New Server Sanity spec!

[maxrebo]

Can someone check over the spec of our new server before I order, I`m going to use it as a VMware host, to host primariliy Sims amongst others.

I`m hoping its over spec`ed, it passes the recommednations from Capita for use with Sims

 

Dell R730 Server

Dual Xeon E5-2650 v4 2.2GHz(8) 16GB RDIMM, 2400MT/s, Dual Rank,

1 x Intel Ethernet X540 DP 10GBase-T Server Adapter

1 x Broadcom 5720 QP 1Gb Network Daughter Card

PERC H730 1GB RAID Controller

(2) 200GB Solid State Drive SATAMix Use MLC 6Gbps 512n 2.5in Hot-plug Drive,13G(4) 400GB Solid State Drive SATA Mix Use MLC6Gbps 512n 2.5in Hot-plug Drive,13G TPM Module

Hotplug Redundant Power Supply (1+1),

 

thanks in advance

[Steve21]

Personally I'd query why you want 10Gb and 1Gb (different brands).

 

If you're running 10Gb network wouldn't you want dual ports (on different cards else card goes and you lose everything) for failover. Also wouldn't mix brands if you're expecting to do any kind of teaming etc

 

Also raid wise not sure what you're thinking of using but 4 drives seems very few to use for effective raid and hotspares etc.

 

Steve

[dry]

We've got an R630 of similar spec (but with 128GB RAM) and it's hosting all our VMs.

 

SIMS is running nicely on a VM. Our DB size is around 3GB (large primary) and I've allocated 8GB RAM and 4 vCPUs to it. Just remember to set upper memory limits in SQL otherwise you may find SQL will use all the RAM available and SIMS will be sluggish.

 

How many hot swap drive bays has the R730 you've specced got? Bear in mind if it's only got 6 slots, you'll be using up all slots with those 6 SSDs and will have to look at more hardware for expansion further down the line.

[FN-GM]

Personally I'd query why you want 10Gb and 1Gb (different brands).

 

I don't think you can take of the 1G cards with Dell servers.

[sted]

I don't think you can take of the 1G cards with Dell servers.

 

and its probably not a bad idea to give the host its own nic and to some degree as long as it works any card will do that

[Steve21]

I don't think you can take of the 1G cards with Dell servers.

 

The Broadcom 5720 QP 1Gb Network Daughter Card is the basic one you can upgrade it instead of that.

 

If you'd want 10Gb and still have management NICs, add 2x 10Gb for failover

 

Steve

[maxrebo]

Thanks,

I usually setup a Raid 1 on the 2 x 200gb Drives for the OS and then a Raid 10 for the 4 disks.

 

I think i will change the Broadcom to an Intel card

[Steve21]

That would limit you to 800Gb usable (Data side) though remember, just seems a huge server for little storage, or is there more external you're linking into?

 

Steve

[mikkydoos]

@maxrebo

 

I presume this is to do with your other post about migrating machines to a new host.

 

All the above is spot on. I would certainly go for a quad NIC or all the same brand and speed.

 

And I'd also certainly look at much bigger mechanical drives instead of SSD's - less money, more storage.

 

VMWare's recommendation for running ESXi is to run it off an SD Card or USB stick - saving you a bit of disk space. Most servers nowadays come with an internal SD Card reader.

 

CPU's, RAM and networking are the biggies with hosts unless you're running very disk intensive processes.

 

You can get some nicely spec'd Fujitsu servers for half the price of a Dell too.

 

 

If I were re-designing our VM infrastructure now with what I know now, I'd have 2 mid spec'd hosts and (for costs sake) a low spec server with lots of disk space running Windows Server with virtual storage spaces on it for centralised storage.

Or a SAN - but too pricey for us.

[alfatec]

Do you not have a SAN. I would put a new Fujitsu server in with a load of ram. The VMWare software sits on the motherboard therefore no discs are needed.

[maxrebo]

We've got an R630 of similar spec (but with 128GB RAM) and it's hosting all our VMs.

 

SIMS is running nicely on a VM. Our DB size is around 3GB (large primary) and I've allocated 8GB RAM and 4 vCPUs to it. Just remember to set upper memory limits in SQL otherwise you may find SQL will use all the RAM available and SIMS will be sluggish.

 

How many hot swap drive bays has the R730 you've specced got? Bear in mind if it's only got 6 slots, you'll be using up all slots with those 6 SSDs and will have to look at more hardware for expansion further down the line.

What type of Disks do you have on this Host?

[maxrebo]

That would limit you to 800Gb usable (Data side) though remember, just seems a huge server for little storage, or is there more external you're linking into?

 

Steve

 

Yes it is rather low, what would you go for for disks and type?

[dry]

What type of Disks do you have on this Host?

