Dave's VCDX journey
As many of you know I'm going to attempt a VCDX defense at this year's VMworld. The interesting problem I'm running into is that the environments I've help build never had any defined requirements. Usually the equipment were pre-purchased and my task was to build the best virtual environment possible with them.
I decided to design a virtual environment to support 700 servers which are mixture of P2V & new servers, must support SQL 2008R2 failover cluster, DR capable & try to re-use older equipment.
It feels like I'm cheating if I come up with all the requirements & constraints. I'd like to ask the TE community to shoot me some design requirements/constraints. They can be requirements you've worked with or something you'd like to see someone design around.
Thanks in advance,
Dave
I decided to design a virtual environment to support 700 servers which are mixture of P2V & new servers, must support SQL 2008R2 failover cluster, DR capable & try to re-use older equipment.
It feels like I'm cheating if I come up with all the requirements & constraints. I'd like to ask the TE community to shoot me some design requirements/constraints. They can be requirements you've worked with or something you'd like to see someone design around.
Thanks in advance,
Dave
2018 Certification Goals: Maybe VMware Sales Cert
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
Comments
I'll throw in a few requirements:
- The design must cater for a projected increase in the number of both physical and virtual servers (let's say 100 VM's) over the next couple of years
- There are 3 prod sites all of which must have atleast 2 hosts each and an estimated total of 200 VM's all up
- All prod servers must be backed to a central location
- Use HP switches
This is from my previous job. I'll think of anything else and post it here.
Blog >> http://virtual10.com
- vSphere license constraints - they have X and need X now to support the design.
- MS Data Center license concerns - they are on the verge of signing an EA agreement and need a count of Data Center licenses they'll need to support your design quickly and accurately.
- They want to have all three sites actively servicing applications at all times.
- They want to employ SRM to failover to their DR site from any of the three sites
I’ll post a few more as I come up with them.@Essendon,
What are the VM sizes and percentage of each size or do I use educated guess? Departmental breakdown i.e. Engineering need X amount of resources, HR need Y, etc.
@QHalo,
What percentage of VMs require SRM protection? What's the RPO/RTO?
@Jibba,
Yes, being able to explain why I didn't choose an alternate design should be just as important.
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
Blog >> http://virtual10.com
1. Must use NFS, no single switch or I/O card failure can cause a HA event. This should steer you towards a particular line of switch.
2. SRM must be implemented using array based replication, VM's will not tolerate IP changes in the case of DR failover
3. There is no layer two connectivity between data rooms, the design should allow the entire Vmware environment to be failed over between SRM sites while leaving physical servers running in the primary data room. (The need to fail-over only the Vmware environment is significant in the event of total storage failure)
4. Though there is no layer 2 connectivity between data rooms, the bandwidth all the way through is 1 gigabit full.
All these requirements are achieveable as I have implemented all these scenarios in the field.
It's a primary site plus 5 remote sites being protected by a central DR site.
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
VCDX Boot Camp: Preparing for the VCDX Panel Defense | Pearson IT Certification
Thanks for the info. I've read the rough cut of it. Curious to see how much more stuff's in it. Time to check out Safari.
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
I felt I did pretty well during the defense part, other than running short on time, but thought I bombed the design and troubleshooting scenarios.
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
Blog >> http://virtual10.com
Twitter: Andrey_Po
Blog: https://readysetvirtual.wordpress.com
Can't figure out how to attach stuff to PM. I thought I saw an attachment button while back, but can't find it now. Managed to rope in enough people at work to review it, so not hurting on that front.
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
Blog >> http://virtual10.com
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
Blog: https://readysetvirtual.wordpress.com
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
Problem: Can't figure out where to submit the design. Checked the blueprint, application & web page, but none of them list where to submit the design.
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman
If so, you should have been receiving some emails from Mark detailing the steps. To submit, you email it to vcdx....at.....vmware.com and CC Mark Brunstad (first initial last name at vmware.com)
I had to e-mail Mark. He sent out a mass e-mail detailing where to submit for VMWorld VCDX defense.
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman