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Deploying ControlCenter on VMware and Utilizing VMware HA

Deploying ControlCenter on VMware and Utilizing VMware HA. Jim Stringer Principal Corporate System Engineer RMSG Engineering. Session Objectives. Best Practices for ControlCenter on VMware VM Resources Affecting ControlCenter Operation

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Deploying ControlCenter on VMware and Utilizing VMware HA

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  1. Deploying ControlCenter on VMware and Utilizing VMware HA Jim Stringer Principal Corporate System Engineer RMSG Engineering

  2. Session Objectives • Best Practices for ControlCenter on VMware • VM Resources Affecting ControlCenter Operation • Creating ControlCenter Agent Server as a Virtual Machine • How Storage Is Configured for ControlCenter Virtual Machines? • General Design Considerations • Business Continuity Solutions

  3. Topic – ControlCenter on VMware Planning • ControlCenter on VMware Planning • The “Right” ESX Server • ESX Server Farm • Understanding the Number of Virtual Machines Needed for ControlCenter • Small ControlCenter Migration to VMware “Walk-Through” • Virtual Resources needed for ControlCenter • ControlCenter Agent Server as a Virtual Machine • VMware Storage for ControlCenter • Virtual Machine Design Considerations • Business Continuity Solutions

  4. What is the “Right” ESX Server? Server-Class Hardware CPUs System Architecture Specifications Physical Memory Storage Communications (Starting point for server selection) Dell PowerEdge 2900 Rack or Blade Servers HP ProLiant DL360 G5 Rack or Blade Servers ControlCenter on VMware Planning

  5. What is the “Right” ESX Server? Server-Class Hardware CPUs System Architecture Specifications Physical Memory Storage Communications Xeon-Class (Intel) or Opteron (AMD) processor 3.0 GHz Dual-Core (minimum) 2.2 GHz Quad-Core (minimum) 2, 4 or more Processors ControlCenter on VMware Planning

  6. What is the “Right” ESX Server? Server-Class Hardware CPUs System Architecture Specifications Physical Memory Storage Communications Xeon-Class (Intel) or Opteron (AMD) processor – Not all Intel and AMD processors are supported 3.0 GHz or faster Dual-Core or Quad-Core Processors 2 or 4 Processors ControlCenter on VMware Planning HCL: Systems Compatibility Guide For ESX Server 3.5 and ESX Server 3i

  7. What is the “Right” ESX Server? Server-Class CPUs System Architecture Specifications Physical Memory Storage Communications Front Side Bus of 1333 MHz 2 MB Cache per CPU (Minimum) Recommend – 4 MB L2 Cache per CPU 64-bit Hardware support provides the best performance ControlCenter on VMware Planning

  8. What is the “Right” ESX Server? Server-Class CPUs System Architecture Specifications Physical Memory Storage Communications Stated minimum of 8 GB DDR2 FB-DIMM memory Recommend 16 GB (minimum) Typical memory is 32 GB of memory and up Higher physical memory usually mean higher VM population per ESX ControlCenter on VMware Planning

  9. What is the “Right” ESX Server? Server-Class CPUs System Architecture Specifications Physical Memory Storage Communications ESX Boot for ESX OS Local or SAN Virtual Machines run from SAN storage Dedicated or shared DataStores ControlCenter on VMware Planning

  10. What is the “Right” ESX Server? Server-Class CPUs System Architecture Specifications Physical Memory Storage Communications Gig-Ethernet Adapters – 3 or more HBA Ports – 2 or more ControlCenter on VMware Planning

  11. What is the “Right” ESX Server? Server-Class CPUs System Architecture Specifications Physical Memory Storage Communications For software driver and device support ControlCenter on VMware Planning HCL: I/O Compatibility Guide for ESX Server 3.0.x

  12. The ESX Server Farm Factors Farm Structure Up to 32 physical servers Number of Virtual Machines per ESX Server Total number of SAN Storage mappings ControlCenter on VMware Planning

  13. The ESX Server Farm ESX Server Farm Structure VMware Business Continuity features Resource Groups VM prioritization and SLA ESX Server Farm coverage Within a Datacenter Datacenter to Datacenter VMware HA Cluster Hardware fault recovery VMware DRS policies VM Resource monitoring VMotion VM relocation ControlCenter on VMware Planning

  14. Starting ‘new’ Architecture ControlCenter using physical server guidelines Then apply the ControlCenter on VMware Guidelines Reference EMC documents are: Performance & Scalability Guidelines ControlCenter 6.x Support Matrix All documents available on Powerlink Determining the Number of VMs

