Best Practices for ESX Host Partitions
Setting up a new ESX 3 server, here’s a good place to start with the type and size of your partitions.
Installing ESX is fast and simple. By default you could click through the installer GUI changing only your local time zone and end up with a stable, dependable host. However, there are some recommended partitioning best practices that should be followed in order to make sure you minimize possible future headaches and create a repeatable and scalable environment.
VM /ETC » Blog Archive » Best Practices for ESX Host Partitions
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April 5, 2008 No Comments
Potential Problem with ESX 3.0.x and VirtualCenter 2.5
We are still running ESX 3.0.x and VC 2.0.x. I thought about upgrading vcenter first and then just upgrading the servers has time permits. But if there’s going to be odd issues like this, even if its only when you install some patches. I think I’ll try to put together a much shorter timeline to move to 3.5
Heads up—I’ve been alerted to a potential problem when using ESX Server 3.0.x with VirtualCenter 2.5. Quoting from this VMware KB article:
ESX Server 3.0.x hosts managed by VirtualCenter 2.5 must have their Host Agent (hostd) specially configured to work with VirtualCenter 2.5. This configuration is done automatically during the initial installation of the VirtualCenter Agent (vpxa). If an ESX Server patch is subsequently applied that includes the esx-hostd RPM package, like ESX Server patch 1002435, the patch replaces the existing Host Agent (hostd) configuration file (/etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml) and undoes vpxa’s changes. This reverting of the Host Agent configuration file breaks connectivity with VirtualCenter 2.5.
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April 5, 2008 No Comments
Virtualized Automaton: Ultimate VMware link guide
wow, this list in incredible if you are looking for links about vmware, checkout this site.
Virtualized Automaton: Ultimate VMware link guide
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March 9, 2008 1 Comment
16,000 Exchange Mailboxes, 1 Server - VMware VROOM!
Even with all that horse power, they didn’t talk about network traffic running all exchange 2007 roles on the same box. I wonder how long one of these boxes takes to vmotion. Also I’d like to know the details on how they setup the luns and if they used vmdk files
We recently finished a large Exchange 2007 capacity test on VMware ESX Server 3.5. How large? Well, larger than anything ever done before on a single server. And we did it from start to finish in about two weeks.
We did this test because we have felt for a while that advances in processor and server technology were about to leave another widely-used and important application unable to fully utilize the hardware that vendors were offering. Microsoft has guidelines on what environment works well with Exchange, and a system with more than eight CPUs and/or 32GB of RAM is beyond the recommended maximums.
16,000 Exchange Mailboxes, 1 Server - VMware VROOM!
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March 5, 2008 1 Comment
esXpress Advanced Replication (EAR)
We’ve been looking at different backup solutions for our vmware farm. We want something simple, VCB seems too cumbersome right now.
Ron McKelvey (or ronzo) over at PHD Technologies disclosed a new feature of the esXpress backup software. So far the name is EAR (esXpress Advanced Replication). If you have a better suggestion for naming conventions, they’re all EARs
Right now esXpress has Simple Replication which can be defined as automatically restoring backups. The more you backup a VM, the more it can be auto restored. Consider Host A, it backs up to your FTP, all VMs once a day, and some VMs more often. Host B can check that FTP for new backups, then restore them. This is currently a DELTA restore, which means if the VMDK is 40 GB, then a new 40 GB VMDK will be created and the backup restored. Simple Replication is basically just a Mass Restore that runs automatically. They’re now getting ready to release the EAR in Beta format. Right now backups are in a Full/Delta methology. As time goes on, the Delta backups get bigger, because they are based on the Full. An EAR backup is just the incremental block level changes done from the last backup. Whether you are making a FULL or a DELTA, an EAR archive is also extracted with just the incremental changes from the last backup. This EAR archive can be send to another NET target (NET only for now).
In the above example, In the above example, I setup Host B to do EAR restores this time. It will search the FTP, find the backup and restore it. If the VMDK does not exist already on the host, then the DELTA backup will be restored, thus creating the VMDK. Then each replicated restore after that will just need to take the EAR file and drop it on top of the replicated VMDK. Host B has been setup to do EAR restores this time. It will search the FTP, find the backup and restore it. If the VMDK does not exist already on the host, then the DELTA backup will be restored, thus creating the VMDK. Then each replicated restore after that will just need to take the EAR file and drop it on top of the replicated VMDK. If your Host B is across a WAN, this works even better, as only the incremental changes need to ever be sent. You can seed Host B by bring the Delta/Full backups physically over and restoring them. Then when you enable the EAR restores, the .ear archives will be applied one by one, bring it up to date (or not as you configure it).
This means that if you backup VMs more often you can replicate them more often. Because this is basically built into the backup engine, it is just another process, much like FLBs. Every time you backup a VM with Delta or a Full, it will also make an EAR file. If the replication gets badly out of syncs, just the previous Delta need be restored, then the EAR files will flow again. And since the replication is based on Delta and EAR files, it is easy to restore a copy of any VMDK from any point in time. This is just the start, the plan will get more complex. Imagine, Doing monthly Full’s, Weekly Delta, and Daily Incremental’s, if you so choose.
esXpress Advanced Replication (EAR)
esloof@ntpro.nl (Eric Sloof)
Mon, 11 Feb 2008 20:24:08 GMT
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Tags: backups, vmwareRelated posts
February 14, 2008 1 Comment
Twitter Updates for 2008-01-19
- @linuxchic did you do an upgrade or a fresh install of vmware? #
- wow the snow really came down last night. Hope it clears up so we can get to GR for dinner and a movie tonight #
- why doesn’t netflix also rent video games? #
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January 19, 2008 No Comments
VMware ESX 3.5 upgrade path: Where to start
Once I’m ready to make the jump, I’m always looking for good information from people that have already done it. Here’s some good steps to follow when you start your upgrade.
