VMware VirtualCenter

Technical Best Practices

(Updated June 2005)

Copyright © 2005 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved.

 VirtualCenter Product Components

GSX 00

User
ActiveDirectory Domain
ESX 01

ESX 02
User VirtualCenter Mgmt Server

ESX 03
C NT
DB F S
O
User

FC Switch

VirtualCenter VM Template
User
Database Repository

VirtualCenter Clients
(Win32 Client) Networks:
Green – Management Network
Blue - VMotion Network Storage Area Network
Red - SAN Paths (optional)

Copyright © 2005 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. 2

 Platform / Hardware Requirements

Component VC Client VC Management Server

• Windows Application • Windows Service
Supported
Platforms • Windows 2003 (all versions) • Windows 2003 (Web, Std, Enterprise)
• Windows 2000 (all versions) • Windows 2000 (Server, Advanced Server)
• Windows XP Pro • Windows XP Pro
• Windows NT 4 (SP6)
Hardware
Requirements • 256 MB RAM (min) • Single 2.0 GHz CPU (min)
• 512 MB Ram (recommended) • 2 Gb RAM (min)
• 10/100 Mbps NIC (GigE recommended)

Other Details • Requires .Net framework V1.1

(auto installed if needed) • Can run in a Virtual Machine
•Network traffic to the VC Mgmt • Local storage required for VM template
Server encrypted via SSL repository (network shares not supported)
• Http/Https also supported for
access to the VC Mgmt Server
through firewalls

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 VC Management Server - Additional Notes
• Scalability
• A single Management Server with minimum hardware requirements is
recommended for supporting up to 20 concurrent client connections, 50
ESX/GSX Servers, & 1000 VMs.
• Increasing the hardware requirement to dual CPUs and 3 Gb RAM can scale
the Management Server to support up to 50 concurrent client connections, 100
ESX/GSX Servers & 2000 VMs.
• High Availability
• Availability of the managed ESX/GSX Servers & VMs unaffected by availability
of the Management Server. Data stored in external database and VM
templates should be backed up periodically
• Networking
• The Management Server can reside on a network separated from VC Clients
and/or ESX/GSX Servers, but a single port needs to be configured to permit
access through firewalls (see user manual).
• Event Management
• Management Server includes SNMP MIBs for generating alerts

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 VC Mgmt Server – Clustering for Availability
• VC Management Server (windows service) can be clustered using industry
standard solutions, and only 1 license is required when only one instance
is active at any given time
• Active / Passive clustered configurations can be installed and configured to
point to the same VC database (but only one instance should be active at
any given time)
• Active / Passive instances of the VC Management server will also require
the following configuration settings to be equivalent:
• Both should point to the same database (same ODBC connection setup).
• Both should be set to the same “VC Server ID” (configured through the File->VC
Settings menu).
• Both should use the same public/private SSL keys (contained in the
“C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware
VirtualCenter\SSL” directory)
• If VC WebService is enabled, both should use the same config file (located at
“C:\DocumentsAndSettings\AllUsers\ApplicationData\VMware\VMwareVirtualCe
nter\VMA\vmaConfig.xml”.)

Copyright © 2005 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. 5

 VirtualCenter Database Requirements

Supported • Oracle 8i, Oracle 9i, and Oracle 10g

Platforms • Microsoft SQL Server (SQL Server 2000, SQL 7)
• Microsoft Access (default for demo/eval purposes only)
Database Sizing Size of the database will vary depending on the number of
hosts & VMs managed, frequency of performance data
collection and type of database.
•Each stat sample collected is about 60 bytes for SQL, 100 bytes for Oracle, and
each event stored is 1600 bytes for SQL, 600 bytes for Oracle.
•Using default settings, the statistical data for 25 hosts running 8-16 VMs per host
will plateau around 40-60 MB in a year (80-140 MB if set to “full”). Each month, the
average number of events generated will also consume about 190 MB in SQL, and
70 MB in Oracle. Total DB size after a year is expected to be around 2.20 Gb in
SQL, and 1.0 Gb in Oracle.
•Using default settings, the statistical data for 75 hosts running 8-16 VMs per host
will plateau around 90-150 MB in a year (200-330 MB if set to “full”). Each month,
the average number of events generated will also consume about 190 MB in SQL,
and 70 MB in Oracle. Total DB size after a year is expected to be around 2.40 Gb in
SQL, and 1.2 Gb in Oracle.

Data Extraction • Database views provided enable direct extraction of

performance and inventory information.
Recommendations • Use Oracle or SQL Server for production deployments.

