New Virtualized Server 2016 Setup Advice

[arh1a]

Looking to start Virtualizing the server roles (should have done it years ago I know!).

 

I'm thinking of a setup like below but would appreciate any advice. RDP and SCCM servers are already virtualized and running well so will probably do the Print Server next then File Server followed by the DCs one at a time.

 

***.***.***.1 - ***-SVR-HOST01 (Physical Server) (96GB RAM)

***.***.***.2 - ***-SVR-HOST02 (Physical Server) (64GB RAM)

***.***.***.3 - ***-SVR-DC01 (PDC/DNS) (2GB RAM) (HOST01)

***.***.***.4 - ***-SVR-DC02 (SDC/DNS) (2GB RAM) (HOST02)

***.***.***.5 - ***-SVR-DC03 (DNS) (Physical Server needed or just stick to the two VM DCs?)

***.***.***.6 - ***-SVR-DHCP01 (2GB RAM) (HOST01) (Setup DHCP on DC01 instead of separate VM?)

***.***.***.7 - ***-SVR-DHCP02 (2GB RAM) (HOST02) (Setup DHCP on DC02 instead of separate VM?)

***.***.***.8 - ***-SVR-FILE (4GB RAM) (HOST01)

***.***.***.9 - ***-SVR-PRINT (4GB RAM) (HOST01)

***.***.***.10 - ***-SVR-RDP (16GB RAM) (HOST02)

***.***.***.12 - ***-SVR-SCCM (16GB RAM) (HOST02)

***.***.***.13 - ***-SVR-APP (2GB RAM) (HOST02)(For Unify Controller Setup and Xibo if the new Docker version will work on a 2016 VM)

***.***.***.14 - *SPARE FOR VM MACHINE*

***.***.***.15 - *SPARE FOR VM MACHINE*

 

Hope the above makes sense but bear with me as I'm still new to virtualization.

 

I want to have some form of disaster recovery so all the servers bar the Files Server data (Currently 1.2TB) should be able to be restored reasonably quickly from an external NAS drive.

 

Thanks in advance

[Guest Guest]

Will this not be running in a cluster?

Personally I've never had any issues with running DHCP on domain controllers so I'd do that, Also I'd use Dynamic memory for some but not all of the VMs such as your DCs and RDP.

It was previously considered best practice to keep a physical DC however this is no longer the case so I'd go for just the 2 virtual DCs

[FishCustard]

No need to split DC and DHCP.

 

Physical DC not required but I'd still recommend it if you can spare the physical box.

 

I'd combine file & print - print uses few resources.

 

Don't use dynamic memory for anything that uses SQL. Wouldn't recommend it for SCCM.

 

I'd strongly recommend your two hosts have the same config - as in same CPUs, same amount of RAM, etc.

[kernits]

Have run VM only DCs for best part of a decade never had a problem so far. Other than making sure time source is setup correctly and that the PDC is not getting its time from the hyper-visor. We also used fixed size disks for everything and do not use dynamic ram.

 

Agree with FishCustard try and keep the hosts the same if possible.

 

If you are going for a shared nothing approach then you need to think about how you will maintain the host os. If you plan on no down time then one server need to be capable of hosting all VMS while the other is being updated / patched.

[arh1a]

Will this not be running in a cluster?

Personally I've never had any issues with running DHCP on domain controllers so I'd do that, Also I'd use Dynamic memory for some but not all of the VMs such as your DCs and RDP.

It was previously considered best practice to keep a physical DC however this is no longer the case so I'd go for just the 2 virtual DCs

 

I briefly looked into setting up a cluster for live migration etc but to keep things simple to start off with I will stick to just virtualising all the servers. I guess if I'm going to setup a cluster in the future I can use the VMs I've created? Thanks I will just stick with the 2 virtual DCs.

 

No need to split DC and DHCP.

 

Physical DC not required but I'd still recommend it if you can spare the physical box.

 

I'd combine file & print - print uses few resources.

 

Don't use dynamic memory for anything that uses SQL. Wouldn't recommend it for SCCM.

 

I'd strongly recommend your two hosts have the same config - as in same CPUs, same amount of RAM, etc.

 

Thanks I will keep DCs and DHCP roles on the same server and look at setting up DHCP failover between the 2 DCs.

 

I was thinking about doing that but as we have the resources I would like to keep them separate so if one failed it wouldn't take out the other.

 

Thanks for the tip regarding not using dynamic memory for SCCM, I've made the change and its solving random reboot/shutdown issues I was having.

 

Unfortunately I don't have that luxury but worst case both servers will have the resources to run all the critical VMs if one happened to fail I could restore the VMs to the working Host.

 

Have run VM only DCs for best part of a decade never had a problem so far. Other than making sure time source is setup correctly and that the PDC is not getting its time from the hyper-visor. We also used fixed size disks for everything and do not use dynamic ram.

 

Agree with FishCustard try and keep the hosts the same if possible.

 

If you are going for a shared nothing approach then you need to think about how you will maintain the host os. If you plan on no down time then one server need to be capable of hosting all VMS while the other is being updated / patched.

 

Thanks definitely going to stick with 2 VM only DCs both on separate hosts.

 

As above unfortunately I don't have identical hosts but they both have the resources to run all the critical VMs if one failed.

 

I normally do all updates out of hours to minimise on any down time. Once everything is virtualised I would like to have some sort of failover/replication between the 2 Hosts so for example if one failed or was rebooting for updates the other will allow everyone to continue using the network as normal.

 

I've just converted the currant VMs to fixed disks and stopped using dynamic RAM and will continue that trend with the rest of the VMs.

 

So this will be the updated VMs I will start creating. Does the RAM and Virtual CPUs allocated to each VM look correct or a network of approx. 200 devices and 400 users?

 

***.***.***.1 - ***-SVR-HOST01 (Physical Server) (96GB RAM)

***.***.***.2 - ***-SVR-HOST02 (Physical Server) (64GB RAM)

***.***.***.3 - ***-SVR-DC01 (PDC/DNS/DHCP) (2GB RAM) (1vCPU) (HOST01)

***.***.***.4 - ***-SVR-DC02 (SDC/DNS/DHCP) (2GB RAM) (1vCPU) (HOST02)

***.***.***.5 - ***-SVR-FILE (4GB RAM) (1vCPU) (HOST01)

***.***.***.6 - ***-SVR-PRINT (4GB RAM) (1vCPU) (HOST01)

***.***.***.7 - ***-SVR-RDP (16GB RAM) (2vCPU) (HOST02)

***.***.***.8 - ***-SVR-SCCM (16GB RAM) (2vCPU) (HOST02)

***.***.***.9 - ***-SVR-APP (2GB RAM) (1vCPU) (HOST02)(For Unify Controller Setup and Xibo if the new Docker version will work on a 2016 VM)

***.***.***.10 - *SPARE FOR VM MACHINE*

***.***.***.12 - *SPARE FOR VM MACHINE*