vStart 100 and 200 Hyper-V Reference Architecture Release 1.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture This document is for informational purposes only and may contain typographical errors and technical inaccuracies. The content is provided as is, without express or implied warranties of any kind. © 2012 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dell and its affiliates cannot be responsible for errors or omissions in typography or photography. Dell, the Dell logo, PowerConnect, EqualLogic, OpenManage, and PowerEdge are trademarks of Dell Inc.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 1 2 Audience............................................................................................................... 1 3 Solution Overview ................................................................................................... 2 3.1 4 5 3.1.1 PowerEdge R720 for Hyper-V Cluster ...............................
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture Tables Table 1. Component Logical Groups ............................................................................... 4 Table 2. Traffic Type Summary ................................................................................... 10 Figures Figure 1. vStart 100 Overview ....................................................................................... 2 Figure 2. vStart 200 Overview ................................................................
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture 1 Introduction The vStart solution is a virtualization infrastructure solution that has been designed and validated by Dell Engineering. It is delivered racked, cabled, and ready to be integrated into your datacenter. vStart is offered as three configurations: vStart 501, 100 and 200.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture 3 Solution Overview The solution discussed in this whitepaper is powered by Dell PowerEdge servers, Dell EqualLogic iSCSI storage, Dell PowerConnect networking, and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1. The solution implements Dell and Microsoft best practices, and EqualLogic SAN HeadQuarters (SAN HQ) and Group Manager are included in the solution for storage array monitoring and management.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture Figure 2.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture Table 1 below describes the solution components: Table 1.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture With a 24 drive chassis full of 600GB SAS drives, the PS6100X array delivers 14.4 Terabyte (TB) of iSCSIbased storage built on fully-redundant, hot-swappable enterprise hardware. Scale out capacity and performance is provided by adding additional arrays. Built-in software functionality includes automated load balancing, snapshots and replication, multi-path I/O (MPIO), and consistency sets. SAN HQ is also available for Multi-SAN historical performance monitoring.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture Figure 3.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture 4 Design Principles This section covers the design principles, requirements, and solution capabilities incorporated in the vStart solution architecture. 4.1 No Single Point of Failure The solution is designed so that there is no single point of failure and redundancy is incorporated into all mission critical components of the solution.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture Optional) Database to support SCVMM - For a list of supported databases refer to the SCVMM Database Systems Requirements, or the Operations Manager 2007 R2 Supported Configurations. o If IT Administrators wish to install SCVMM on the R620 Management Server or as a VM, then a route must exist between the Management Server (physical or as a VM) and the database for SCVMM.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture vStart 200 Network Topology (Logical View) Figure 4.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture The table below summarizes the use of each traffic type. Table 2.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture 5.3 SAN Architecture The SAN includes two PowerConnect 7048 or 6248 switches which support iSCSI data traffic. The two switches are connected together with stacking modules in Ethernet mode configured as an inter-switch link (ISL) Link Aggregation Group (LAG). In addition, the solution supports up to eight 1Gb uplinks from each switch to link into an existing core iSCSI network infrastructure. These uplinks are optional.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture the size of the virtual memory of the VM and additional capacity for any snapshots of the VM. Depending on the environment, one may decide to create multiple ~500 GB volumes with multiple VMs. It is important to include space for the guest operating system memory cache, snapshots, and VM configuration files when sizing these volumes. Additionally, one can configure thin-provisioned volumes to grow on demand only when additional storage is needed for those volumes.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture 5.4 Hyper-V Role and Failover Clustering Design 5.4.1 Roles and Features The Hyper-V role is required on the Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter host. The role enables features such as creation, starting, and stopping of VM. Failover Clustering is a feature that, when combined with the Hyper-V role provides fault tolerance at the server level and enables features like Live Migration and VM failover.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture Hyper-V Manager that can be run from the R620 Management Server or VM. Server Manager can also be utilized to access Hyper-V Manager, while the cluster is managed from the Failover Cluster Manager. LAN and SAN Switch Management: Management of the LAN and SAN switches can be performed through a web browser, serial cable, or telnet.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture Figure 6. Management Overview (LAN) 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 25 27 29 31 33 35 37 39 41 43 45 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 PowerEdge R620 LNK 47 ACT R 5 4 Stack No.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture 6 Scalability When adding additional servers or storage to the rack, power, rack space, weight, and cooling requirements must be taken into account. The power limits of PDUs and UPSs must be understood prior to installing a new system. Switch ports on both the LAN and SAN switches are available for expansion. Those ports must be enabled and configured to support the new servers and/or storage arrays. 6.
vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture 7 References Microsoft references: Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/2008-r2-datacenter.aspx Install the Hyper-V Role on a Full Installation of Windows Server 2008 R2 http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/steps-to-install-hyper-v-role-onserver-2008r2.aspx Failover Clusters in Windows Server 2008 R2 http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff182326(WS.10).
