Monthly Archives: February 2012

February 29, 2012

General guidelines for deploying SQL on VMware vSphere
CPU:
Start with a thorough understanding of your workload, you can use VMware Capacity Planner to determine workloads
If workloads cannot be determined, start with 1 vCPU, single vCPU VM can support high transaction throughput
Account for virtualization overheads (8%-15%, depending on the workload)
In Windows Server 2003 guests, when using single-processor virtual machines, configure with a UP HAL (hardware
abstraction layer) or kernel. Multi-processor virtual machines must be configured with an SMP HAL/kernel. Windows
Server 2008 will automatically select the HAL appropriate for the underlying hardware
Avoid CPU overcommitment, otherwise Reserve the full capacity
Install/Update latest vmware tools
Ensure CPU Compatibility is met for vMotion
Memory:
Start with a thorough understanding of your workload, you can use VMware Capacity Planner to determine workloads
Increase the database buffer cache to reduce or avoid disk I/O and thus improve SQL Server performance
Avoid Memory overcommitment, otherwise reservations can be applied to avoid Ballooning and Swapping
If you set the SQL Server lock pages in memory parameter, be sure to set the virtual machines reservations to match the
amount of memory you set in the virtual machine configuration
Use of large pages will help in improving performance
Storage:
There are no concrete recommendations for using VMFS or RDM in SQL Server deployments, both have their advantages and
disadvantages. Fibre Channel may provide maximum I/O throughput, but iSCSI and NFS may offer a better price-performance
ratio VMware test results show that aligning VMFS partitions to 64KB track boundaries results in reduced latency and
increased throughput
It is considered a best practice to:
RDM is required when using third-party clustering software, storage based backups to disk or use of third party storage
Management software
Guest OS can be installed on VMFS and SQL DB and Logs can be on RDMs
Maintain a 1:1 mapping between the number of virtual machines and LUNs to avoid any disk I/O contention
Its recommended to have VMDKs as eagerzeroedthick
Aligning VMFS partitions to 64KB track boundaries results in reduced latency and increased throughput Create VMFS
partitions from within vCenter. They are aligned by default
Setup a minimum of four paths from an ESX/ESXi host to storage Array, this means that each host requires at least 2 HBA
ports
Network:
Use NIC teaming and segregate network traffic using VLANs
Use the VMXNET3 network adapter for optimal performance. The Enhanced VMXNET3 driver also supports jumbo frames
and TSO for better network performance
Network communications between co-located virtual machines usually outperforms physical 1Gbps network speed so, if
possible, place the various virtual machines that make up an application stack on the same ESXi host
Performance Counters of Interest to SQL Administrators
Subsystem esxtop Counters vCenter Counter
CPU %RDY%USED
Ready (milliseconds in a
20,000 ms window) Usage
Memory %ACTVSWW/sSWR/s
ActiveSwapin RateSwapout
Rate
Storage ACTVDAVG/cmdKAVG/cmd
CommandsdeviceWriteLatency
& deviceReadLatency
kernelWriteLatency &
kernelReadLatency
Network MbRX/sMbTX/s packetsRxpacketsTx
*The above content is provided with an Assumption that the VMware environment is vSphere 4.x and later
Posted in VCAP DCD
Tagged SQL
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February 14, 2012
What makes an ESXi?
Just exactly what makes up an ESXi?
There is no Service Console rather has VMKernel and VMM
Traditional command line interface with access to Management, Troubleshooting, and Config Tools is gone
Third Party agents, Backups, customized settings to be applied differently
ESXi has three components
VMKernel: Its a 64 bit Microkernel OS POSIX styled oS, desinged by VMware to be not a general purpose OS but one
specifically tuned to operate as a hypervisor
VMKernel Extensions: It involves special kernel modules and device drivers which help the OS interact with the hardware
Worlds:
System Worlds:
Processes like idle and helper run as system worldsVMM worlds: Lets the guest oS see its own x86 virtualized hardware. Each
VM runs on its own scheduled VMM world

User worlds: They can make system calls to the VMkernel to interact with VMs or the system itself
ESXi Agents:
DCUI: Yellow interface that lets you set basic configuration, permit access and restart management agents
CIM Broker: Common Information Model, provides agentless access to hardware monitoring via an externally accessible API
TSM: Technical Support mode to run some command line tools which was present is Service Console
Lets now talk about the ESXi Flavors i.e. Installable and Embedded
ESXi Installable:
ESXi can boot from CD, PXE, USB local storage, Local disk, FC or iSCSI SAN (private LUN). The Image files can reside
on CD, USB, FTP, HTTP, HTTPS and NFS export. But boot from NFS is not supported
Installation can either be Interactive or using a Kick Start file which can be stored on CD, USB, FTP, HTTP, HTTPS or NFS
export
System Image can be deployed to Local Harddisk or USB, since 4.1 it can be on SAN LUN (FC, FCoE or iSCSI). iSCSI
LUN if you are using NIC that supports iBFT (iSCSI Boot Firmware Table)
The Scratch Partition is a 4GB vFAT partition created by default if a local disk is found on the 1st boot. It captures the
running state files such as Logs, coredumps etc.