2x 300GB 15K SAS drives for hypervisor (HyperV) (they came with the server.... there was no discount for not having the drives)

6x 960GB Samsung SM863 Enterprise SSDs in RAID 10 to give a usable space of 2880GB

[maxrebo]

@maxrebo

 

I presume this is to do with your other post about migrating machines to a new host.

 

All the above is spot on. I would certainly go for a quad NIC or all the same brand and speed.

 

And I'd also certainly look at much bigger mechanical drives instead of SSD's - less money, more storage.

 

VMWare's recommendation for running ESXi is to run it off an SD Card or USB stick - saving you a bit of disk space. Most servers nowadays come with an internal SD Card reader.

 

CPU's, RAM and networking are the biggies with hosts unless you're running very disk intensive processes.

 

You can get some nicely spec'd Fujitsu servers for half the price of a Dell too.

 

 

If I were re-designing our VM infrastructure now with what I know now, I'd have 2 mid spec'd hosts and (for costs sake) a low spec server with lots of disk space running Windows Server with virtual storage spaces on it for centralised storage.

Or a SAN - but too pricey for us.

 

Thats interesting, i didnt know that was being done, is that the way to go now? then get bigger drives?

[mikkydoos]

Thats interesting, i didnt know that was being done, is that the way to go now? then get bigger drives?

 

Ideally you would want centralised storage to make host management easier. E.g. upgrades / patches etc without downtime and higher availability.

 

The VMs can be migrated from host to host whilst leaving the disk file in a central place, negating the need to move it during migration.

 

Also with more than one host you have double (or more) redundancy.

 

The reason I suggested virtual storage spaces on Windoze is just to keep the cost down. I.e. not spend 3K on a SAN. It works the same though (just without a fibre link). Thats where a 10gb NIC might come into it if that were important

Edited November 21, 2016 by mikkydoos

[maxrebo]

Thanks for your replies,

I have changed the drives to 2 x 300gb 15k SAS and 6 x 600gb 15k SAS.

Also gone for another X540 10gBaseT as redundancy, the 10G cards are planning for the future as we dont have 10G setup yet. Do you think a faiover is needed or could I use the 1G card for this?

[mikkydoos]

A moot point.... Have you got any 10Gb switches. If not. Whats the point.

[maxrebo]

A moot point.... Have you got any 10Gb switches. If not. Whats the point.

 

Plan to upgrade switches in the new financial year

[Steve21]

Do you think a faiover is needed or could I use the 1G card for this?

 

That depends how you're doing your failovers. If you're doing any kind of teaming, and want 2 active connections at once you can't have different speeds (to be supported).

 

If you want a hot-standby that does nothing until it's needed you could use 1Gb, but seems silly to have dual PSU, RAID etc and then limit yourself to 10% bandwidth if your main NIC fails. If you can survive on 1Gb bandwidth in the first place you wouldn't normally be upgrading to 10Gb

 

Steve

[mikkydoos]

Plan to upgrade switches in the new financial year

 

How many nodes have you got for 10Gb then?

 

Will 10Gb go down CAT5e or do you need CAT6. I'd check what cabling is running into your server room.

 

Imo 10Gb for a VM host is massive overkill if you're only planning to run SIMS.net and a couple of other machines on it.

 

Unless you've got a ***load of users hammering the SQL.

Edited November 22, 2016 by mikkydoos

[maxrebo]

How many nodes have you got for 10Gb then?

 

Will 10Gb go down CAT5e or do you need CAT6. I'd check what cabling is running into your server room.

 

Imo 10Gb for a VM host is massive overkill if you're only planning to run SIMS.net and a couple of other machines on it.

 

Unless you've got a ***load of users hammering the SQL.

Just going to start with the Backbone first

[john]

Put the ESXi on the SD Card and save drive slots, we run ESXi on probably around 100 servers now all on SD Cards and no issues they are just great, do ensure for VMware support you get a certified SD Card (the ones HP and Dell sell with the servers for ESXi are usually covered) as they have to meet certain tick boxes to qualify for VMware support.

[dry]

Thanks for your replies,

I have changed the drives to 2 x 300gb 15k SAS and 6 x 600gb 15k SAS.

Also gone for another X540 10gBaseT as redundancy, the 10G cards are planning for the future as we dont have 10G setup yet. Do you think a faiover is needed or could I use the 1G card for this?

Agree with @john on this. If the 2 300GB 15K SAS drives are just for your hypervisor, put it on an SD card instead and save a few quid (and drive bays)

 

If your budget can stretch to SSDs, I'd go for them in the interests of future proofing. 15K SAS drives is a fair compromise if you can't stretch the budget.

[FragglePete]

Have a look at changing the chassis to the R730xd - gives you the ability to add more disks in the future. Just got one in ourselves and it didn't affect the pricing too much.

 

Pete