Storage for Hyper-V

PiotrIr · July 2008

Hi,
I have some problems to get information from hardware vendors like HP or DELL so could you please advise me hardware solution for scenario:

I’m going to install failover cluster based on Windows 2008 Server for virtual machines – Hyper-V. System will be based on two servers and shared storage. It is necessary that system will be fully redundant.
Details:
Storage capacity 1TB
Virtual servers:
Windows 2008 Terminal Gateway
Windows 2003 Terminal Server for Navision 25 users
Windows 2003 Terminal Server for cube analyze application 30 users
Windows 2003 64bit for MS SQL server for Navision
And possibly in future
Exchange 2007 for 120 users (database 150GB)

Could you please advise me hardware suitable for this, especially storage – I would like spend as less money as it is possible because solution is dedicated for medium business,

astorrs · July 2008

You're going to want to look at only iSCSI due to the limitations of Hyper-V.

As such from Dell I would be looking at the Dell EqualLogic PS5000, from HP, the HP StorageWorks 2000i Modular Smart Array.

Contact your Account Manager with the vendors directly (or through whatever partner you use) and ask to speak to them about the arrays and to work up some quotes. Personally I prefer the PS5000. Don't forget you'll want redundant controllers in the array (since you want high-availability).

PiotrIr · July 2008

It is very important information for me and many thanks for it. Unfortunately my knowledge about network storage is quite low so could you give me some more advices please?

1. As far as I know iSCSI uses normal network for connection. I realize you can use separated network but it is still 1GB speed. Is it enough for Hyper-V?
2. Could you advice me backup software to backup full running virtual machines to tape please?

Regards

astorrs · July 2008

PiotrIr wrote:

1. As far as I know iSCSI uses normal network for connection. I realize you can use separated network but it is still 1GB speed. Is it enough for Hyper-V?
2. Could you advice me backup software to backup full running virtual machines to tape please?

You would want to use 2 NICs (or a dual or quad port) on the servers to provide redundant paths to the storage array. While you could make use of VLANs, I would recommend you look at purchasing new switches dedicated to the iSCSI network. Make sure the switches support iSCSI natively (Jumbo Frames, etc).

The performance shouldn't be any problem based on the workload you described, but you should have a look at the Microsoft Assessment and Planning Tool and run it against the virtualization candidates just to be sure (especially the DB and OLAP servers).

As for backup software that natively supports Hyper-V, I'm not aware of any that support it yet (it only RTM'd recently) but I would check with your current backup software vendor to see when they plan to add support for the final version (all the big players will support it if they don't already).

PiotrIr · July 2008

Many, many thanks for this useful information – you can’t imagine how default is to get directions like that.

Please advise me in backup software problem and it will finish my question for a while

May I ask you in future problems?

Have a good day and one again many thanks,
Regards

astorrs · July 2008

PiotrIr wrote:

Many, many thanks for this useful information – you can’t imagine how default is to get directions like that.

Please advise me in backup software problem and it will finish my question for a while

May I ask you in future problems?

Have a good day and one again many thanks,
Regards

About the backup on Hyper-V issue, contact your current backup software provider to ask them if and when they will support it.

As for the future, of course you can make a new post, that's why we're all here.

Storage for Hyper-V

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