Moving to ESX3 64bit

[bambino]

Hello all,

We will be building a new domain with ESX 64bit with probabbly other 64bit virtual server and some 32bits virtual servers as well......

We will be installing AD, exchange 2007, SQL, NAV, Solomon, Ceridian, oracle, web servers, citrix etc. We would like to have it all virtualized but it must not be this way, so I would like your opinion on hardware for this project. My director already put an RCE for a Equallogic iSCSI SAN, and a few dell quadcore servers.

can you please advise on what dell servers you recommend, the processor type and best practices for a project like this one?

Thanks in advance.

[azn2kew]

I'm happy with Dell PE 2950 & Dell 6950 series and I think with the servers you've mentioned it would be good for Dell 6950 series or get the new server with Barcelona to see price different. I've deployed most of those servers on Dell 6950 64GB RAM and it runs like a champ. SAN we have multiples models due to complex data centers but we're using Clariion, DMX, Symmetrix in a mixed depends on each business units and purchased date.

NetApp and Hitachi has pretty good stuff but its all boils down to negotiation and pricing otherwise their are many good vendors like Compellent, Lefthand's Network, Xiotech, Dell, HP, IBM and all has its strengths and weaknesses. If you can filter down to your requirements than have each sales vendor come in and present their solutions and compare prices. Once that's done get online and research and ask folks around VMTN for real experience and decide from there.

SAN is so critical to your virtualization infrastructure so I would spend a lot of time researching and analyzing rather than just listening from vendors.

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Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

iGeek Systems LLC.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

[azn2kew]

To save money on ESX license buy the servers that have the most multiple cores (quad cores) for instance so with Dell PE 6950 (2 x 4 cores) = 8 cores should be good standard. Try to architecture your infrastructure with N+1 model for failover and redundancy and make sure to curve your LUN size between 400-600GB and most like its nice to play between 12-15 VMs per ESX hosts and it all depends on the VMs themselves could be less or more but that ranges are good for architecture solutions. You can get to Eric's website www.vmware-land.com to read alot of good guides and of course www.vmware.com has all the documentations you can read.

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Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

iGeek Systems LLC.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

[RParker]

FYI the 2950 has 8 cores also. the R900 has 16 cores, 4 sockets with Quad Core.

[azn2kew]

I'm not a great fan of virtualizing Citrix farm but it has been done a lot and if you planned and architected it correctly with enough resources dedicated for it and custom settings than it wouldn't be any problems as far as performance and functionality. Make sure do not over allocate unnecessary resources for them and also you might want to do application silo and dedicated resources for Citrix servers. Citrix is bound to context switch and its not good for virtualiztion. Newer chip technology should accomodate those problems and you have to check it out more details. Brianmadden.com has great information on Citrix/Virtualization that I'm sure you've aware of.

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

iGeek Systems LLC.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant

[bambino]

Thank you for your replies!

We were quoting for PE1950 2QuadCore proc; 273g; 15krpm; and 16gig of ram.

At the time, we will build the domain with AD, DHCP, DNS, File and print, one SQL and one windows NT server. We will gradually build servers for exchange, MS Solomon, WSS, Symantec Endpoint and other web servers. I decied not to virtualize citrix or Oracle so let's discard those from the list.

We are small shop of 250users, which 70 are in house and the rest connect to HQ via citrix or web. I contacted dell and the rep claimed that all their servers are 64bit already, so I don't have to worry about that. Since all my data will be on the SAN, the need of local storage is not necessary, so what can you recommend based with the information provided? is it too little or too much for our needs.

Thanks again

[azn2kew]

Here is the VMworld 2007 best practice guy for SQL, Exchange, Citrix, Oracle scalability.

If you found this information useful, please consider awarding points for "Correct" or "Helpful". Thanks!!!

Regards,

Stefan Nguyen

iGeek Systems LLC.

VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Consultant