VMware Cloud Community
LMSADSA
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Features need to be enabled for High Availability with a 2 node ESXi 6.7 cluster

Hi

As of now we are using Microsoft 2016 Hyper V clusters. We have prepared 2 new ESXi hosts and in progress of configuring VCSA in HA. With ESXi host HA we read it restarts the VMs while moving the VM from one host to another. With Windows HV cluster if we restart one HV host, then all VMs with that host will move to available hosts without a restart. With vmware vMotion we can do a manual migration of VMs w/o any downtime (as our understanding). So we are looking for guidelines to know the features to be enabled with a 2 node ESXi cluster.

Thanks in advance  

Tags (1)
Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
SupreetK
Commander
Commander
Jump to solution

If it is a planned activity such as any hardware replacement, ESXi patch upgrade, etc, the VMs have to be migrated to the other host and the host has to be placed into maintenance mode before the reboot. If the DRS is set to Fully Automated, placing the host into maintenance mode will automatically migrate the VMs to other host(s). This is particularly useful when there is a large cluster and we don't want to worry about distributing the load across the remaining hosts.

Cheers,

Supreet

View solution in original post

Reply
0 Kudos
5 Replies
SupreetK
Commander
Commander
Jump to solution

You can go for HA and DRS. HA will restart the VMs on the second host in case of a host failure. DRS will manage the distribution of compute load between the hosts. Also, HA Application Monitoring and Fault Tolerance can be used for critical workloads. More details in the below links -

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-67-availability-guide.pdf

https://masteringvmware.com/how-to-configure-vsphere-ha/

Creating a vSphere HA Cluster

Cheers,

Supreet

Reply
0 Kudos
LMSADSA
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Thanks Supreet

Here one Q. If we enable both HA & DRS, then if we restart one of the ESXi host, will the VMs on that host migrate (vmotion) to other available host w/o a restart of the VMs?

Reply
0 Kudos
SupreetK
Commander
Commander
Jump to solution

If the host is rebooted, VMs will be restarted. DRS will kick in only when there is a need to balance the load.

Cheers,

Supreet

Reply
0 Kudos
LMSADSA
Enthusiast
Enthusiast
Jump to solution

Thank You

But with Microsoft HV hosts if we restart a host (eg after a windows update) HV manager Live Migrate all the VMs to other hosts w/o a restart of the VMs, then only the HV host restarts, but in case of an unexpected host failure VMs will shutdown and re start on other available hosts.

So with ESXi before we put the hosts in maintenance mode we have to migrate / vMotion all VMs to other hosts, correct?

Reply
0 Kudos
SupreetK
Commander
Commander
Jump to solution

If it is a planned activity such as any hardware replacement, ESXi patch upgrade, etc, the VMs have to be migrated to the other host and the host has to be placed into maintenance mode before the reboot. If the DRS is set to Fully Automated, placing the host into maintenance mode will automatically migrate the VMs to other host(s). This is particularly useful when there is a large cluster and we don't want to worry about distributing the load across the remaining hosts.

Cheers,

Supreet

Reply
0 Kudos