X6320bk0.book Page 1 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM VMware® ESX Server™ 2.1.2 Software for Dell™ PowerEdge™ Servers Deployment Guide w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l .
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X6320bk0.book Page 1 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM VMware® ESX Server™ 2.1.2 Software for Dell™ PowerEdge™ Servers Deployment Guide w w w. d e l l . c o m | s u p p o r t . d e l l .
X6320bk0.book Page 2 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Notes, Notices, and Cautions NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer. NOTICE: A NOTICE indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. ____________________ Information in this document is subject to change without notice. © 2004 Dell Inc. All rights reserved.
X6320bk0.book Page 3 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Contents Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Understanding Dell Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . Understanding ESX Server Components . . . . . . . . 5 7 11 . . . . . . 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Understanding VirtualCenter Components. Current Hardware and Software Qualification List . . . . . . . 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 14 15 16 . . . . . . . . . .
X6320bk0.book Page 4 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Guest Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Guest OS Installation . . . . . . . Guest OS Performance Tuning Tips Additional Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 22 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Product Documentation Resources . Technical Support Resources . . . Newsgroups. . . . . . . . . . . . Index 21 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 26 26 . . . . .
X6320bk0.book Page 5 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Introduction VMware® ESX Server™ software provides the rapid creation of multiple virtual machines (VMs) on a single physical server. These VMs each run in a resource-isolated, secure environment and include a Microsoft® Windows, Linux™, or Novell® NetWare® operating system (OS) with their associated applications.
www.dell.com | support.dell.com X6320bk0.book Page 6 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM zero-downtime maintenance. If a physical server needs servicing, it can be vacated; that is, all running VMs are moved to other ESX Server systems without affecting users. The vacant system can be shutdown, repaired, then placed back into service at which time VMs can be migrated back to it – all without impacting availability to end users.
X6320bk0.book Page 7 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Understanding Dell Configurations For this release, Dell has qualified a base server configuration for use with ESX Server 2.1.2 software. A single server can be used in a "stand-alone" mode, or one or more servers can be connected to a shared SAN through a switch. VMotion technology is available when two or more servers share a common SAN.
www.dell.com | support.dell.com X6320bk0.book Page 8 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Table 1-2. Additional Supported Devices for a Stand-Alone ESX Server System Configuration Server PE 6650 PE 2850 PE 1850 Storage Five internal hard disks (15K RPM at RAID 5 recommended) Six internal hard disks (15K RPM at RAID 5 recommended) Two internal hard disks (15K RPM at RAID 1 recommended) Table 1-3.
X6320bk0.book Page 9 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Figure 1-2 shows the Dell qualified base server configuration when not using VirtualCenter. Figure 1-2. Non-VirtualCenter Configuration, One or More PowerEdge Servers with Optional SAN Dell's qualified configuration with VMware VirtualCenter is: VMware ESX Server 2.1.2 software on each PowerEdge server with a single VirtualCenter 1.1 Server on a PowerEdge 1850 managing all ESX Server installations in a farm.
www.dell.com | support.dell.com X6320bk0.book Page 10 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Figure 1-3. VirtualCenter Configuration with SAN for VMotion Figure 1-4.
X6320bk0.book Page 11 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Understanding ESX Server Components • ESX Server – VMware virtualization software infrastructure installed on PowerEdge Servers for partitioning and consolidating systems, providing a platform for VMs. • Service Console – a management interface for VMware virtualization layer, which enables management of the ESX Server software remotely from a web browser.
www.dell.com | support.dell.com X6320bk0.book Page 12 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM • Template Repository - is a persistent storage location that maintains VM templates. These are run-able images of OSs, optionally including applications. The images can be rapidly cloned for use by ESX Server systems. NOTE: Cloning is deployment of a new VM and not migration of an existing VM.
X6320bk0.book Page 13 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM ESX Server 2.1 Installation Guide from VMware. This document comes with the installation CD and can also be found at: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx/esx21install.pdf. Before Installation Planning Planning is an important phase in the installation of the ESX Server software. A well planned installation will require fewer reconfigurations and less tuning in the future.
www.dell.com | support.dell.com X6320bk0.book Page 14 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Utility Partition New Dell Servers ship with the Dell Utility Partition (UP) pre-installed. The UP is a bootable disk partition that contains Dell diagnostic utilities and other software useful in maintaining the hardware. It is accessed by pressing the key at system boot time. Dell recommends that you keep the UP on your ESX Server system.
X6320bk0.book Page 15 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Table 1-5. Suggested Disk Partitioning within VMware ESX Server (continued) Mount Point Type Recommended Size Notes /vmimages ext3 10 GB+ Holds both ISO image files and Template Exported Virtual Disk images. /home ext3 2 GB Holds the individual Virtual Machine configuration files. (none) vmkcore 102 MB Holds the core dump file for the VMkernel. (none) vmfs2 Remaining Holds the disk files for the virtual machines.
www.dell.com | support.dell.com X6320bk0.book Page 16 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM After Installation After the installation of the ESX Server software in graphics mode, execute the following steps to complete the installation. • Create and activate a swap file for the VMkernel. The swap file helps in over-provisioning of the memory to the VMs and results in better resource management. • Give a name to the local VMFS partition.
