It's generally wise to have your backup server be a separate box as most backup packages will take as many resources as possible during the windows.
As far as the sizing of your vCenter server, how many ESX hosts do you have and how many do you plan to add during the lifecycle of the server? Are you running the SQL database on the vCenter box as well or do you have a separate DB server? DAMIEN SOLODOW Systems Engineer 317.447.6033 (office) 317.217.6851 (fax) HARRISON COLLEGE From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Monday, January 10, 2011 10:19 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Recommendation for new server (or two) Greetings! I plan on continuing my search on this issue (as well as contacting the VMUser group forum), but as this group generally has somebody giving a quick AND USEFUL response, I thought I'd post here... ===== Currently, we have an old PE-850 with one "Pentium III, 1.266 GHz" and 3 Gb RAM. It runs two applications... UltraBac backup software (and it feeds a Quantum PX-502 tape library) VMware vCenter 2.5 We are looking to replace the PX-502. The library at which we are looking requires an external SAS port. Given the nature of the slots on the PE ("regular", circa 2003 PCI slots), we've been told it is difficult to find a SAS adapter for these slots. Consequently (and also due to its age), we are now server shopping. vCenter functions would be for management only. However, we will need to go to VMWare products 4.1 and beyond (ESX would be on other host servers). Specific questions: 1. Would it be a mistake to continue to use a single server for both vCenter management and for running network-wide backups to the local tape library? In other words, should we replace the PE-850 with two servers instead? 2. For the vCenter, what would be an "optimal minimum" for CPU? That is, how many cores in how many processors? (That is, single quad, dual quad, single single core, etc)? We can't really "shoot the moon" on this as we do have a limited budget for this. Thanks! -- Richard D. McClary Systems Administrator, Information Technology Group ASPCA(r) 1717 S. Philo Rd, Ste 36 Urbana, IL 61802 [email protected] P: 217-337-9761 C: 217-417-1182 F: 217-337-9761 www.aspca.org <http://www.aspca.org/> The information contained in this e-mail, and any attachments hereto, is from The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals(r) (ASPCA(r)) and is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying or use of the contents of this e-mail, and any attachments hereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please immediately notify me by reply email and permanently delete the original and any copy of this e-mail and any printout thereof. ~ 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
