topic HOME LAB DESIGN (NESTED ) in VMware vSAN Discussions

HOME LAB DESIGN (NESTED )

singhraj — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 13:46:12 GMT

I am looking help design home lab (nested)

Current hardware:

Dell POWEREDGE R630:

CPU: Xeon 2620 V4 8 core x2 -16 core

RAM: 64 GB DDR4

HARD DRIVE: 4 (500GB SSD= 2 TB); 4 (4TB SSHD= 16TB)

USB =32GB

RAID CONTROLER: H730P (VSAM SUPPORTD)

4 INBUILT NIC AND 4 ADDED = 8 NIC

CISCO LAYER 3 SWITCH 3750E (IF NEEDED)

NEED HELP TO DESIGN:

VSAN THREE SITES OR FOUR SITES?

TWO DATA CENTER LINK MODE (NESTED)

ONE FOR NSX (I DON’T KNOW IF IT BETTER IDEA TO INCLUDE IN BOTH DC?

HOW MANY HOST NEED IN EACH DC?

NETWORK DESIGN?

Re: HOME LAB DESIGN (NESTED )

TheBobkin — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 22:05:37 GMT

Hello singhraj,

"VSAN THREE SITES OR FOUR SITES?"

Do you mean nodes or sites? Minimal set-up for vSAN is 3 nodes (or 2 data-nodes + 1 Witness), if one is talking 'sites' then this usually indicates stretched clusters which consist of 1-15 data-nodes on 2 'sites' + Witness so saying 4 sites makes little sense.

"TWO DATA CENTER LINK MODE (NESTED)

ONE FOR NSX (I DON’T KNOW IF IT BETTER IDEA TO INCLUDE IN BOTH DC?"

Please read the requirements documentation for these products - they require a significant amount of real RAM to function:

vCenter = ~10GB minimum per vCSA (6.x)

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.0/com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc/GUID-88571D8A-46E1-464D-A349-4DC43DCAF320.html

NSX = ~22GB+ on version 6.2

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-NSX-for-vSphere/6.2/com.vmware.nsx.install.doc/GUID-311BBB9F-32CC-4633-9F91-26A39296381A.html

vSAN = ~10GB per node with your current cache-tier size configuration:

https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2113954

Basically, you likely don't have the gear to run all of the above so pick and choose - do you want/need a vSAN cluster or do you want/need to test NSX?

You likely can't do both here.

If you want to test these products with zero hardware investment, there is always HOL:

https://labs.hol.vmware.com/

"NETWORK DESIGN?"

There is an abundance of information already available:

https://storagehub.vmware.com/t/vmware-vsan/vmware-r-vsan-tm-network-design/

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/com.vmware.vsphere.virtualsan.doc/GUID-031F9637-EE29-4684-8644-7A93B9FD8D7B.html

Please also consider checking if your caps-lock key is broken (most would just assume you are SHOUTING :smileygrin: )

Bob

Re: HOME LAB DESIGN (NESTED )

singhraj — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 13:26:46 GMT

Hello Bob

Thanks for sending information it's very helpful.

please advise and add you experience.

i can add more Physical Ram if needed.

Re: HOME LAB DESIGN (NESTED )

TheBobkin — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 17:32:47 GMT

Hello singhraj,

"i can add more Physical Ram if needed."

Yes, if you want to run NSX, multiple vCenters and vSAN hosts with the disk configuration and assigned memory you outlined you will likely have to go 128GB (or assign less memory to the hosts and go 96GB - though this may be tight).

"please advise and add you experience."

Sorry but your diagrams don't make much logical sense:

For starters, what do you mean by 'Data Centers' here? If you mean vSphere logical Datacenters (as you would have in vCenter inventory) then this would imply that you intend to create multiple vSAN clusters in different Datacenter/vCenters?

All members of a vSAN cluster have to be managed by the same vCenter and must reside under the same Datacenter Object.

You have "Node1 (cluster1), Node2 (cluster2)" - vSAN requires minimum of 3 nodes per cluster (or 2 data-nodes + 1 Witness).

Then you have "node3, node4" in another Datacenter with no indication of what these are clustered with (each other? cluster1/cluster2?).

If you do not yet have experience with setting-up/administrating vSAN environments I would strongly advise spending some time building (and dismantling!) some clusters using HOL:

https://labs.hol.vmware.com/HOL/catalogs/lab/4210

Bob

Re: HOME LAB DESIGN (NESTED )

RajeevVCP4 — Wed, 20 Jun 2018 09:40:55 GMT

I used this blog you can try

https://www.vladan.fr/homelab-thoughts-vsan/

Re: HOME LAB DESIGN (NESTED )

singhraj — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 20:07:50 GMT

Thanks Rajeev