Help with FC Multipath HPE

[Miyagi007]

I have a 3-node Proxmox cluster (node4, node5, node6) version 8.4.1 with kernel 6.2.15-5-pve. The hardware is HP ProLiant BL460c Gen9 with HP Virtual Connect FlexFabric 20/40 F, and the storage is HP 3PAR 8200 array with two LUNs of 5 TB each: one for VM/CT and ISO volumes, the other for snapshot backups.
I want to:
Configure FC Multipath for full HA so that VMs switch to other nodes in case of failure.
Take snapshots of running VMs without shutting them down (I don't know if this means snapshots of VMs for recovery or backups).
I plan to add 3 more nodes in ~6 months, so the configuration needs to be scalable.
Can anyone provide detailed step-by-step instructions on how to configure this? In particular, I need to know:
How to configure FC Multipath on each node for LUNs with HP 3PAR (are there special settings for HP)?
How to configure the first LUN as shared storage for virtual machine disks on Proxmox (e.g. LVM)?
How to configure the second LUN for snapshots/backups?
How to take snapshots of running VMs - can my hardware handle it, or do I need another storage (e.g. Ceph, ZFS)?
What to do after adding 3 new nodes in 6 months to make sure everything works?
I've read the Proxmox documentation, but I'm not sure how to combine HA and live snapshots with my HP 3PAR.

 

[LnxBil]

Your question is asked at least once a week, so feel free to search for more detailed answers on the forums.

Configure FC Multipath for full HA so that VMs switch to other nodes in case of failure.

No problem.

Take snapshots of running VMs without shutting them down (I don't know if this means snapshots of VMs for recovery or backups).

That is not going to work with storage snapshots, yet.

I plan to add 3 more nodes in ~6 months, so the configuration needs to be scalable.

No problem

How to configure FC Multipath on each node for LUNs with HP 3PAR (are there special settings for HP)?

Ask your vendor for special settings, this is hardware dependend.

How to configure the second LUN for snapshots/backups?

That is not how it works. You can have neither snapshots nor backups on block storage.

How to take snapshots of running VMs - can my hardware handle it, or do I need another storage (e.g. Ceph, ZFS)?

Again, not possible with multipathed block storage.

What to do after adding 3 new nodes in 6 months to make sure everything works?

You "only" need to copy the multipath config over and rescan LVM.

I've read the Proxmox documentation, but I'm not sure how to combine HA and live snapshots with my HP 3PAR.

HA is no problem and always works with a LVM-based shared storage, but live snapshots do not currently work.

 

[bbgeek17]

@Miyagi007 , one other resource that may be helpful for you:
https://kb.blockbridge.com/technote/proxmox-lvm-shared-storage/

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Blockbridge : Ultra low latency all-NVME shared storage for Proxmox - https://www.blockbridge.com/proxmox