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jahanzaib
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Vmware Data Center Virtualization Structured Design Sizing

With 3 UCS Chassis 5108 so total 24 Blades (B200-M4). We might Increase to 4 More Chassis in next 2 years. So let start with sizing with current which are 24 Blades and maximum can to 48 Blades in Future.

At the moment we are running Vcenter 6.0 on one of the Blade Server which is high risk in case of failure. I need to keep Vcenter on Separate Physical Servers:

1: Currently we have vCenter 6.0 Standard and we decided to upgrade to V center 6.5 U1

2: VCenter 6.0 Running on One of the Blade Server on its local SAS Drive. 

2: We don't have NSX at the moment but we are planning to go, need to consider flexibility for NSX 6.3.2 for it as well.

3: On storage side we are using local disk on every blades at the moment (1.2TB x 2) but off course we will consider to go for Centralized SAN.

Features Consideration: vCenter Side:

1: VDS, FT & HA (Active, Passive, Witness Node) feature introduced in VCSA 6.5 U1

Features Consideration: eSXi 6.5 Side:

1: Cluster, VDS, DRS, Vmotion, FT & Other recommended Features

Design Solution Technical Recommendation Required:

1: VCenter Server should be on Separate cluster of Rack Mount Servers. So How many Physical UCS Rack Servers Should be there? (With HA Feature Active,  Passive, Witness Node)

2: I believe we can go for Embedded Platform for VCSA 6.5? What about (RAID) Disk Mirroring on Local HDD?

3: NSX deployment keep under consideration during Server Selection?

4: How Many Physical Up-links Required from vCenter Servers?  (2 MGMT Up-link, 2 FT Up-links, 2 Up-links VMotion, 2 Up-links Storage Traffic)

UCS RACK SERVERS:

Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack

Cisco UCS C240 M4 High-Density Rack Server (Small Form Factor Disk Drive Model

Once we concluded I will create and share the design as well.

Thanks,

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mhampto
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1: VCenter Server should be on Separate cluster of Rack Mount Servers. So How many Physical UCS Rack Servers Should be there? (With HA Feature Active,  Passive, Witness Node)

Not necessarily it has to be on a separate server, Just make sure you give high priority for HA failover. Regarding Physical server requirement, it depends upon the CPU and memory utilization. It is purely on the cluster capacity.

Reference: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-65-availability-guide.pdf

2: I believe we can go for Embedded Platform for VCSA 6.5? What about (RAID) Disk Mirroring on Local HDD?

You can use an Embedded Platform Controller for VCSA 6.5 as it easy to setup. Disk Mirroring on Local HDD is preferred only for critical VMs. Centralized storage will be more beneficial here as you could perform a backup from storage end, or using a backup appliance.

3: NSX deployment keep under consideration during Server Selection?

No limitation on the hardware or with virtual configuration.

For reference: https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/products/nsx/vmw-nsx-network-virtu...

4: How Many Physical Up-links Required from vCenter Servers?  (2 MGMT Up-link, 2 FT Up-links, 2 Up-links VMotion, 2 Up-links Storage Traffic)

This is perfect((2 MGMT Up-link, 2 FT Up-links, 2 Up-links VMotion, 2 Up-links Storage Traffic))

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mhampto
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1: VCenter Server should be on Separate cluster of Rack Mount Servers. So How many Physical UCS Rack Servers Should be there? (With HA Feature Active,  Passive, Witness Node)

Not necessarily it has to be on a separate server, Just make sure you give high priority for HA failover. Regarding Physical server requirement, it depends upon the CPU and memory utilization. It is purely on the cluster capacity.

Reference: https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-65-availability-guide.pdf

2: I believe we can go for Embedded Platform for VCSA 6.5? What about (RAID) Disk Mirroring on Local HDD?

You can use an Embedded Platform Controller for VCSA 6.5 as it easy to setup. Disk Mirroring on Local HDD is preferred only for critical VMs. Centralized storage will be more beneficial here as you could perform a backup from storage end, or using a backup appliance.

3: NSX deployment keep under consideration during Server Selection?

No limitation on the hardware or with virtual configuration.

For reference: https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/products/nsx/vmw-nsx-network-virtu...

4: How Many Physical Up-links Required from vCenter Servers?  (2 MGMT Up-link, 2 FT Up-links, 2 Up-links VMotion, 2 Up-links Storage Traffic)

This is perfect((2 MGMT Up-link, 2 FT Up-links, 2 Up-links VMotion, 2 Up-links Storage Traffic))

jahanzaib
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Hello,

Please clarify this point:

Not necessarily it has to be on a separate server, Just make sure you give high priority for HA failover. Regarding Physical server requirement, it depends upon the CPU and memory utilization. It is purely on the cluster capacity.

So how we can create Active , passive and witness setup for High Availability? If I want keep Active , Passive on 2 difference UCS Servers which can be Rack Mount Servers like C240-M4 Servers and Witness on one of the available Blade Server.

Does this work fine ?

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jahanzaib
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Hello,

Please clarify this point:

Not necessarily it has to be on a separate server, Just make sure you give high priority for HA failover. Regarding Physical server requirement, it depends upon the CPU and memory utilization. It is purely on the cluster capacity.

So how we can create Active , passive and witness setup for High Availability? If I want keep Active , Passive on 2 difference UCS Servers which can be Rack Mount Servers like C240-M4 Servers and Witness on one of the available Blade Server.

Does this work fine ?

Reply
0 Kudos