  15. Starting new Migrating an existing Audit the current Infrastructure using the current guidelines and support matrix Factor growth of Managed Objects Additional MOs that have been added Adding the new supported objects, like ESX Servers and Virtual Machines Reference EMC documents are: Performance & Scalability Guidelines ControlCenter 6.x Support Matrix Install ControlCenter 6.0 in a VMware Environment ControlCenter on VMware White Paper ControlCenter on VMware with HA White Paper All documents available on Powerlink Determining the Number of VMs

  16. Starting new Migrating an existing The basic guidelines are: ESX Servers with 15 or fewer VMs 64-bit support Physical Systems to Virtual Servers: Physical to VM ratio is 1:2 or 1:3 4 to 6 ControlCenter VMs per ESX Server Determining the Number of VMs

  17. Starting new Migrating an existing The basic rule of virtualization is Impact on VMware environment Fit into what is there: Follow established VMware corporate design Use of default settings where possible VMs dedicated to ControlCenter Special planning for Agent Servers with Fibre Channel in-band agents Determining the Number of VMs

  18. Starting new Migrating an existing The basic rule of virtualization is Impact on VMware Environment Let us walk through a Small Infrastructure move to VMware Determining the Number of VMs

  19. 2x 3.0 GHz 4.0 GB Mem 6144 pagefile C – 18 GB E, F – 68 GB ControlCenter 6.0 Repository, Server Store, StorageScope SRM Agents: Master & Host Symmetrix & SDM FCC 2x 3.0 GHz 4.0 GB Mem 6144 pagefile C – 18 GB E, F – 172 GB ControlCenter 6.0 WLA Archiver Agents: Master & Host Symmetrix & SDM FCC, CLARiiON 2x 3.0 GHz 8.0 GB Mem 11.2 MB pagefile C – 18 GB E, F – 68 GB Remote Access Terminal Service Citrix Console Performance View Small Infrastructure Move to VMware Walk-Through Existing ControlCenter on Physical Servers • 1 Infrastructure Server • 1 Agent Server • 1 Remote Access Server • Common User Server • ControlCenter Console • Performance View • Other Storage Tools

  20. Small Infrastructure Move to VMware Walk-Through New Physical Server • Number of ESX Servers needed • 1 ESX Server • 2 Dual-Core Processors • 8 GB of memory (or more) New Virtual Servers • 4 Virtual Machines for ControlCenter • 1 Infrastructure VM • 3 Agent Servers Things to consider • Where StorageScope should be installed • WLA Archiver loading, Shared vs. Dedicated • Number of Agent Servers VM #1 – CC 6.0 Infrastructure Repository Server Store StorageScope SRM Agents: Master & Host VM #2 – CC 6.0 Agent Server WLA Archiver Agents: Master & Host CLARiiON FCC VM #3 – CC 6.0 Agent Server Agents: Master & Host Symmetrix & SDM FCC VM #4 – CC 6.0 Agent Server Agents: Master & Host Symmetrix & SDM CLARiiON VMware Agent

  21. Next Topic – Virtual Resources needed for ControlCenter • ControlCenter on VMware Planning • Virtual Resources needed for ControlCenter • Virtualization Components of VMware • Virtual Machine Properties • ControlCenter Agent Server as a Virtual Machine • VMware Storage for ControlCenter • Virtual Machine Design Considerations • Business Continuity Solutions

  22. Virtual Resources Needed for ControlCenter Virtualization Layer of VMware • Takes physical devices and shares them with Virtual Machines • Virtual Resources affecting ControlCenter • CPU Processors • Memory

  23. Virtual Machine Properties CPU Processors – vCPU Resource Options Assign 2 vCPUs to all ControlCenter Infrastructure VMs Assign 1 vCPU for Agent Servers Do not assign 4 vCPUs Shares – Normal Reservation – 0 MHz Limit – Unlimited checked Virtual Resources Needed for ControlCenter

  24. Virtual Machine Properties CPU Processors – vCPU Memory – vMemory Resource Options Infrastructure VMs – 2 GB (2048 MB) Agent VMs –1.5 GB (1536 MB) Do not allocate 4 GB or more memory to a VM Shares – Normal Reservation – 0 MHz Limit – Unlimited checked Virtual Resources Needed for ControlCenter

  25. Next Topic – ControlCenter Agent Server as a Virtual Machine • Summary of VMware Support with ControlCenter • ControlCenter on VMware Planning • Virtual Resources needed for ControlCenter • ControlCenter Agent Server as a Virtual Machine • Agents support on VMware Virtual Machines • Caveats for Agents • Handling Gatekeepers and VCM Devices • VMware Storage for ControlCenter • Virtual Machine Design Considerations • Business Continuity Solutions