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 VirtualCenter Authentication & Authorization

• VirtualCenter Roles
• VirtualCenter Administrators: super users who have all privileges
on all systems
• Virtual Machine Administrators: administrators on a subset of
servers; can perform all operations on their servers, including VM
provisioning, resource allocation and VMotion
• Virtual Machine User: access to a subset of VMs; can use remote
console, perform power operations, view performance graphs, but
cannot create/delete VMs, set resources or move VMs.
• Read-Only User: can only view information on a subset of VMs
• Privilege Management
• Administrators on the Windows system running the Management
Server are automatically assigned VirtualCenter Administrator
privileges
• VirtualCenter Administrators can delegate privileges to other users
by accessing an existing ActiveDirectory or Domain Controller

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 Templates: Storage & Deployment

• Store templates on a shared VMFS

volume on the SAN (dedicated LUN)
• Enable access to the SAN-based
template volume from all ESX servers
• SAN templates may only be provisioned ESX1 ESX2 ESX3 ESX4
to target hosts connected to SAN Mgmt
Server
• The VC Mgmt Server’s local template
repository can be used to provision VMs SAN
onto ESX Servers that are not connected
to the SAN
Templates Virtual Machines
• If template deployments to a LUN fail due (vmfs1) (vmfs2)
to SCSI reservations, increase the
Local
“Scsi.ConflictRetries” parameter to a Template LUN1

value of “10” through the Advanced Repository

LUN2 LUN3 LUN4

Settings menu in the ESX MUI.

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 VMotion – Storage Configuration & Setup

• VM disks, including boot drive, must be

stored on the SAN in a VMFS volume
• Target and source ESX Servers must
have access to the VM’s VMFS volume ESX1 ESX2 ESX3 ESX4

• VMFS volumes must be in “public”

mode and have volume names
• VMs must use volume names for SAN
specifying virtual disks
• Configuration files can be local to ESX Templates Virtual Machines Virtual Machines
(vmfs1) (vmfs2)
Server or stored on SAN (vmfs3)

• VMotion is not supported on clustered LUN1

VMs (clustered VMs must be stored on LUN2 LUN3 LUN4 LUN5 LUN6

a VMFS volume in “shared” mode)

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 VMotion – Best Practice for Large Environments

• No more than 16 ESX Servers

connected to a single VMFS volume
ESX1 ESX2 ESX3 ESX4 ESX5 ESX6 ESX7 ESX8
• For added scalability, VMs should
be divided into multiple VMFS
volumes, each of which can still be
accessible to all ESX Servers SAN
• No more than 32 IO-intensive VMs,
or 100 non-IO intensive VMs sharing Templates Virtual Machines Virtual Machines Virtual Machines
a single VMFS volume* (vmfs1) (vmfs2) (vmfs3) (vmfs4)

• Also recommend increasing the LUN1 LUN1 LUN2 LUN3 LUN4 LUN5 LUN6

maximum queue depth for the Fiber

Channel adapter, and increasing the
Disk.SchedNumReqOutstanding
parameter (see ESX docs).

* In situations where the VMs are not IO-intensive, CPU, memory, and/or network resources
constrains the number of VMs, and the threshold for acceptable performance of a single, SAN-based
VMFS volume appears to be around 100 VMs.

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 VMotion – LUN Masking and Zoning

Farm #1 Farm #2

• Cannot perform VMotion migrations

between source and target ESX ESX1 ESX2 ESX3 ESX4 ESX5 ESX6
Servers if the LUN is masked or
zoned away from the target
• Best Practice Recommendation: SAN
Apply LUN masking or zoning
across separate farms
Templates Virtual Machines Virtual Machines
(vmfs1) (vmfs2) (vmfs3)

LUN1
LUN2 LUN3 LUN4 LUN5 LUN6

Zone 1 Zone 2

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 VMotion Requirements – Networking
•VMotion requires a Gigabit Ethernet VMotion
network to ensure rapid migrations Network

•A dedicated network is recommended to ESX1

keep VM memory state secure
•2 hosts with cross-connected GigE cards VM ESX2
can be used for demos
Networks
•VirtualCenter and ESX console
management operations flow through ESX3
Management
the management network Network
•Including VM deployment and cloning
Minimum Network Best Practice Network
•Network labels for each virtual NIC
• 2 NICs with at least one GigE NIC •1 dedicated NIC for
must be created through the ESX for VMotion. Console OS
Server MUI: • For best security, dedicate the
(10/100 or GigE)
•Network labels are global across farms GigE NIC to VMotion and use •1 dedicated NIC for
VLANs to divide the VM & Mgmt VMotion (GigE)
•VMotion automatically maps VMs to traffic on the other NIC
•1 or more NICs for VMs
appropriate virtual NICs based on network • For best availability, combine both (10/100 or GigE)
labels NICs into a bond, and use VLANS
to divide traffic into at least 3
•VMs must have access to the networks ( 1 or more for VMs, 1 for
necessary subnets on the target ESX COS, and 1 for VMotion)
Server

Copyright © 2005 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. 12

 VMotion Requirements – Server

• CPU Compatibility Requirements

• Clock speeds and cache sizes may vary
• Source/Destination must have same vendor class (Intel vs. AMD)
• Source/Destination must have same CPU family (see note)
• Note: Versions within a processor family can be distinguished by comparing CPU
models, stepping levels, and extended features.
In most cases, different versions within the same family are similar enough to
maintain compatibility.
In some cases, significant architectural changes appeared within the same CPU
family (such as 64-bit extensions and SSE3). By default, VMware identifies these
exceptions as incompatible with respect to guaranteeing and supporting a successful
migration with VMotion.
• VMware (in partnership with CPU and hardware vendors) is working to
maintain VMotion compatibility across the widest range of processors. For
current information contact your VMware representative.
• Heterogeneous support for all other underlying hardware devices
(abstracted by the virtual hardware layer)
Copyright © 2005 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. 13