X6320bk0.book Page 17 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM In order to create and use Storage Groups in Navisphere, the Access LogicTM option must be enabled. NOTE: Access Logic is a software component of Navisphere® which needs to be installed at the storage system. Zoning: Zoning controls access between fiber channel devices. Zoning at the switch would determine the group servers that can access a particular storage device.
www.dell.com | support.dell.com X6320bk0.book Page 18 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM 3 Select the following options: • Initiator Type: CLARiiON Open • Failover Mode:1 • Array CommPath: Enabled • Unit Serial Number: Array 4 Enter the required Hostname and IP address for the server and select OK. Repeat the steps for all the WWNs connected to the storage device. 5 The host server must now be registered to the storage device.
X6320bk0.book Page 19 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM include Server Administrator, and remote access controller (RAC) software. Server Administrator provides a comprehensive, one-to-one systems management solution in two ways: from an integrated, Web browser-based GUI (the Server Administrator home page) and from a command line interface (CLI) through the operating system. (For ESX Server systems, Server Administrator is installed in the Service Console.
X6320bk0.book Page 20 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM www.dell.com | support.dell.com NOTE: Managed system applications such as Server Administrator, and remote access controller (RAC) software are not used inside the virtual machines because the software would only see the virtualized hardware and not the physical hardware. NOTE: Dell OpenManage Server Administrator will run within the VMware Service Console and can be used to manage the server components.
X6320bk0.book Page 21 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Installing OpenManage Server Administrator and Remote Management Use the following steps to install Dell OpenManage 4.1 on the ESX Server system. The ESX Server Installation CD-ROM and OpenManage CD-ROM are required for the installation. 1 Log on with administrator privileges (root) to the Service Console. 2 Install Dell OpenManage using the following command: # omasetup.sh install Follow the instructions to complete the installation.
www.dell.com | support.dell.com X6320bk0.book Page 22 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Guest OS Performance Tuning Tips The following tuning tips significantly improve performance over the Guest OS and VMTools default installations and are highly recommended for Dell qualified configurations. NOTE: The actual results of the tuning tips provided here depend on the configuration and will vary accordingly. • Maximize ESX Server system tuning across VMs prior to individual VM Guest OS tuning.
X6320bk0.book Page 23 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM • Tradeoffs between memory and CPU resources: • • If VMs are CPU-bound and RAM is under-utilized, then turn off page sharing. You can achieve this from the ESX Server Management User Interface (MUI): • Choose Options tab. • Next, click on Advanced Settings. • Set Mem.ShareScanTotal to 0. (The default is 200.) If VM peak memory is bursty, then decrease idle memory tax rate. From ESX MUI: • Choose Options tab.
www.dell.com | support.dell.com X6320bk0.book Page 24 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Microsoft Windows Tuning Tips • • Use Perfmon to profile the Windows application and identify its key resource, then: • Isolate or limit sharing to each VM's key resource. • Save perfmon-tuned, gold images for cloning. For example: • Install Windows, Windows service packs and patches, VMware Tools, anti-virus, management agents, backup agent, application, application service packs, and patches.
X6320bk0.book Page 25 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Microsoft NT4 Tuning Tips • Virtual disks support DMA transfers for better performance. See www.vmware.com/support/esx21 for instructions on how to enable this feature. • Service Pack 6a is highly recommended for performance and compatibility. Linux Tuning Tips • At the end of Linux OS installation on the VM, make sure that "Text" mode is selected for the Login screen instead of "Graphical" mode.
www.dell.com | support.dell.com X6320bk0.book Page 26 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM • • VMware VirtualCenter 1.1 • Features: www.vmware.com/products/vmanage/vc_features.html • Documents: www.vmware.com/support/vc/ • Troubleshooting: www.vmware.com/support/vc/doc/releasenotes_vc.html VMware ESX Server 2.1.2 • Features, Documentation, Install Guide, Admin Guide, Scripting Guide, SAN, Backup, Troubleshooting (also see the KnowledgeBase) www.vmware.
X6320bk0.book Page 27 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Index A D agent VirtualCenter, 12 documentation OpenManage product, 19 C documents ESX Server 2.
X6320bk0.book Page 28 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM F L farms ESX Server, 5, 9 Linux OS installation, 25 tuning tips, 25 G guest OS, 21-22 installation, 21 performance, 22 load balancing automatic, 18 manual, 18 local disk partitions, 14 LUN, 16 H hardware qualification list, 12 M management server ESX, 11 I installation after, 16 ESX Server 2.1.2 software, 12 guest OS, 21 OpenManage, 18 OpenManage Server Administrator, 21 planning, 13 installation guide ESX Server 2.
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X6320bk0.book Page 2 Friday, August 27, 2004 1:35 PM Printed in the U.S.A.