  26. TCP/IP based Agents Storage Agents CLARiiON NAS SMI Centera HDS FCC Agent EMC Invista Agent Common Mapping Agent (CMA) Oracle Agent VMware Agent All Good agents to run on Virtual Machines ControlCenter Agent Server as a Virtual Machine

  27. TCP/IP based Agents Storage Agents CLARiiON NAS SMI Centera HDS FCC Agent EMC Invista Agent Common Mapping Agent (CMA) Oracle Agent VMware Agent Requires Solutions Enabler 6.4.x for Alerting and Performance Data Requires NaviCLI and FLARE version matching NaviCLI 6.24 with FLARE 24 NaviCLI 6.26 with FLARE 26 CC 6.0 Only Patch 3940 Required Patch 4203 for R/O Privileged ESX Discovery Available from Powerlink ControlCenter Agent Server as a Virtual Machine

  28. Fibre Channel based Agents SDM Agent Symmetrix Agent Special Consideration is Needed May not be a good fit for a VMware HA environment Is fully supported on a Virtual Machine But it may need to be removed from being controlled by DR and VMotion Does not scale the same as a physical agent server ControlCenter Agent Server as a Virtual Machine

  29. Fibre Channel based Agents SDM Agent Symmetrix Agent Gatekeepers Must have access to the VCM Device and requires gatekeepers CC 6.0 Only– requires Patch 3939 Must have dedicated Gatekeepers assigned to the Virtual Machine Provisioned as RAW SCSI (RDM) devices to the VM 15 SCSI mappings per SCSI Controller 4 SCSI Controller per VM 60 total SCSI mapping per VM Solutions Enabler 6.4.2 is driving new Gatekeeper requirements May need up to 13 Gatekeepers dedicated per Symmetrix to each Symmetrix/SDM Agent pair ControlCenter Agent Server as a Virtual Machine

  30. Next Topic – VMware Storage for ControlCenter • Summary of VMware Support with ControlCenter • ControlCenter on VMware Planning • Virtual Resources needed for ControlCenter • ControlCenter Agent Server as a Virtual Machine • VMware Storage for ControlCenter • Best Practices for Handling DataStores & VMFS • Virtual Machine Design Considerations • Business Continuity Solutions

  31. E:\ Shared Storage F:\ Lun 1 vmhba1 vmhba2 Lun 2 E:\ Lun 3 Lun 4 Lun 5 E:\ 1dc 310 3fc 437 53d E:\ VMware Storage for ControlCenter Virtualization Layer VM #1 - CC 6.0 Infrastructure Server & Repository Store StorageScope SRM Agents: Master & Host DataStore1 VMDK & VMX SCSI (0:0) VMFS SCSI (0:1) VMFS SCSI (0:2) VMFS C:\ • DataStores, Virtual Machines and VM File Systems (VMFS) are created • GKs Assigned vmhba1 For Best VMotion Performance – Use Dedicated DataStores for each Virtual Machine VM #2 - CC 6.0 Agent Server WLA Archiver Agents: Master & Host CLARiiON FCC DataStore2 VMDK & VMX SCSI (0:0) VMFS SCSI (0:1) VMFS C:\ VM #3 - CC 6.0 Agent Server Agents: Master & Host Symmetrix & SDM FCC DataStore3 VMDK & VMX SCSI (0:0) VMFS SCSI (0:1) VMFS SCSI (0:x) RDM C:\ Lun 0 VM #4 - CC 6.0 Agent Server Agents: Master & Host Symmetrix & SDM CLARiiON VMware Agent DataStore4 VMDK & VMX SCSI (0:0) VMFS SCSI (0:1) VMFS SCSI (0:x) RDM C:\

  32. Next Topic – VMware Design Considerations • Summary of VMware Support with ControlCenter • ControlCenter on VMware Planning • Virtual Resources needed for ControlCenter • ControlCenter Agent Server as a Virtual Machine • VMware Storage for ControlCenter • Virtual Machine Design Considerations • Important Design Factors • Best Practices • Business Continuity Solutions

  33. Virtual Machine Design Considerations Target the Sweet Spot • Is a configuration that meets the average VM configuration • Setting memory for Agent Servers VMs to 1536 MB • Provides best VMotion and DRS Actions Avoid creating Hot Spots • Two or more processing intensive applications on the same VM or same ESX Server • ControlCenter Repository and StorageScope Repository Don’t Super Sizing • Configuring very large Virtual Machines • Assigning 4 vCPUs • Setting memory to 4 GB or more

