I wouldn't let virtualizing your DCs make you nervous. It's simply not that big a deal.
We have two environments that are 3 server clusters with physical Virtual Centers where all the other servers including the DCs are virtualized (~40-50 servers each). The ESXi hosts will run just fine without a DC. For start up you 'can' log onto individual ESXi hosts to play 'find the DC' to power up first which is annoying. This is why we have a physical virtual center and we can log onto it and find the DC to fire up more easily that way. On the other thread about 'snapshots', let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a Domain Admin who was doing some work (not me, not on that team). He decided he'd 'snapshot' all the domain controllers do the work and then go to sleep. Several hours later problems ensued, choas and panic set in. He decided as his first line of troubleshooting to roll back the snaphosts. So, evidently AD gets upset when you screw up it's timestamps and such. Anything with a database can get very upset. So, snapshots, useful tool when used sparingly. Really useful for testing environments/configurations/changes, not a universal cure all though. We've been progressively expanding our virtualization environment for about 8 years now and don't snapshot any server when doing windows updates in our environment. We have a moderatly complex environment involving different forests and domains. Steven Peck http://www.blkmtn.org On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 8:51 AM, David Mazzaccaro < [email protected]> wrote: > Only 1 vendor I talked to is putting in a physical DC as part of their > quote.**** > > For the same reasons you mentioned here.**** > > The other 2 quotes said to virtualize everything… which makes me nervous.* > *** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > *From:* John Cook [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Tuesday, July 17, 2012 10:28 AM > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* RE: moving to virtual**** > > ** ** > > 3 5.0 hosts in main Datacenter and another in a separate future DR > location. Both setups are iSCSI. Probably 25ish VMs, a mix of XP, W7, > Server 2003, 2008 and 2008R2 running Exchange 2010, SQL 2008, email > archiving, BES, AV, DCs, ect….. I DO maintain a physical DC in case of > that whole datacenter shutdown. Bringing it up first helps tremendously.** > ** > > ** ** > > *John W. Cook***** > > *Network Operations Manager***** > > *Partnership For Strong Families* > > *5950 NW 1st Place* > > *Gainesville, Fl 32607* > > *Office (352) 244-1610***** > > *Cell (352) 215-6944***** > > *MCSE, MCP+I, MCTS, CompTIA A+, N+, VSP4, VTSP4***** > > ** ** > > *From:* David Mazzaccaro > [mailto:[email protected]<[email protected]>] > > *Sent:* Tuesday, July 17, 2012 9:53 AM > > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* RE: moving to virtual**** > > ** ** > > Glad to hear it. Thanks.**** > > How many servers/users/devices you managing?**** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > *From:* John Cook [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Tuesday, July 17, 2012 9:33 AM > > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* RE: moving to virtual**** > > ** ** > > Which is exactly how we have it set up. A host failure on any level goes > unnoticed by the end users plus we can do host updates during business > hours, it really makes life easier to not have to come in after hours to do > this and with your one man shop (I’m with you) it is essential for not > hitting the burnout wall trying to keep up.**** > > ** ** > > *John W. Cook***** > > *Network Operations Manager***** > > *Partnership For Strong Families* > > *5950 NW 1st Place* > > *Gainesville, Fl 32607* > > *Office (352) 244-1610***** > > *Cell (352) 215-6944***** > > *MCSE, MCP+I, MCTS, CompTIA A+, N+, VSP4, VTSP4***** > > ** ** > > *From:* David Mazzaccaro > [mailto:[email protected]<[email protected]>] > > *Sent:* Tuesday, July 17, 2012 9:04 AM > > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* RE: moving to virtual**** > > ** ** > > 3 hosts will give me an n+1 configuration.**** > > I assume I will need 2 hosts to run my environment, and having 3 will > allow for 1 to be down.**** > > Unless you are saying 1 host is enough to run everything and the 2nd host > would still give me redundancy?**** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > *From:* Andrew S. Baker [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* Monday, July 16, 2012 5:02 PM > > *To:* NT System Admin Issues > *Subject:* Re: moving to virtual**** > > ** ** > > The 8 cores vs 6 cores is really not apples to apples in this case, and > while you will almost always be better off going with the best you can > afford at a given moment, the truth is that you'll be positively fine with > 6-cores.**** > > ** ** > > The key, as others have already mentioned is RAM -- closely followed by > disk. CPU is a bit further out. Get tons of RAM.**** > > ** ** > > Now, I have to ask. Why 3 hosts? You only have 8 systems to virtualize, > plus some growth. Define the reasonable range of growth for 1 year? 4 > VMs? 8 VMs? Unless you said, "20 VMs", I'd be very much inclined to > tell you to save yourself the hardware and licensing costs of one host > server right now.**** > > > We're running dozens of production VMs across a pair of quad-core host > servers. For 190 users, you'll be fine.**** > > ** ** > > I second Brian on the NetApp recommendation.**** > > ** ** > > As for the services part of the quote, why do you think the $28K is > unrealistic? What are the quoted timeframes for the project? What is the > proposed scope of work?**** > > > Regards,**** > > ** ** > > *ASB***** > > *http://XeeMe.com/AndrewBaker***** > > *Harnessing the Advantages of Technology for the SMB market…***** > > ** ** > > On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 3:36 PM, David Mazzaccaro < > [email protected]> wrote:**** > > Greetings,**** > > Getting very close to moving into the VM world, and have a couple of > questions…**** > > 1) I am trying to figure out if I should go with 8 core or 6 core > processors in my 3 hosts for my upcoming VMware environment.**** > > The price is about double. And I’m not sure I need 8 cores.**** > > The layout that has been quoted is as follows:**** > > 3 hosts connected to a PS4100XV SAN running VMware Essentials Plus Kit.*** > * > > The host servers I am looking at are either:**** > > HP DL360 G8 2x Intel® Xeon® E5-2640 (6 core, 2.50 GHz, 15MB, 95W) $5356 > each**** > > HP DL360 G8 2x Intel® Xeon® E5-2690 (8 core, 2.90 GHz, 20MB, 135W) > $10,061 each**** > > I currently have 8 physical servers (Win2003, E2003, Citrix 4.0) that we > will be P2V’d.**** > > After I P2V the servers, the plan is to begin creating new Windows 2008 > R2 VMs and migrating each server’s role (2008R2 domain, Exchange 2010, > and Citrix XenApp 6.5).**** > > I want enough power to be able to run my existing 8 servers in a virtual > environment and migrate them to AD2008/E2010/XenApp as well as leave some > room for testing and growth.**** > > 2 of the vendors said 6 core is fine, another vendor is quoting 8 core > processors.**** > > 2) The quotes I have for the “services” part of this are:**** > > $40,000 ($12k for AD/Exch, $8k for XenApp 20k for VMware)**** > > $38,000 (not itemized)**** > > $28,000 ($11k for AD/Ex, $6k XenApp, $11k for VM)**** > > Do these sound legit? I have ~190 users if that helps.**** > > I really think 28k is either too aggressive or simply not realistic. This > is the same vendor who quoted me (3) single processor servers, so I have > to go back to them and tell them I want dual proc.**** > > 3) For the SAN, I have 2 options:**** > > PS4100XV (12 600GB 15k SAS) $23,000**** > > NetApp FAS2240 (12 600GB 10k SAS) $22,000**** > > I have 2 vendors pushing the PS4100XV, and the other pushing the NetApp.** > ** > > From what I have been told, I’ll get better IOPS w/ the 15k drives in the > Equalogic. 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