OK - how about "Don't scrimp on RAM, get as much as you can afford and which will allow all of your VMs that you currently foresee running in the next 5 years to be unconstrained by it."
Better? Kurt On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 12:21, Jonathan Link <[email protected]> wrote: > Max the box? Seriously? That's a bit absurd. The max is 192 GB. > > > On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 3:09 PM, Kurt Buff <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> Tiny vendor app databases - for the love of all that is sane, separate >> these out on different VMs, if they are actually different types of >> databases - by this I mean one is MSSQL, another is Pervasive, etc. >> >> RAM - you can't have enough. Max the box. >> >> Don't forget to get enough network - Good quad-port NICs are your friend. >> >> Kurt >> >> On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 10:07, Ben Scott <[email protected]> wrote: >> > Sorry to interrupt the cell phone talk, but I've got a question >> > about NT system administration. ;-) >> > >> > I'd appreciate any input people have on this. Thoughts, >> > suggestions, recommendations, dopeslaps, etc. Pointers to references, >> > or FMs to R, are also welcome. >> > >> > SUMMARY >> > >> > * Spec'ing a server for small business virtualization >> > * Best hard drive config? >> > * Eight fast mid-sized disks in one big RAID 10? >> > * Larger slower mirrored disks, but some dedicated to workloads? >> > * Unsure as to RAM and CPU sizing >> > >> > BACKGROUND >> > >> > The Powers That Be here at %WORK% have finally agreed to let me >> > upgrade our server infrastructure (and there was much rejoicing). >> > We're a small shop, basically just two servers, with most everything >> > running on a single server. DC, file, print, Exchange, apps, etc., >> > all on the one box. Obviously far from ideal, but it wasn't >> > cost-effective to do anything else before. With virtualization now >> > being in our reach, my goal is to split that into dedicated VMs, and >> > move everything on to a single physical box. >> > >> > I've not found much capacity planning guidance for small businesses >> > who want to do virtualization on a single server. All the guides seem >> > to assume 1000s of users, and help one figure out how many servers to >> > buy for one's load. I'm trying to figure out how much of a server to >> > buy, for the varied VMs I want to put on it. >> > >> > CURRENT ENVIRONMENT >> > >> > * Single physical site, single domain, single AD site >> > * 100 MB NTDS, 285 MB SYSVOL >> > * 85 named users, plus a dozen or so shared role accounts >> > * 120 CALed PCs >> > * 370 GB plain old files on the file server >> > * 150 GB Exchange information store >> > * 130 GB other stuff (OS overhead, server software, OS images, WSUS, >> > etc.) >> > * 25 network printers >> > * Win 2000 Server (I know, I know); Exchange 2003 >> > >> > MY PLAN SO FAR >> > >> > We're a Dell shop, so PowerEdge T710. Eight disk bays. Two CPU >> > sockets. >> > >> > Win 2008 R2 Datacenter. Gotta love the unlimited VMs. >> > >> > Hyper-V, simple because it makes the support question less complicated. >> > >> > Budget isn't set in stone, but I'm shooting for the 8 - 12 kilobuck >> > range, including service contract, not including software. Obviously >> > we don't want to spend more than we have to, but if something is >> > cost-justified I can argue to get it. >> > >> > At least five VMs: DC/DHCP/DNS. Exchange. File server. Print >> > server (ill-behaved print drivers). And one catch-all -- WSUS, BES, >> > anti-virus server, license servers, a few tiny vendor-app databases. >> > Maybe split that last one up a bit more, maybe not. >> > >> > I think a SAN would be overkill for us right now. One nice thing >> > about virtualization is that we can easily migrate the VHDs to a SAN >> > when get to that point. >> > >> > DISK CONFIGURATION >> > >> > Traditional wisdom was to use dedicated spindle sets for things like >> > Exchange. Your dedicated Exchange server would have a small mirror >> > for OS and software, a small mirror for the transaction logs, and >> > however much you needed for the Information Store. Virtualization >> > makes the question more complicated. >> > >> > I could get eight mid-sized 15 KRPM disks, and put them in RAID 10 >> > (stripe of mirrors). Have most of it be a giant partition on the >> > host, containing all the VHDs. >> > >> > Or I could get larger, 7.2 KRPM disks, put them in mirrored pairs, >> > and dedicate mirrors to workloads. One mirror set for the Exchange >> > IS, another for the logs, a third for plain old files, and a fourth >> > for everything else. Or some variation on that theme. >> > >> > Thoughts on this? >> > >> > RAM AND CPU SIZING >> > >> > For such a small environment, am I okay oversubscribing the physical >> > cores/hyperthreads? For example, if I get a single six core processor >> > (leaving the second socket open for future expansion), will that be >> > okay? Does Exchange have to have multiple dedicated cores to run >> > well? >> > >> > Likewise, how much RAM do I really need to give the single-purpose >> > VMs? I'm thinking 1 GB for the print server. Will the DC be okay >> > with 1 GB? I'm thinking the more RAM I can give Exchange and the file >> > server, the better, so there's a trade-off here. >> > >> > >> > >> > >> > Thanks for reading. :) >> > >> > -- Ben >> > >> > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ >> > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ >> > >> > --- >> > To manage subscriptions click here: >> > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ >> > or send an email to [email protected] >> > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin >> > >> >> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ >> ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ >> >> --- >> To manage subscriptions click here: >> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ >> or send an email to [email protected] >> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin >> > > ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ > ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ > > --- > To manage subscriptions click here: > http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ > or send an email to [email protected] > with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