VMware’s flagship products ESX 3.5 and Virtual Center 2.5 have been available for a little over a month now. When the upgrades were made available, there was much excitement on the newly touted features. So, many IT professionals quickly hurried off and downloaded their product updates and then came to a collective stopping point. How do we upgrade ESX while in use? Sure we upgraded from ESX 3.01 to 3.02 with very little impact. But the change from 3.0x to 3.5 may seem worthy of more preparation because the scope of the change is larger with some of the new features, like Storage VMotion. With the release, here is a simple upgrade strategy that many are adapting:
- Allocate two ESX 3.0x systems as 3.5 candidates (not everyone will be able to do this, I realize).
- Carve these two systems into their own cluster or data center.
- Make sure all existing VMware DRS rules would be okay with two systems removed.
- Upgrade or fresh install one of the systems to ESX 3.5.
- Test migration from ESX 3.0x to the new ESX 3.5 system.
- Test VMware tools versioning and test any upgrade virtual machine tasks.
This strategy will replicate what you will likely face in a real upgrade situation, as you may not be able to. Because you may only be able to have a limited number of systems available for maintenance at any given time, it is good to be able to replicate that in a test datacenter or cluster. In smaller implementations, this could be repeated with one host where the migration test would be from a live ESX host. Evaluation software may also be a consideration to make available the correct number of hosts to simulate the co-existence of ESX 3.0x and 3.5.
Keep it moving
Should your configuration allow seamless migration between your ESX 3.0x and 3.5 hosts - that should not be a crutch for undefined periods of mixed versions. A good practice would be to have all hosts on the same version of ESX within a cluster. Larger environments may have difficulty moving all systems to the new version, but strategize within your Virtual Center configuration to determine the best configuration for temporary mixed versioning. The goal should be to get all systems on the same version enterprise wide - but only after you are completely comfortable with 3.5 in your infrastructure.
The horse’s mouth
VMware provides many quality resources online, I’ve saved some work for you and collected some of the highlighted pieces here for review in relation to ESX 3.5 upgrades:
What’s new for storage in ESX 3.5
VMware Consolidated Backup improvements in ESX 3.5
These resources are a good strategy in being well informed for the what your plan for ESX 3.5 will entail. Simply installing without preparation is surely a recipe for mis-configuration or incorrectly applying your configurations as intendend. And the test upgrade procedure to become familiar with a mixed environment will allow you to clear the way for an end-state configuration of a single version of ESX.
VMware ESX 3.5 upgrade path: Where to start
Rick Vanover
Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:48:44 GMT
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January 18, 2008 No Comments
Storage VMotion webpage
We haven’t upgraded to 3.5 yet, but I’m going to have to check this out once we upgrade.
Storage VMotion simplifies array migration and upgrade tasks and reduces I/O bottlenecks by moving running virtual machines to the best available storage resource in your environment. But There was one downside to it. Migrations using Storage VMotion had to be administered through the Remote Command Line Interface (Remote CLI). Asp24 created a webpage that does the following: Log in to VirtualCenter (2.5) and get the storage/config file paths for all registered VM’s (like this: iscsi1_1 vm/vm.vmx) Put the list into a dropdown menu and have an input field for the target storage location. And a move-button to start svmotion. You can read all about it in this community thread.
Storage VMotion webpage
esloof@ntpro.nl (Eric Sloof)
Tue, 01 Jan 2008 20:09:27 GMT
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January 1, 2008 No Comments
Should Virtual Center run as a Virtual Machine? (VM /ETC)
We run our VCenter within our ESX Farm. We also run the SQL server that VCenter runs off in the same ESX farm. We’ve had no issues with VCenter in this configuration. But we do have to be careful with the SQL Server.
Sure, you can run Virtual Center Management Server as a Virtual Machine. VMware supports it and has published a technical note about doing it - http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_vc_in_vm.pdf. A lot of companies have built their VC2 server this way, but is it really wise to have “the manager” of the environment running in the environment it is […]
Should Virtual Center run as a Virtual Machine? (VM /ETC)
Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:31:32 GMT
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January 1, 2008 No Comments
VirtualCenter 2.5 upgrade issue with SQL 2000
I allows find it good to wait at least a few weeks before I do any major upgrades. I’ll let other people shake out the bugs. Its a good thing because we are running our vcenter on SQL 2000. Follow the link for the fix before you try the upgrade or if you already tried and failed. Big note from the KB, if you don’t follow the steps in the KB, it will over write your database, you do backup your database before you do any upgrade, right?
I’ve not yet got my hands really dirty on ESX 3.0.x to ESX 3.5 and VirtualCenter 2.0.x to 2.5 upgrades. Although crudely “play” with the process under the Release Candate. Initially, I had a permissions problem with the VirtualCenter upgrade and my SQL 2000 server. There’s been a length forum thread on this which I have been involved with. It’s become clear that if you have a SQL 2000 server additional permissions are required for an upgrade, which were not previously required in previous upgrades from VC 1>2 or the intra-upgrades from say 2.0.0>2.0.1>2.0.2
A KB article from VMware outlines this issue. As far as I know its not an issue for SQL 2005…
Link: ID: 1003346
VirtualCenter 2.5 upgrade issue with SQL 2000
mikelaverick
Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:09:15 GMT
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December 26, 2007 1 Comment
