New kid on the Block

[zoetaite48]

We are a small company and are going to venture into the world of virtualization. We currently have 8 PROD servers (two of those being DC's) that we would like to virtualize. I would still like to keep our PDC as a physical server just to be on the safe side.

Server OS: Windows 2008 R2 (6 = 32bit ; 2 = 64bit)

Currently we are using local disk storage, but we are going to end up buying a small SMB entry level SAN. Depending on $$ we are leaning towards a iSCSI over Fiber channel.

I think we could pull this off purchasing 2 HP Proliant DL360 G6. My big question is there a tool that can be used to determine how many CPU's & memory need to be installed on the host servers? Would like 2 for redundancy which would allow us to implement HA and have vMotion. If we device to go with Vmware when you purchase Vsphere will they suggest an ideal configuration?

Any help or feedback would be appreciated

ZT

Here are the specs of the remaining physical servers:

Server1 (PDC1)

CPU: 1 X Intel Xeon E5405 (Quad)

RAM: 4GB

Storage: 300GB

Server2 (BDC)

CPU: 1 X intel Xeon E5405 (Quad)

RAM: 2GB

Storage: 300GB

Server3 (Web Server)

CPU: 1 X intel Xeon E5405 (Quad)

RAM: 2GB

Storage: 300GB

Server4 (Shared App)

CPU: 2 X intel Xeon E5405 (Quad)

RAM: 4GB

Storage: 300GB

Server5 (SQL 2008)

CPU: 2 X intel Xeon E5405 (Quad)

RAM: 8GB

Storage: 2.5TB

Server6 (File/Print)

CPU: 2 X intel Xeon E5405 (Quad)

RAM: 4GB

Storage: 2TB

Server7 (Backup server)

CPU: 1 X intel Xeon E5405 (Quad)

RAM: 4GB

Storage: 150GB

Server8 (SQL 2008 - DEMO)

CPU: 2 X intel Xeon E5405 (Quad)

RAM: 4GB

Storage: 300GB

[jsintz · Accepted solution]

I believe a local VMware VAR can come into your environment and run a tool that will help you size your hosts for consolidation.

We currently run several clusters of three 360 G6s each and we P2V'd similar sized physical servers down to 1 and 2 vCPU systems. Websphere, DB2, SQL, AD, Exchange, etc, etc and all run faster than their previous physical world. Where you can do it, I would suggest a new VM with a clean install over a P2V, less baggage when trouble shooting future problems.

Back the the hosts. We run most of our DL360 G6 hosts with 50 to 72 GB RAM, 1 dual HBA, 1 quad NIC and the hosts comfortably run 10 to 15 of the above mentioned types of VMs per host and any two hosts can run the load of all three so we can do maintenance on at least one host in the cluster at a time.

Spec'ing RAM is the easy part. If you don't won't to over commit just purchase enough so that every VM can have its own amount. (8 VMs x 4GB ) + ESX overhead RAM (800MB?).

Hope this helps.

[weinstein5]

Welcome to the Forums - If you are like most small businesses I would be comfortable virtualizing all your machines onto a dual quad core box with 32-48 gig og memory leving enough capacity for growth -

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