin]

It should be possible, as long as you follow these configuration steps. However, since we're talking here about Virtual Machine, wouldn't it be easier to use this machine as virtual proxy (Hot Add) instead; should also provide decent performance speed? Thanks.

[verre]

Thank for your quick answer. I don't know about the performances (I can take a test) but my goal is to reduce the risk of pending snapshot. Direct San Access Mode should be better then Hot Add.

[veremin]

Typically, it's faster than Hot Add. But since your case isn't trivial (VM with ISCSI connection on the underlying SAN), Hot Add might provide compatible speed. Thanks.