ESXi Emebedded: A version of ESXi that is preinstalled as firmware in the factory or burned to a USB flash drive and
installed in an Internal USB Socket on the Main system board.
What different tools are available to manage ESXi:
vSphere Client: Connect directly to the hosts
vCenter: Add the hosts to the vCenter and take advantage of DRS, host profile, Storage DRS etc.
vCLI: vCLI is a Perl Based set of scripts that mimics most of the commands available at the ESX console. The esxcfg- prefix
has been renamed to vicfg- prefix
vMA: vSphere Management Assistant is a small just enough OS prepackaged linux virtual Appliance which has preinstalled
vCLI. It can also be used as a syslog server
PowerCLI: Run PowerShell Scripts against vCenter inventory objects such as Hosts, VMs, Storage, Network etc
vSphere Update Manager: Patching/Upgrading ESXi hosts
DCUI: Yellow interface that lets you set basic configuration, permit access and restart management agents
TSM: Technical Support mode to run some command line tools which was present is Service Console. It is based on small
executable called BusyBox (www.busybox.net)
Host Profiles: Used to apply customized settings on all the hosts at a time. It also helps check the compliance of a host and
Cluster
Local Authentication: Can have local users with root privileges
Lockdown Mode: Disables all users from accessing the ESXi host, only root can access using DCUI and vpxuser can access
the hosts using vCenter. It also affects the CIM access to get the hardware info, instead needs a ticket from vCenter so that the
vpxuser can fetch the information. Do not enable the lockdown mode from the DCUI it restricts access to the local users rather
do it from the vCenter
Logging: Many of the logs are combined into 3 files
VMkernel /var/log/messages (containes hostd log as well)
Management Daemon: /var/log/vmware/hostd.log
vCenter Agent: /var/log/vmware/vpxa.log
-End
Posted in ESXi
Tagged ESXi
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February 11, 2012
vSphere Design, Get your basics right the first time!!!!!
How to start designing a vSphere environment, what is involved, whom to involve?
What is a Design?
A streamlined process which helps the various elements in the organization to determine how to assemble and configure a
Virtual Infrastructure which is strong and Flexible. A design should contain all the important information that meets the
Functional Requirements of an Organization.
The functional requirments unify 3 different facets of the design:
Technical What to deploy?
Operational How to deploy and Support?
Organizational Who will deploy and support?
Why Vmware or any other Virtualization product for that matter?
There should be a strong reason/objective to deploy Virtualization in the organization, some of them are:
Datacenter Consolidation which will help saving Datacenter space, power and Cooling costs etc
New Application rollout, Exchange 2010 for ex.
Disaster Recovery/Business continuity, Deploy new DR/BC Solution using VMware vSphere and SRM
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
Facets of the design:
Technical:
What type of servers, blades or Rack Mounted?
Type of Physical CPUs in the server?
Type & Quantity of Storage?
Kind of Networking etc?
Organizational:
Who will manage the whole environment?
Who will provision what? Storage, Network etc?
Who will support VMs, their backups etc?
Who will be responsible for Security Policies?
Operational:
How will the Hosts be managed?
How will the VMs be provisioned?
How will I Failover to DR Site?
How will compliance be verified?
How to go about desigining any Infrastructure?
Review Infrastructure documents provided by the client, although it may not provide the complete but most of the
Functional Requirements
Interview the IT teams and IT Management teams (everyone and anyone as required) to understand the environment better
Top 5 issues at the user level that can be resolved using VMware Platform
Assemble bits and pieces?
Its always acceptable to remove functional requirements, if at any point, they dont serve any purpose whats the point in
having them?
