Evaluating HP, Dell, IBM Solutions for small VMware deployment

[Chiper69]

Gday All,
Currently doing some research for a solution to consolidate our 6 or so servers using VMware. We are looking to implement HA, DRS and VMotion. Our budget for the hardware is about $30K AUD and we currently have 10 users.

We have the following server roles to consolidate and they are running on various ESX hosts with local storage.

DC
Exchange
BES (2 Devices currently no more than 5)
SQL (2 databases, 1 MSP app)
Web (2 web applications, 1 MSP app)
TS (Max 2 simultaneous users)
VCS (To manage ESX hosts)

Based on our small user base, direct attached SAS should suffice. Moving forward we are looking at moving into virtual hosting to provide our customers with hosted application solutions and will probably role this out with VMware View so we should make provision for this.

Initially we would aim to install this hardware locally however as we convert customers to our hosted solution would require to move this to a data centre purely based on bandwidth requirements.

With this in mind we are considering a blade solution to
A - Ensure smallest footprint as possible
B - Ensure expandability

That said we have come up with the following solutions and would appreciate any feedback or advice you can offer in relation to these products.

Each host has the following specs
24GB RAM (6 x 4GB modules)
2 x 72GB SAS 15K HDD RAID 1 - For ESX install
2 x Xeon Quad Core 95W 2.66GHz/1333MHz CPU

Each storage has the following specs
Dual Controller model
5 x 450GB SAS 15K 3.5" HDD RAID 5 (1.8TB storage)


Option A - IBM ($9K More)
2 x IBM X3650 M2 Servers
1 x DS3200 SAS Storage Array Dual Controller
OR
Blade Centre S Chassis
2 x HS22 Blades


Option B - HP ($4K More)
2 x HP DL380 G6 X5550 Servers
1 x 2012SA DC Modular Smart Array


Option C - Dell (Best Price)
2 x Power Edge R710 Rack Mount Servers
1 x Power Vault MD3000 with HA solution

Would like to thank anyone that takes the time to offer advice, it is very much appreciated.

Cheers,
Chiper

 

[needcoffee]

In the HP solution you are better off putting 8GB DIMMS into 4 slots (2 per cpu socket) so you can run the bus at 1333Mhz. This will let you add another 8GB per socket if you need and keep your memory bandwidth running at best rate.

Also given your application profile, RAID 5 storage is not the way to go. You will have much better performance with RAID 10. Take a look at RAID 10 vs RAID 5 to see more about the cost/performance difference.

Just make sure whichever storage you select can present the same volume to both ESX hosts at the same time or VMotion will not work.

Also see vCenter as a VM for best practices running VC as a VM.

needcoffee

 

[ArizonaGeek]

In the Dell solution, you wouldn't be able to take advantage of HA or DRS with a MD3000. You would need a SAN and the MD3000 is a DAS. Also with DAS you would only be able to get a max of 2 TB chunks to present to the host.

As needcoffee said, the 8 gig memory would be best but could add a significant amount to the cost of the servers, if it is within your budget get it, if not, you'd be better off saving the memory money and putting it towards a Dell Equallogic iSCSI SAN instead of the MD3000.

I've only used Dell so I can only speak for them. (and so far we've had REALLY good luck! 2 years running strong!) One of the guys in our local VMUG told me that IBM has a solution, it is called something like VMWare in a box or something like that. It is two servers and a SAN or NAS solution. I've never used it but I have heard it is a good deal for what it is. Not sure how customizable it is based on your needs, but certainly something you should look at.

My current production environment:
Three Dell 2950's with dual quad core processors and 32 gig of RAM booting from the SAN (so no direct storage) running ESX 3.5 and we're going to upgrade to vSphere 4 soon.
EMC CX-310 FC SAN (VERY expensive) with about 4tb of usable space, second shelf with another 4tb of usable space.
Dell 1950 with 4 gigs of RAM and a dual quad core processor for our VCenter server
Dell 850 with an MD1000 SAS attached storage, with 6 tb of SAS drives using Vizioncore vRanger to snapshot back ups.

55 VMS running HA and DRS, DC's, SQL, Sybase, 3 Linux servers, web servers, FTP servers just to name a few. We're running about 30% total utilization on all three servers.

Good luck!

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[GrimR]

Sorry to hijack this post, but I was wondering if ArizonaGeek or anyone else could give me some advice, I also run Dell's 2800 and 2900's all Server 2003 R2's.
2x AD controllers [x86] 4 GB RAM 2 x Core 2 DUO's for 3rd party apps almost fully utilized, and this is why I would like to know if I should by a new x86 server or move to VMWare.
1x exch 2007 8GB RAM 2x Quad core, 500GB avl disk space[x64] 1x sql2005 8GB RAM 1x Quad core, 650GB avl disk space[x64]
1x Linux.Out sourced

What is the best way to consolidate this configuration, and what will be needed to backup and restore. e.g. vRanger

What I have read or heard is that exch and DC's should be on there on hardware anyway.

BTW is it best to buy all x64 machines and run Server 2008 and install x86 as quest's AD PDC & BDC will they still run the legacy Apps?

What is the difference between
vSphere, VMware ESXi 4 or VMware server
and I take it vCenter will be a must

MCITP:EA/SA, MCSE, MCSA, MCDBA, MCTS, MCP+I, MCP

 

[ArizonaGeek]

There are far more pluses to virtualizing than not. Ease of back up and restore, snap shots, and high availability to name a few.

DC's can be virtual but as stated in this thread, should not be a P2V. I run two domains and 4 DCs in my environment, all virtual. So far, I haven't found any reason not to virtualize a server. I know there are a few cases where hardware specific needs have to be met, such as something that needs a serial port or parallel port.

What I would suggest doing is getting the free version of ESXi, find an extra server and get it up and running. Maybe create a new DC on it or try a few servers. See if it is going to meet your needs.

As for differnces between ESXi and ESX can be found here. The difference between ESX & ESXi and VMWare Server, ESX is a bare metal install, so you would install it like an OS, where as VMWare Server requires either Linux or Windows underneath to run which would give you the CPU and memory overhead of those operating systems. You're better off going with an ESX version.

Since I am a leader in our local VMUG, I'd also suggest looking in your area for a VMWare User Group. It would be a a good resource to a wealth of knowledge.

Hope this helps.

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!