virtual lab, more info needed
reppgoa
Member Posts: 151
Ok, so I have decided that I will be using ESXi 4.1 as my virtualization choice. I am now in the stages of building a white box (or 2 
). I have been reading about people using openfiler. Now, is this something that you would use as network storage to avoid using actual HDD's in the white boxes? Is that feasible? for example, would you have say 4 white boxes, and then an openfiler server with a couple 2TB drives split up for each VM to use? I have heard that each VM should be using its own hard drive, especially for exchange and AD config's. Any input you guys have is always welcome, thanks!
). I have been reading about people using openfiler. Now, is this something that you would use as network storage to avoid using actual HDD's in the white boxes? Is that feasible? for example, would you have say 4 white boxes, and then an openfiler server with a couple 2TB drives split up for each VM to use? I have heard that each VM should be using its own hard drive, especially for exchange and AD config's. Any input you guys have is always welcome, thanks! Comments
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MentholMoose
Member Posts: 1,525 ■■■■■■■■□□
You will still need some storage in each white box to install ESXi on.Ok, so I have decided that I will be using ESXi 4.1 as my virtualization choice. I am now in the stages of building a white box (or 2). I have been reading about people using openfiler. Now, is this something that you would use as network storage to avoid using actual HDD's in the white boxes?
Yes, you can setup OpenFiler like this. However, if you need the storage to be shared across all the ESXi boxes, you will need vCenter. This lets you live migrate VMs to different hosts. If you just want to use the free ESXi, you could still use OpenFiler but you will have to create separate shares and/or LUNs for each host.Is that feasible? for example, would you have say 4 white boxes, and then an openfiler server with a couple 2TB drives split up for each VM to use?
If a VM is running disk intensive applications, then it may cause performance issues for VMs stored in the same location. Exchange and databases are applications that can be disk intensive. Unless a domain controller is very busy, it shouldn't need it's own disk, though.I have heard that each VM should be using its own hard drive, especially for exchange and AD config's. Any input you guys have is always welcome, thanks!MentholMoose
MCSA 2003, LFCS, LFCE (expired), VCP6-DCV -
dynamik
Banned Posts: 12,312 ■■■■■■■■■□
MentholMoose wrote: »You will still need some storage in each white box to install ESXi on.
I run my ESXi box off a thumbdrive
I have heard that each VM should be using its own hard drive, especially for exchange and AD config's. Any input you guys have is always welcome, thanks!
Under what circumstances? I run 5-10 VMs off of each spindle. There is minimal disk activity for most VMs once they are loaded into RAM. Services that are typically IO-intensive, such as Exchange and SQL Server, shouldn't tax your disks too much in a basic lab environment. Requirements for production systems will obviously vary greatly... -
Daniel333
Member Posts: 2,077 ■■■■■■□□□□
In my lab it's just a RAID0 for my OpenFiler and couple Samsung drives which were rated fast at the time. I ended up only using it to learn how to setup vMotion and never again. So my ESX boxes all have their Vms on local storage.-Daniel