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2 Posts
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144897
May 23rd, 2010 04:00
vFoglight Pro, vOptimizer Pro and vRanger Pro bundle
As part of a new virtual environment build we're slated to purchase the vEssentials Pro Bundle (including vRanger Pro, vOptimizer Pro and vFoglight Pro).
My question has to do with where these can be installed. We're getting three, brand spanking new, Dell PowerEdge R710 host servers (48GB RAM, dual E5620 Xeon's, etc.), a single EqualLogic SAN (to start with) and new HP ProCurve switches (config yet to be finalized). I would love to be able to install the VizionCore software products onto VM's (linking to a SQL 2005 server VM for the databases) but the system requirements I read make it sound like you have to use physical hardware. We're NOT talking about a large environment here (30-50 VM's at present, possible growth to more of course). We're getting the 8 socket bundle of VMware Enterprise Plus and vCenter Server standard. That means we'll be able to apply the license to a fourth host at any time that we see the need (would be another R710 either identical to what we're getting, or as close as we can get).
With all the power in the three host servers, and the low (relatively) VM count, is there any real reason why we couldn't install the VizionCore products onto VM's? Either one VM per product, or two on one server, and the third on it's own, or all three on one VM... I could easily allocate the four vCPU's to the VM and enough RAM (the benefit of having 48GB per host). I do plan on using DRS, so the VM's will be able to float between hosts as parameters dictate. We are having a VMware Premier partner implementing this project (I'll be doing a good section of the build up before they arrive to better utilize their time), who are very familiar with the product (their recommendation is why we're planning to use it).
So with the DRS pool of 57.6GHz (56xx series Xeons) and 144GB of RAM to share, won't that be more than enough? Maybe with the next release of VMware's FT they will support more than a single vCPU so we could use that for the VM's. Storage won't be an issue, since we'll have over 5TB of LUNs (even after lose for RAID 50 and EQL's snapshots).
We're also looking to be able to archive to one of the tape library systems in place where I'm working. Is there anything special I'll need to know in order to get that to function properly too? I'm looking to have multiple levels of redundacy in our backup and recovery process. I'm not comfortable with only having one, or even two. I'd like the final level to be the tape backups that we can even send off site. Basically, we'll have the EQL snapshots run daily (at least) keeping 2 weeks. The vRanger Pro will perform it's backups as well, keeping enough to restore back from at least two more weeks (or a month). If someone needs a restore from longer than a month back, we'll be able to pull it back in via the tape backups. Keeping tape backups for a minimum of a year, with more being the target. I realize that it might be overkill, but if I can provide a rapid restore of a deleted file, or bad VM, that would have otherwise been lost (causing us to look bad to the customers and possible cost the company money) it will all be worth it. Depending on the amount of space being used, I might even extend the snaps to 1 month retention, vRanger pro to 3-6 months and then perform monthly tape backups (although I'd still prefer to have less gaps between the tapes).
I'm interested in all suggestions...
My question has to do with where these can be installed. We're getting three, brand spanking new, Dell PowerEdge R710 host servers (48GB RAM, dual E5620 Xeon's, etc.), a single EqualLogic SAN (to start with) and new HP ProCurve switches (config yet to be finalized). I would love to be able to install the VizionCore software products onto VM's (linking to a SQL 2005 server VM for the databases) but the system requirements I read make it sound like you have to use physical hardware. We're NOT talking about a large environment here (30-50 VM's at present, possible growth to more of course). We're getting the 8 socket bundle of VMware Enterprise Plus and vCenter Server standard. That means we'll be able to apply the license to a fourth host at any time that we see the need (would be another R710 either identical to what we're getting, or as close as we can get).
With all the power in the three host servers, and the low (relatively) VM count, is there any real reason why we couldn't install the VizionCore products onto VM's? Either one VM per product, or two on one server, and the third on it's own, or all three on one VM... I could easily allocate the four vCPU's to the VM and enough RAM (the benefit of having 48GB per host). I do plan on using DRS, so the VM's will be able to float between hosts as parameters dictate. We are having a VMware Premier partner implementing this project (I'll be doing a good section of the build up before they arrive to better utilize their time), who are very familiar with the product (their recommendation is why we're planning to use it).
So with the DRS pool of 57.6GHz (56xx series Xeons) and 144GB of RAM to share, won't that be more than enough? Maybe with the next release of VMware's FT they will support more than a single vCPU so we could use that for the VM's. Storage won't be an issue, since we'll have over 5TB of LUNs (even after lose for RAID 50 and EQL's snapshots).
We're also looking to be able to archive to one of the tape library systems in place where I'm working. Is there anything special I'll need to know in order to get that to function properly too? I'm looking to have multiple levels of redundacy in our backup and recovery process. I'm not comfortable with only having one, or even two. I'd like the final level to be the tape backups that we can even send off site. Basically, we'll have the EQL snapshots run daily (at least) keeping 2 weeks. The vRanger Pro will perform it's backups as well, keeping enough to restore back from at least two more weeks (or a month). If someone needs a restore from longer than a month back, we'll be able to pull it back in via the tape backups. Keeping tape backups for a minimum of a year, with more being the target. I realize that it might be overkill, but if I can provide a rapid restore of a deleted file, or bad VM, that would have otherwise been lost (causing us to look bad to the customers and possible cost the company money) it will all be worth it. Depending on the amount of space being used, I might even extend the snaps to 1 month retention, vRanger pro to 3-6 months and then perform monthly tape backups (although I'd still prefer to have less gaps between the tapes).
I'm interested in all suggestions...
rcrockett
3 Posts
0
May 24th, 2010 21:00
I can't speak to the Equalogic snapshotting, but if this places the snapshot files in the VM's file systems, this could be problematic. Instead of using snapshots (of any kind) like a form of backup (they're really not meant for that), instead consider using your backup archives/File Level Restores to restore files/folders quickly without restoring an entire VM. It's my experience that these snapshots clutter-up the VMFS and lead to problems during backup/restore. A Snapshot should really be used like a temporary "fall back" point, like say, when you install a patch. You'd snap the server, install the patch. If the VM comes back okay, delete the snapshot within a short amount of time. Remember that snapshots are NOT "copies" of the VM... They are files that track changes to the VMs flat files. When first created they are small. Over time, they can grow to huge proportions, and really make life miserable for the VM admin...
golddiggie1
2 Posts
0
May 23rd, 2010 23:00