vSphere/XenServer Distributed Power management features

[gaz350]

As part of our new build IT, it looks like we are going down the route of Hyper-V. although i would prefer to go down the route of citrix/vmware. From what i can work out from various documentation we'll be running 20 HP Blades (across 3x C7000 enclosure)

 

over a 5 year period i roughly worked out to run these 20 bad boys would be in the region of £40k+. One feature i would love to get my hands on is DPM, sadly only available in the Enterprise version of vSphere/xenserver at approx £32,000 for the entire cost based on the xenserver Enterprise. i cant seem to find such features in hyperv

 

Anyone running the Enterprise versions and using Power management features to power down servers? anyone looked into possible cost savings in such a setup? in the above i haven't included savings made from reduced cooling either.

 

Do you think i have a business case for investing in vsphere/xenserver or am i being sold by marketing fluff?

 

we want to front load as much as possible into the infrastructure now to save us in running costs in the future, to me this seems a no brainer in our case or am i missing something?

 

sorry if it seems im going on a bit just getting whats in my head out!

[Ric_]

I have two licenses... purchase cost was approx. £1k each and Subscription Advantage is about £300 per year.

 

I haven't played with the feature yet (yet to upgrade these hosts - summer job number 1) but it sounds pretty cool.

 

Your business case should also include the other benefits of XenServer Enterprise... XenMotion, DR, Workload Balancing, StorageLink, etc.

 

Have you also looked at XenServer Essentials for Hyper-V? AFAIK this provides some of the advanced XenServer gubbins for Hyper-V.

[djm968]

I wouldn’t be too worried about the bare metal hypervisor as Citrix XenServer essentials for Hyper-V does already offer significantly enhanced functionality and with Microsoft and Citrix in bed together, I would have thought rapid product and platform development from both is inevitable.

 

Citrix XenServer essentials for Hyper-V is significantly cheaper that the Vmware option also.

 

3 C7000s? How big is the School!

[Domino]

20 blades? blimey

 

I'm assuming this is VDI, how many machines are you looking to be running at once?

[gaz350]

3 C7000s? How big is the School!

 

its being designed to 50% peak useage and to allow for 50% extra capacity growth in the future i believe (ie room for more blades if needed!). There is also 1700 network ports in the building!!!! as its far cheaper to put them into the building then to retrofit later.

 

Went round the building today, i feel sorry for the cablers!!!! oh piccys ( Vale of Catmose College | Facebook )

 

edit: apologies i was mistaken your right, shouldn't always believe what i've been told (we were speccing out power requirements for prestaging!!)

unless something has changed in Detailed design! There is also a bunch of non Blade servers.

Edited July 23, 2010 by gaz350

[gaz350]

Your business case should also include the other benefits of XenServer Enterprise... XenMotion, DR, Workload Balancing, StorageLink, etc.

Have you also looked at XenServer Essentials for Hyper-V? AFAIK this provides some of the advanced XenServer gubbins for Hyper-V.

 

Thnks Ric_, i was also looking at these other things as well but i was looking for that one thing that means something to college managers, nothing better than cold hard cash to get people to listen!