VI 3.5 - My Experience in test lab (ESX2.5.3 adminstrator)

We have ESX2.5.3 running 8 machines on 2x2.8Ghz

As test - we installed VI3.5 on whitebox dual X5130 with 4GB and NO SCSI/RAID (repeat - no scsi or raid)

ESB2 chipset on ICH8(5000p) was detected but no raid functionality of RAID - anyway - great to test - and changed our strategy - read on.

The install was done in 30 mins. The computer on which VI3.5 was installed becomes dedictaed with no console and no way to input anything (unlike esx in which we can have consoles and full set of linux commands)

The management software runs on Java and is a bit quirky but intutive enough - It didnt take much to learn (uirky - as each change is to be followed by commit buton)

Anyway - summry of install - Its easy - The guide by VI is useless and anybody trying to install should not be put off.

The performance - Without tools - pathetic - with tools - The "feel" is little bit slower than ESX2.5.3

Now questions -
1. The best kept secret is that RAID isnt required to install (atleast to test) - It works on standard intel chipsets. So, we would like to install VI3.5 on antiquated 4.5GB SCSI disk(becasue SCSI is good). So, does VI installs and then loads itself into memory? Since we will install it on very slow disk - will performance be effected? Does VI use swap partition? Since VI3.5 doesnot share memory like ESX, I dont think any swap is reqd.

2. iSCSI - We will install software SCSI on windows 2003 and use it to hold vhds. We will use 2003 volume shadow copy to copy VHD as backup. Is it possible?

3. When we click backup database - what does it do? Suppose we have node crash, - is this strategy below workable-

Reisntall VI, restore database, and restore links to VHD (on iSCSI target) - your server is up and back alive in 30 mins - all because of wonderful 2003 technology - VSS (no backup software reqd)

Any comments and answers appreciated.

Thanks for sharing your feedback with the community. We're excited about the new Single Server edition and glad that it was so easy to install. We will work to enhance the documentation so that it is more useful. VSTools definitely provide the best performance -- we're seeing very close to native performance for CPU (SpecRate) and IO (SpecWeb).

For your questions:
1. Virtual Iron loads itself into memory. Our virtualization services have a very small footprint and do not require swap files.

2. We have not tried Windows 2003 volume shadow copy. Virtual disks can be stored on iSCSI or SAN (as you describe) or a partition of the local disk. You should be able to backup virtual disks from your iSCSI or SAN as you describe.

If you're storing virtual disks on the Single Server Edition's local hard drive, keep in mind that there are two partitions on the local disk: (a) One is directly accessible by the administrator using the Administration Manager. This is where you can upload/download VHD files, ISO, etc. to the server. (b) The other is where the vdisks that are used by virtual servers are stored. You can also use network storage as you describe, which is easier to backup and also allows you to use features such as LiveMigrate (provided you are using the Enterprise Edition and have 2 or more nodes).

3. Backup database creates a snapshot of the state of the Virtualization Manager database. It stores this file in (a) above. You should move this file off the node to protect it in the event of a disk crash. If you have a crash, you would reinstall Virtual Iron, import the database backup file, and restore.

Hmmm, yep I agree with the comments from nitin, I found the guide pretty useless really, and the speed quite unacceptable, I'm going to try the speed
after installing the tools, so quite glad I viewed the forum to see if the speed
issue was just me. Maybe a new guide that really encourages users to install
the tools at install would help !!

Edited: 03/13/2007 at 01:52 PM by igm87