Providings LUNs on the storage array
The LUNs to be exposed to the branch can be empty and populated later. However, if you choose to prepopulate a datastore using a temporary hypervisor server, it is possible that the signature (UUID) for the volume is different when it is subsequently presented for mounting by the hypervisor on the Edge. If vSphere detects a mismatch, it normally offers a mount option to “Keep Existing Signature”. If this option is not available, you can use the esxcfg-volume –M <UUID/label> ESXi command. The “-M” option performs a persistent mount without changing the signature of the volume. For example:
# esxcfg-volume -M "49d55e2e-996c0dea-b565-001f2170aed8"
1. Enable the connections for the type of LUNs you intend to expose to the branch: for example, iSCSI and Fibre Channel.
2. Determine the LUNs you want to dedicate to specific branches.
3. Connect to a temporary hypervisor server to deploy virtual machines (VMs) for branch services (including the branch Windows server) to the LUNs. Depending on the type of Edge hypervisor at the branch, the temporary hypervisor server will be ESX or Hyper-V. We recommend that you install the optional Windows Server plug-ins at this point. This installation is useful if you use the Boot over WAN functionality available for Windows 2008 and Windows 2012.
4. After you deploy the VMs, disconnect from the temporary hypervisor server.
5. Create the necessary initiator or target groups.