Set standards and Best practices, but every Best practice recommended by a vendor may not suite your environment, get
a deeper look into the Best Practices and ensure they meet your functional requirements
Start documenting every bit of the Design, so that the implementation teams find it easy
All in all, get your basics right before you jump into any Technical Jargons :)
*Most of the information is being taken from Scott Lowes Design book which I thought is the best information available so
far :)
Posted in VCAP DCD
Tagged vSphere design
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February 7, 2012
General Best Practices for deploying Exchange 2010 on
VMware vSphere
Best practices do not mean A hard and fast rule, but they are rather some sort of indicators which help you deploy the best
possible solution :)
CPU:
Start with lesser number of vCPUs and increase on demand
2vCPUs minimum for mailbox (ideal 6 vcPUs), Unified messaging and Client Access roles and maximum is 12 cores
(vSphere 4 has a maximum limit of 8vCPU)
Ensure the total number of vCPUs is equal to or less than the total number of cores on the ESX/ESXi host machine
Performance Counters of Interest to Exchange Administrators are CPU %RDY and %USED
Memory:
4GB minimum, 10 GB minimum for multiple roles
Size it as per workload, if workloads cannot be determined, use the MS Exchange Design best practices
No overcommitment, period
Reservertion is preferred, but not recommended, may limit vMotion
Do not disable the balloon driver (installed with VMware tools)
Performance Counters of Interest to Exchange Administrators are Memory %ACTV, SWW/s & SWR/s
Storage:
Use RDMs if you need in-guest clustering (no sVmotion)
Install Guest OS on the VMFS datastore
Install Log files and Exchange DB on RDMs
Maintain a 1:1 mapping between the number of virtual machines and LUNs to avoid any disk I/O contention
Microsoft does not currently support NFS for the Mailbox Server role (clustered or standalone)
Performance Counters of Interest to Exchange Administrators are ACTV, DAVG/cmd & KAVG/cmd
Network:
Allocate Seperate network adapters/networks for VMotion, VMware FT logging traffic & Management traffic
VMXNET3 Network Adapter (available if VMware Tools are installed)
Do not use paravirtualized SCSI driver when a VM generates less than 2000 IOPS. For more information see VMware KB
1017652. However this issue has been fixed with 4.1 and later
Use VST (for VLAN tagging) which is most commonly used
Enable Jumbo Frames
Performance Counters of Interest to Exchange Administrators are MbRX/s & MbTX/s
General Recommendations:
Use smaller VMs for eg. a mailbox server with 2 vCPU and 8GB RAM (vMotion can be much faster)
Size the VM building blocks considering License costs, more VMs may mean more Licenses
During peak utilization ensure mailbox role is designed not to exceed 70% utilization
If deploying multiple roles on the server, the mailbox role should be designed not to exceed 35%
Typical guidline is to use n+1 HA/DRS clusters
Typical ESX/ESXi host can be of 16 cores (44 pCore) , 128GB of RAM, 2 HBAs and 4 Gigabit Network Adapters
Run on a DRS cluster for balanced workloads
HA & DRS Solutions
Local site recovery:
Either use Vmware HA for VM level failover or use VMware HA+DAG (Database Availability Groups) for VM and
Database level failover
vMotion, HA and DRS are not supported for MSCS nodes
Remote Site Availability Options:
SRM with DAV
Third party Software Replication
Backup & Restore Options:
Traditional LAN based backups, Agents installed within the Guest OS
Use vDR for Other Exchange Serve roles for ex. Client Access or HUB Transport etc
Array based backup Solutions
Also, worth visiting the below links:
Microsoft Exchange Server Profile Analyzer
Exchange 2010 Mailbox Server Role Requirements Calculator to calculate processor, memory, and storage
Mailbox Server Storage Design
VMware White papers on Exchange
*The above content is provided with an Assumption that the VMware environment is vSphere 4.x and later
Posted in VCAP DCD
Tagged Exchange 2010
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February 6, 2012
Disable Alarm Actions
Never knew you could disable Alarm Actions on a particular object in a datacenter, until tried it myself :)
Basically, you can create folders in respective inventories such as Network, Storage, Virtual Machines etc, move the objects to
the respective folders and disable the Alarm Action on that folder.
For ex. If you want to disable the Alarm Actions on a particular Datastore, just create a Folder in the Datastore inventory view,
move the datastore into the Folder> Right Click the Folder> Alarms> Disable Alarm Actions. This will only disable the
datastores alarms actions which are being propogated from the root folder.
Appreciate any comments/feedback.
Posted in vCenter
Tagged Alarms, Disable Alarm Actions
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February 1, 2012
Vmware Tools Status_PowerShell Script
After learning PowerShell, this is my first script!
Save the below contents in a notepad file and save it as .ps1 extn.
======================================================
$vcenter = read-host Please enter the vCenter name
Write-Host Connecting to vCenter Server
Connect-VIServer $vcenter
Get-VM | where {$_.Guest.OSFullName -like *Windows*} | Sort Name | `
Select @{N=VMName; E={$_.Name}},
@{N=HardwareVersion; E={$_.Extensiondata.Config.Version}},
@{N=ToolsVersion; E={$_.Extensiondata.Config.Tools.ToolsVersion}},
@{N=ToolsStatus; E={$_.Extensiondata.Summary.Guest.ToolsStatus}},
@{N=ToolsVersionStatus; E={$_.Extensiondata.Summary.Guest.ToolsVersionStatus}},
@{N=ToolsRunningStatus; E={$_.Extensiondata.Summary.Guest.ToolsRunningStatus}},
@{N=Cluster; E={(Get-Cluster -VM $_.Name).Name}},
@{N=ESX Host; E={$_.Host.Name}},
@{N=ESX Version; E={$_.Host.Version}},
@{N=ESX Build; E={$_.Host.Build}} | Export-Csv C:\Tools.csv -NoTypeInformation
Disconnect-VIServer $vcenter -Confirm:$false
=======================================================
*The script queries Windows VMs only but you can always edit the script as per your requirements
Posted in PowerCLI
Tagged PowerShell, VMware Tools
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February 1, 2012
VCAP Study Guide
I am trying to prepare a little study/reference guide to help prepare for VCAP exams, any help would be appreciated :)
to start with:
http://thesaffageek.co.uk/vcap-dca-dcd/
http://virtualnoob.wordpress.com/2011/12/19/vcap-dca-uber-awesome-study-guide/
http://vsphere-land.com/vsphere-links/vsphere-5-links.html
Posted in VCAP DCD