I ran some numbers for a customer recently and discovered the single processor high-RAM hardware configurations can be more cost effective for most corporate windows applications hosted on VMware ESX. Keep in mind that the number of processors a server has doesn’t always need to equal the number of sockets.
This includes the cost of hardware, ESX Enterprise, and Microsoft Windows Data Center Edition.
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How to configure DataDomain as NFS DataStore for ESX
Purpose:
Follow these steps to allow a datadomain storage appliance to be used as a high capacity datastore by ESX and ESXi hosts using NFS so Virtual Machines can be moved from Production ESX cluster to test/dev ESXi hosts.
Basic steps:
1 – configure datadomain appliance nfs export
2 – add NFS datastore on ESX hosts
3 – copy VMs from Primary Storage to DDA (DataDomain Archiver).
Setup:
Data Domain OS 4.5.3.0-82657
Model 565
Active Directory Domain Admin user-id “itadmin”
DD IP Address: 10.10.10.99
Source ESX hosts’ VMkernel portgroups on 10.10.11.0/24 network
Destination ESXi host on 10.10.10.7 (VMkernel and Management are on shared Port Group)
itadmin@datadomain-lan# nfs show clients
path client options
—————- —————— —————————————-
itadmin@datadomain-lan# nfs add
nfs add [ ( ) ]
Add NFS clients to an export
itadmin@datadomain-lan# nfs add /share/vmtest 10.10.11.0/24
NFS export for “/share/vmtest” added.
dirodriguez@datadomain01-source# nfs add /share/vmtest 10.10.10.7
NFS export for “/share/vmtest” added.
Copy VMs from Source ESX SAN datastores to new shared datastore.
Copy VMs from shared datastore to local ESXi datastore and reconfigure.
Check Deduplication Compression.
You can see amount of deduplication provided by multiple VM images by running this command:
itadmin@datadomain-lan# file show compression /share/vmtest
Total files: 15; bytes/storage_used: 18.3
Original Bytes: 15,462,695,250
Globally Compressed: 2,191,220,844
Locally Compressed: 840,288,247
Meta-data: 6,953,000
In this example we are getting only 18x compression. With additional Virtual Machines the compression will increase allowing many VMs to be stored and archived.
This is an example of things to consider with establishing a new IT Service or being asked to work with an existing service.
Use this template planning to set up a process that they never provided before, when improving the existing process.
It is based on checklists used in the past, online sources, and personal experience.
Checklist
* Functional Overview – describe the service. Include links to diagrams.
* System Overview – hardware, software, processes, staff, locations, contracts
* Requirements – tools, documents, training, knowledge, consulting
o Power – AMP Load, Correct AC voltage, UPS capacity, Correct cables, PDUs.
o Cooling – BTU, WATTS, redundancy, summer, winter, top floor, power failure.
o Space – racks
o Storage – SAN, NAS, Local, RAID, Hot Spares, Cold Spares
o Fire Suppression – Halotron extinguishers on wall, Whole room, AC interlocks
o Service contracts – Vendors, Manufacturers, Resellers
* SLA (Service Level Agreement) – uptime expectations, service availability, recoverability, functionality, describe what service does and does not do.
* Time – to design, transition, and operate service.
* Priority – resources are limited. align to business priorities
* Cost – to design, transition, and operate service.
* Plan – use PDCA Method (Plan-Do-Check-Act)
* Security – service accounts, test accounts, monitoring accounts, acls, firewall policies (source and destination with TCP/IP ports), NAT rules, passwords, hardening guides, benchmarks.
* Monitoring – expected events? what gets alerted on? use distribution lists (DLs) for alerts, escalation tree, monitor the monitoring, test
* Life cycle – version releases, updates, upgrades, tiers, change management.
* Configuration Overview – how to go about configuration items involved in the process. User tools like TripWire and RANCID See the following link for a reference: http://www.pbandsp.com/Newsletter/runbook.html
* Training – Lab, Self Training, CBT, ServiceDesk, Power users
* Support Docs – troubleshooting, debugging, FAQ, KB, Wiki
* Disaster Recovery – backup and recovery methods, infrastructure, capabilities, security, third party solutions, media, contacts, communication
* Information Portal – Create share on a file server or wiki page with info about this service, use version control software, protect read and write access to this
* UAT (User Acceptance Test) – verify proper operation after changes, upgrades, outages. Note what should and should not work.
o Does the service do what it is supposed to?
o Does the service do what it is NOT supposed to do?
o What does it do when you use it slightly differently from its intended use (make it at least somewhat foolproof, but don’t put too much effort into it, the end user will probably crash it somehow anyway).
* Owner – responsible for successful operations
* Sponsor/vendor – financial and resource allocation
* User Group – consumer of service
* Author – tech writer, documentation guru
* Revision – last update of the document
* Glossary – list of technical terms used in the document for the service
* Links, Sources, References – list of sources (publications/interviews) used in the documentation of the service that need to be cited
Follow these steps if you need to reset the root password on an ESX classic.
Note: Ignore the “quote marks” in the instructions below.
1 – turn on system (if it’s on then reboot it with Ctrl-Alt-Del from console)
2 – when grub appears press the “tab” key
3 – highlight VMware ESX line using the “arrow” keys
4 – press the “e” key
5 – scroll to kernel line using the “arrow” keys
6 – press the “e” key (again, I know!)
7 – press the “end” key to move cursor to end of the kernel line
8 – type the word “single” (using the keys)
9 – press the “b” key to boot the ESX host into single user mode
10 – eventually a “sh-3.2#” root prompt will appear
11 – use the command “passwd” to reset the password
12 – use the command “reboot” to reboot the ESX machine
13 – login to the console or the vic using the new password!
That’s it! I hope this procedure works for you. Your feedback is appreciated.
Morale of this story is:
1 – always protect the physical environment where you ESX host is located.
2 – always secure the Lights Out/Remote Access/IP-KVM/console access to your host.
3 – consider using a GRUB password on your ESX host so as to prevent password resets.
