I wrote this whitepaper for StarWind Software:
Best practices for backing up virtual servers with Veeam software and StarWind storage
This document describes how to use StarWind iSCSI SAN both as a production and backup storage. It also explains how to combine StarWind SAN with Veeam Backup & Replication in order to build a reliable storage infrastructure where a user can run virtual machines and ensure their safe backup.
You can download it from the dedicated page on StarWind website, or directly from here:
Whitepaper: Best practices for backing up virtual servers with Veeam software and StarWind storage.
I use a Starwind iSCSI target as a datastore attached to two hosts and my physical Veeam box in a test environment in exactly the way your whitepaper describes. The server running the iSCSI target has 48GB of RAM and a 256MB LSI SAS controller. I’m using write back caching as the controller has a BBU but I’m also using some of the system RAM as primary cache. Do you think this is a bad idea? Another aspect of Starwind iSCSI target configuration that I’ve had a hard time finding anything out about is the sizing of the virtual disk on the NTFS partition. Should you leave some free space? I’ve left about 10% free. Your opinion on this would be appreciated.
Hi,
using part of the RAM as cache is a really good idea, I totally agreed on it.
About the size on disk, if you are not going to increase the virtual disk used by StarWind, I think 10% can be ok, maybe you can stay on a more secure situation with something around 15-20%, depending if you are going to use also snapshots created by StarWind itself.
Many thanks Luca for taking the time and for your advice.