VmWare Kit List

[Curiosityx]

Greetings, i have a small client with approx 150 users who are looking at replacing their existing 3 servers and would like a cost effective HA solution as well as the replacement of existing equipment.

At present we just need to run Windows 2008 - AD/File/Print on one box and Windows 2008 + Exchange 2007 and possible SQL 2008 on the second.

Im looking at virtualising both servers to accomplish the HA requirement, could someone recommend the best approach.

Im currently thinking along the lines of the following


* 2 x DL360G6's w/ Dual Quad Core CPU's, 16Gb memory running VMware Infrastructure Standard + VMotion License

* Connected to HP MSA SAN

* Virtual Centre installed onto 3rd physical server possibly Dl320 also running Windows 2008 + AD


The other method i was playing with was to keep the same hardware as above, drop the Dl320 and go with ESXi instead, should a server fail i could then manually load the VM from the SAN onto the second working server.


Suggestions welcome but the budget isnt endless unfortunately.

Regards

 

[Curiosityx]

I'd disagree actually, the 380 is still a dual socket server and off the top of my head, doesnt have much more memory capacity.

It doesnt sound like the requirements are that high, so I wouldnt worry too much.

A few thoughts, plucked at random out of my head

- Try and get Enterprise if you can, its not going to cost much more than standard+vmotion. There's a promo on some of the accelleration kits until the end of the month, worth a look

- The lower end MSA arrays havent got a very good name in the VMware community, quite a few problems

- With that many servers, a DAS solution may be suitable, so long as you dont plan to scale above 3 hosts.

- If you stick below 3 hosts, get VirtualCenter foundation, its a lot cheaper

- Put VC on a VM so you get HA (abbreviation soup!)

To put this in context, I'm nearing the completion of a virtualisation project from physical (DL380 G4s) onto VMware. The new kit is 3 x Sun X4440 (awesome kit), 2 x 1.9Ghz Quad Opterons (quad capable), 16gb RAM and a Sun 2510 iSCSI SAN (12x146gb 15k SAS) and dedicated HP ProCurve switches. Onto that, we have a Progress DB server, an SQL server, 2 Exchange servers (inc Mailboxes), file/print server, 2 DCs, 3 Citrix servers, 2 ISA servers, a MySQL server, a MS Search Server, 2 SMTP servers, a document generation server and a Linux Web server.

Performance? Frankly, its outstanding. It's absolutely blown away the old HP kit (a rack full of it!), yet they're blowing out cold air. DRS keeps things nicely balanced.

If anything else pops into my head I'll come back

Thank you for all the replies guys, the comments in regards to the DL380's are noted that i dont believe the estate will ever scale that far, storage perhaps but not server capacity, in regards to DAS would you know which MSA is recommended by the community at this time? Also would i be correct in assuming that SAS is prefered over ISCSI for DAS storage?

The SQL server will only be lightly used, approx 50-75 clients but unlikely that they will all be connected at the same time. I was feeling quite comfortable putting it on the same VM as Exchange, although if it needs to go onto a seperate VM i dont see a problem.

Im very familiar with the HP product line but in all fairness dropped out of the server game to focus on Cisco sometime ago, id like to get this right the first time though


Also looking at the current bundles would this be suitable to fail over VM's in case of failure?

VMware Infrastructure Standard High Availability Acceleration Kit

http://store.vmware.com/store/vmware/en_US/DisplayProductDetailsPage/productID.83629500

 

[Curiosityx]

Cant comment on which MSA is preferred, but I think the whole range is pretty poorly regarded at the low end. I'd look elsewhere personally.

Assuming you mean SAS over U320 SCSI (not iSCSI) then yes, although you'll struggle to get anything but SAS. It gives you flexibility to use SATA drives for lower performance applications.

Separate your SQL from Exchange. One of the massive benefits of VMs is different systems can be managed separately. What happens if you need to reboot your SQL server? You'll loose Exchange - for what a Windows license costs its worth separating.

The G6 kit looks very nice esp with the new Nehalem CPUs, the switches are also very good - I'd just be wary about the MSA gear.

VI standard comes with HA, but if you can stretch it then go for Enterprise. DRS is awesome, watching it shift machines about of it's own accord is brilliant, especially when it starts to predict regular occurences...

I cant share quotes for obvious reasons, but I've had pricing on the Midsize kit (3 x Enterprise, VC Foundation and training) for about 2k more than the list price of the standard kit you posted - well worth it.

If you want more detailed help just ask. I'm a VCP specialising in small/medium deployment projects and there are a few other VCPs around here too.

Your time is much appreciated, ive got a meeting with the client early next week to finalise the HA requirements, i have a feeling they may be one of those businesses who very much like the buzz words but get a little edgy when presented with the associated costs.

If i could pick your brains next week it would be a great help.

Regards

 

[Curiosityx]

Almost forgot about this, had a meeting with the client today, yes it does look like they want HA for AD, Exchange and SQL so will be looking at the VMWare route, as i havent the time to get to involved in this although it's of great interest ive managed to find a local consultant to help with the build but the comments here have been very useful.

So yes we will probably be looking at 2 x DL360 G6's and a single MSA2000sa although id be keen to have a look at alternatives,, VMwise i think we will have to use three to keep AD, Exchange and SQL seperate.

Regards

 

[Curiosityx]

Well so far i have the following kit list

2 x HP DL360 G6 Servers - No Local Storage, Includes MSA SAS HBA, Cables and integrated VmWare ESXi option kit.
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13235_div/13235_div.HTML

2 504637-421 HP DL360 G6 E5504 Entry EU Svr
2 507682-B21 HP E5504 DL360 G6 Kit
4 516423-B21 HP 8GB 2Rx4 PC3-8500R-7 Kit (http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/servers/options/tool/hp_memtool.html)
2 532066-B21 HP DL360G6 12.7mm SATA DVD Kit
2 503296-B21 HP 460W HE 12V Hotplg AC Pwr Supply Kit
2 464668-B21 HP integrated VMware ESX Server 3i Standalone 2P
2 488765-B21 HP SC08Ge SAS HBA to connect to a host


HP 2000sa Modular Smart Array
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/13045_div/13045_div.html

1 AJ752A HP StorageWorks MSA2012sa - Single Controller Modular Smart Array
6 AJ736A HP StorageWorks MSA2 300GB 3G 15K 3.5-inch SAS DP HDD


Due to cost we will most likely be using ESXi embedded, in the event a server fails we can still bring the failed VM back up on the second server manually, following further discussions with the client the recovery windows would be between 2 - 4 hours anyhow.

Regards

 

[Curiosityx]

I havent gotton pricing yet, currently thinking of the best method to back up data held on the virtual machines stored on the MSA.

Your list puts mine to shame somewhat

 

[Curiosityx]

Hehe, and it is still small by some companies

You can still use something like BackupExec to make backups of the servers as you would have done before, we are going to use ESX Ranger, which is a lot cheaper than the Symantec flavour... Backs up the VM's as they are I believe..

Could i use an external rack mounted Ultrium 448, connect it to one of the DL's and install Backup Exec onto one of the VM's?