Just catching up on the list, and like everyone else I'm going to say it depends on your specs. We have 81 VMs spread across 4 hosts, 2 of which are 2x6 cores (12 cores total) with 96 GB RAM, one 2x4 core (8 core total) with 96GB RAM, and one 2x4 core with 48 GB RAM. We have vSphere Enterprise so our vCenter handles VM-host allocation automatically. Yours will not, but live migrations are a click away so it's not a big deal. The environment contains our Exchange 2010 server, two MSSQL servers, our web servers, a handful of very large file servers, some miscellaneous applications, and a VMware View VDI setup with five to ten simultaneous users. The entire cluster usually runs at about 10% utilization.
We spent the money we saved on host hardware on a redundant SAN—we have a primary/secondary configuration with live failover so should the primary go down the VMs continue operation. ---- Jack Kramer Manager of Information Technology Office of Communications and Brand Strategy Michigan State University w: 517-884-1231 / c: 248-635-4955 From: David Mazzaccaro <david.mazzacc...@hudsonmobility.com<mailto:david.mazzacc...@hudsonmobility.com>> Reply-To: NT System Admin Issues <ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com<mailto:ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com>> Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2012 14:24:03 -0400 To: NT System Admin Issues <ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com<mailto:ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com>> Subject: RE: Hooray, I'm moving to VMware! How many VMs are you able to run on each of your 3 hosts? With only 10 physical servers now.. I am wondering if 3 hosts are going to be overkill. Even with a play/test environment of another 10 servers…. Are 3 hosts a waste? From: Jonathan Link [mailto:jonathan.l...@gmail.com] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2012 1:05 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Hooray, I'm moving to VMware! Yes! By physical boxes, we'll presume a box that's running as a DC, and not your hosts as Scott pithily responded... :-) And you may as well run a physical box for your vCenter if you're going to maintain a solid box for DC. The idea behind physical boxes, is it gives you something to authenticate against and bring your environment back online. At your size (three hosts, which is what I'm running) you probably don't need it, and can authenticate into the hosts and then start the guests that way. On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 12:30 PM, David Mazzaccaro <david.mazzacc...@hudsonmobility.com<mailto:david.mazzacc...@hudsonmobility.com>> wrote: Speaking of domain controllers, I am being told 2 different things... 1) ALWAYS keep a single DC physical. You can certainly have virtual DCs, but you must have at least 1 physical. 2) Virtualize everything you can. You don’t need any physical boxes at all. Period. Thoughts? From: Andrew S. Baker [mailto:asbz...@gmail.com<mailto:asbz...@gmail.com>] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2012 11:55 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Hooray, I'm moving to VMware! >> Single "thing" to point backups at - I believe you have to backup Hyper-V >> boxes individually? No, you don't have to back them up individually. Lots of 3rd party options here. >> No dependency on the domain being present which can put you in a "fun" >> situation if you have to power everything off and on again. Your Hyper-V server need not be a domain member. ASB http://XeeMe.com/AndrewBaker Harnessing the Advantages of Technology for the SMB market… On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 11:41 AM, Paul Hutchings <paul.hutchi...@mira.co.uk<mailto:paul.hutchi...@mira.co.uk>> wrote: I've only used VMware so I'm more than happy to be corrected here, but in no particular order: Single ISO takes you from bare metal to working server. No third party drivers needed for things like MPIO and NIC teaming. Single management tool. Single management server (vCenter) gives visibility to your entire VMware infrastructure. Single "thing" to point backups at - I believe you have to backup Hyper-V boxes individually? No dependency on the domain being present which can put you in a "fun" situation if you have to power everything off and on again. Outside of usability you then have: Pretty much any virtual appliance you care to name will come natively in VMDK/OVF format Tons of vCenter add-ins I'm very interested in Hyper-V with Windows Server 8 and for us the timing falls nicely with our SAN and server refresh, but honestly the only reason I can see for looking at moving would be license costs - VMware works out expensive if you have more than a few hosts and want more than the basics. ________________________________________ From: John Hornbuckle [john.hornbuc...@taylor.k12.fl.us<mailto:john.hornbuc...@taylor.k12.fl.us>] Sent: 16 April 2012 3:39 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Hooray, I'm moving to VMware! Is the consensus that VMware is easier to use than Hyper-V? I've only used the latter, so I can't judge. John -----Original Message----- From: Paul Hutchings [mailto:paul.hutchi...@mira.co.uk<mailto:paul.hutchi...@mira.co.uk>] Sent: Monday, April 16, 2012 9:36 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Hooray, I'm moving to VMware! I'd assume ease of use and market leader. -----Original Message----- From: John Hornbuckle [mailto:john.hornbuc...@taylor.k12.fl.us<mailto:john.hornbuc...@taylor.k12.fl.us>] Sent: 16 April 2012 14:16 To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Hooray, I'm moving to VMware! Someone else asked about this, but I didn't see a reply (although Postini frequently blocks messages from this list)... What factors led to you choosing VMware over Hyper-V? John Hornbuckle, MSMIS, PMP MIS Department Taylor County School District www.taylor.k12.fl.us<http://www.taylor.k12.fl.us> ----- Original Message ----- From: David Mazzaccaro [mailto:david.mazzacc...@hudsonmobility.com<mailto:david.mazzacc...@hudsonmobility.com>] To: NT System Admin Issues [mailto:ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com<mailto:ntsysadmin@lyris.sunbelt-software.com>] Sent: Fri, 13 Apr 2012 08:38:47 -0700 Subject: Hooray, I'm moving to VMware! > Just got the ok to move forward with VMware/Citrix/Domain upgrade. > I have 10 physical servers, and it looks like this will be the solution: > > 3 hosts: ($21k each) > HP DL380 G7 E5660 > Pair of 146 15k drives mirrored > 196 G RAM <- this was $45k alone > Quad port gig adapter > > 2 Switches: ($1,800 each) > HP 2910 > > 1 SAN ($22,700) > NetApp 2240 > 12 x 600GB > > VSphere Essentials Plus ($5,200) > > 6 Windows licenses ($13,600): > Server 2008 Datacenter > > Windows/Xenapp licenses ($26,000) > > $40k services > Install/config SAN, switches, hosts, VMware, new Citrix farm, 2008 > Domain upgrade, P2V existing servers > > Total: $185,000 > > Sound good? ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com<mailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin . ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com<mailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com<mailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin . ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com<mailto:listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
