Looking for some advice for a new vmware user

[mrmicp]

Hi All,

Looking for some help and guidance for a vmware rookie :smileygrin:

We have just purchsed 3 x DL380 G8 each with 8 x 1TB HDD no shared storage and we are currently licensed for 2 x essential plus packs.

What I was wanting to do was replicate a few VM's so if one fails then we can either manually or automaically start the other on another host. I would like to replicate our exchange 2010 server essentially but thats currently on phyiscal hardware and I would need to do a P2V conversion first. I have also read a few negative articles about running exchange on a VM.

I  have had a bit of a read and it looks like FT is out of the quetsion due to not having shared storage in place and also there is the 1vcpu limitation. So I was wondering where to start really. So any advice, pointers etc will be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any help.

[aravinds3107 · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Communities..

As you are using Essentials Plus, you can checkout vSphere Storage Appliance which you can use it a shared Storage. Make sure that hardware is compatiable to use vSA (http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/12/major-hcl-changes-for-the-vsphere-storage-appliance-vsa.html)

What I was wanting to do was replicate a few VM's so if one fails then  we can either manually or automaically start the other on another host

vSphere HA does this for you provided you fulfill the requirements ,

[depping]

Agreed, using the vSphere Storage Appliance would be recommend as that way you can take advantage of features like vSphere HA.

[mrmicp]

Thanks for the welcome

That's fantastic thanks, it really does pay to ask   I shall have a look into the vSphere Storage Appliance, it does indeed sound like a possible solution. Does this leave me with a single point of failure though if one of the physical servers goes down?

This is why I have always been wary of  shared storage as if the SAN/NAS goes down then all VM's relying on that SAN/NAS will be unavailable. I have always thought the best solution is to use local storage and if possible replicate/mirror to a standby by server. I am still new to this and have a lot to learn so sorry if I sound naive.

[Sreejesh_D]

VSA is resilient. If a vSphere server within the VSA cluster goes down, VSA automatically and seamlessly fails over to another

vSphere server in the cluster, protecting your data. With VSA, you eliminate any single point of failure within your IT environment.

Ref : http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/vsphere/vSphere-VSA-Datasheet.pdf

We need a shared storage to leverage  the vSphere features like HA, VMotion, DRS, etc.

[aravinds3107]

Does this leave me with a single point of failure though if one of the physical servers goes down?

VSA works in a mirroring mode so there is no single point of failure

I have always thought the best solution is to use local storage and if possible replicate/mirror to a standby by server

When working on Virtualization products you would need a shared storge to get benefited on the features. To get benefited on the vSphere features like vMotion, HA, DRS, etc.. shared storage is must

There are some useful videos (http://vmwarelearning.com/) published by VMware, may be you use that for the learning

[mrmicp]

Thanks all for your invaluable input, I have tried to mark helpful and correct where I can but wasn't aware I was limited with my points?!?!  So just would like to say thanks to all of for pointing me in the right direction and saving me hours and possible days.

Before I go do you have any advice on the best method/ where I should be looking to replicate our exchange 2010 server once I have it running on a VM ?. I'm now thinking that once it's on the VSA and the physical host goes down it can be moved to a new physical host within in the cluster us vSphere HA?

Thasnk for the link to the videos too, that's my afternoon at work planned :smileycool:

[aravinds3107]

HA would restart the VM to the other host in cluster

Make sure to read the best practise for exchange http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/exchange-2010-on-vmware-best-practices-guide.pdf

[mrmicp]

Sorry to be asking a question again, but I have just watched the 5 videos on VSA and the hosts need to be free of VM's before we can start the VSA installation, which is OK but as I currently run vCenter Server on one of the hosts on i'm assuming that I will have to install this on one of our physical windows boxes along with the VSA.

I assume this is the case but just wanted to check, also after I have got the VSA up and running will I be abel to run this on the VSA cluster so it can take advantage of HA ?

[aravinds3107]

With VSA 5.1 vCenter can be installed on the local disk and once the VSA cluster is setup it can be moved there. Release notes

There are some useful blog post on VSA worth reading before staring (http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2011/10/vsphere-storage-appliance-vsa-useful-links.html)