  34. Physical Location Datacenter GLO Datacenter CSE-CEE Virtual Center – Datacenter

  35. Datacenter GLO Datacenter CSE-CEE Virtual Center – ESX Servers

  36. Virtual Center – Resource Groups Application Datacenter CSE-CEE ControlCenter

  37. Datacenter GLO Datacenter CSE-CEE Virtual Center – Defining a Cluster

  38. Virtual Center – How VMs are Handled?

  39. Next Topic – Business Continuity Solutions • Summary of VMware Support with ControlCenter • ControlCenter on VMware Planning • Virtual Resources needed for ControlCenter • ControlCenter Agent Server as a Virtual Machine • VMware Design Considerations • VMware Storage for ControlCenter • Business Continuity Solutions • Business Continuity Positioning • Solutions Available • VMware HA • VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler • VMware VMotion • Business Continuity • Recommendations • Expectation

  40. Business Continuity is . . . More than Disaster Recovery It is business continuance in the event of: • Environmental problems • Hardware problems • Core Operating System maintenance • Lease-up (Equipment Replacement) What role does ControlCenter provide: • Day-to-day business operations • Monitoring the datacenter • Alerting on failures • Provisioning storage • Reporting • Revenue Generation • StorageScope Reporting • Utilization of Storage • Chargeback information • Drives billing • Meeting SLAs

  41. Business Continuity Solutions Available Using Physical Servers: • High Availability within a datacenter • Windows 2003 Microsoft Cluster • High Availability / Disaster Recovery datacenter to datacenter • Windows 2003 Microsoft Cluster with SRDF/CE • Disaster Recovery datacenter to datacenter • SRDF with BCV protection at the Symmetrix level • MirrorView protection at the CLARiiON level

  42. Business Continuity Solutions Using VMware Virtual Machines: • High Availability / Disaster Recovery within a datacenter • VMware HA • VMware DRS • VMotion • High Availability / Disaster Recovery datacenter to datacenter • Add extended Ethernet LAN between datacenters • Disaster Recovery within a datacenter or datacenter to datacenter • VMware HA • Dynamic allocation and load balancing of resources • VMware DRS • VMotion

  43. VMware HA Hardware and OS Failure Protection • Business Continuity Positioning • First line of defense • Hardware and OS • VMware HA provides rapid hardware failure recovery • Continuous monitoring of ESX Servers • Optional – continuous monitoring of VM Operating System • Management is done through the Virtual Center with a VMware HA Agent • Determines the “Best” ESX Server to start the VM on. • Auto-Reboot of VM Operating System for a VM within an ESX Server

  44. VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) VMware Resource Monitoring • Business Continuity Positioning • Second line of defense • Performance and Stability • Continuous monitoring of VMware Resources • Management is done through the Virtual Center • Watches VM Resources • Initiates or recommends actions based upon predefined rules • DRS rules establish actions for • Dynamic allocation and load balancing

  45. VMware VMotion Seamless Virtual Machine Relocation • Business Continuity Positioning • Second line of defense • Stateful relocation service • Works with DRS and VMware HA • Acts on commands from DRS • Is used for manual Server Migration • VMotion provides caching of the operational state during the VM relocation • Management is with the Virtual Center • Triggered by predefined DRS rules

  46. Business Continuity Solutions Recommendations • Physical Servers - Place ControlCenter under the control of MSCS • Convert ControlCenter Infrastructure to Virtual Machines on VMware • With VMware HA Cluster and DRS with VMotion • Agent Servers should use Agent Failover and Load Balancing built-in features using an N+1 strategy

  47. Business Continuity Options Expectations for Continuous Operation • VMware HA • Operating System or ESX Hardware Failure Recovery • VM Relocation or VM Reboot or • Less than a 3 minute off-line interruption • VMware VMotion and DRS • Resource Load Balancing and VM Relocation with active state preservation • Less than a 2 minute “Stateful” move with continuous availability • Physical Server with MSCS • Continuous uninterrupted operation • Fault-recovery in less than 20 seconds • Physical Server with MSCS with SRDF/CE • Continuous uninterrupted operation • Fault-recovery in less than 45 seconds

  48. Suggested Sessions to Attend • Best Practices for VMware ESX Server Replication and RecoverPoint • ControlCenter Tips and Tricks • Managing VMware with ControlCenter 6.0 • Maximizing Enhanced Reporting and Chargeback with ControlCenter StorageScope 6.x • Storage Resource Management (SRM) Roadmap and Update Hands-on Workshop • Getting the Value out of your ControlCenter 6.x Implementation – Hands-on Workshop (2 hours)

  49. Q & A

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