Thanks Mike, So can I use the local ssd for my Virtual disk path and use my existing SAN for Repository path and VM working directory path. Now, are your hosts part of vcenter or are you connecting directly to the esxi hosts.Can I keep the esxi hosts in vcenter? I'm not sure if vcenter allows you to have datastores with same the name so I would need separate profiles for each esxi host which is fine since this is a small environment Can you also please clarify the two statements below
- Create a directory on your ESXi hosts' SSDs for the local copies of the images. The VMs will boot from these copies and will benefit from the speed of the SSDs -- they get written-to rarely and read a bunch. ( So this is the Virtual Disk path) do I actually have to create the directory or just specify on the host profile? - Create another directory (either on your SSD or spinning disk space on the hosts, or even on the SAN) for the individual-VM files (the .vmx and the virtual memory files). This is the VM working directory path. No to clear on why I have manually create the directory. Thanks again. On Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 10:06 AM, Mike Haudenschild <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Dave, > > I think you're coming at this from a shared storage perspective, which is > totally understandable since you're currently using a SAN. In a local > storage setup, the ESXi host either a) pulls a copy of the image to local > storage from an NFS mount, or b) the management node has a copy of the > image (locally or is pointed at a remote mount) and pushes it to the ESXi > host. (I think the VCL docs recommend the former approach as being more > efficient since it can use ESXi's file management utilities.) > > The main benefit from using SSDs for local storage will be reduced load > times due to the image actually booting from those drives. > > I've attached screenshots of our host profile as well as the datastores on > the ESXi host. > > On the host profile (full docs on these settings at > http://vcl.apache.org/docs/vmwareconfiguration): > > - Repository path = NFS share from which the ESXi host will copy the image > the first time a management node tells this host to boot that image. This > is a RAID 50 on 10k SAS dives in this particular rig. See note [1]. > - Virtual disk path = Local storage on the ESXi host from which end-user > VMs will boot the image. This is a RAID 1 of SSDs. > - VM working directory path = Local storage on the ESXi host where VCL > will build the temporary directories used for each running VM. This is a > RAID 50 on 15k SAS drives. > > [1] NB... In the ESXi screenshot, disregard the datastore "Master VCL > Repository." The Linux system hosting the NFS share is actually a VM that > happens to be running on this ESXi host. > > The datastore screenshot shows the corresponding names of the datastores. > As long as you name the datastores the same across hosts, you can get away > with using a single VM host profile for your local-storage hosts. If you > have some hosts with dramatically different local storage situations, you > may need different profiles. > > Also, I haven't even touched the issue of vMotion here, which changes the > conversation about shared-vs-local storage a lot. If your use case for > vMotion is about planned ESXi host maintenance, you can always migrate VMs > away from a host-to-be-rebooted to other hosts via the VCL Web UI (any VMs > with active reservations will be placed in a pending state). vMotion for > HA with VCL local storage is a different story. > > Regards, > Mike > > > > On Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 9:44 AM, David DeMizio <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Thanks Mike. >> >> I have attached of my current vanilla esxi local storage profile. >> >> I'm not to clear on why the Golden images would want to be on NFS share, >> isn't that what is used to spin up the VMs? also "Create a directory on >> your ESXi hosts' SSDs for the local copies of the images. The VMs will >> boot from these copies and will benefit from the speed of the SSDs -- they >> get written-to rarely and read a bunch" VCL automatically knows to use the >> local copes or is it a setting the the profile. Just a bit confused on what >> needs to go where in the profile that's why I have attached it. When you >> say mount this with the same repository path on all your ESXI hosts are you >> referring to actually ssh into esxi hosts and created and NFS share? Thank >> you >> >> >> >> >> >> >> On Thu, Jun 5, 2014 at 4:57 PM, Mike Haudenschild <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >>> Hi Dave, >>> >>> This is the configured I've used the most with VCL. You will have >>> multiple "virtual hosts," each with its own "computers" (VMs) assigned to >>> it. If VCL wants to spin up an image on VM#1, and VM#1 is assigned to VM >>> Host A, VCL's management node will open a connection with Host A and bring >>> up the VM. >>> >>> From what I've been reading, I think you can use the same VM host >>> profile for the VM hosts that will use local storage. >>> >>> - Have your golden images hosted via an NFS share available to all ESXi >>> hosts. >>> - Mount this with the same repository path on all your ESXi hosts. >>> - Create a directory on your ESXi hosts' SSDs for the local copies of >>> the images. The VMs will boot from these copies and will benefit from the >>> speed of the SSDs -- they get written-to rarely and read a bunch. >>> - Create another directory (either on your SSD or spinning disk space on >>> the hosts, or even on the SAN) for the individual-VM files (the .vmx and >>> the virtual memory files). If you have enough SSD storage space, do it >>> here, else do it on spinning disks. Remember that these files get torn >>> down after every reservation, and that the virtual memory files created >>> correspond to the physical memory assigned to the VM -- so it's not >>> absolutely necessary or even advisable (from a wear perspective) to have >>> these on SSDs. >>> >>> If you use the same paths and network configs for both your >>> ESXi/SSD/local storage hosts, you can use a single VM host profile for >>> these hosts. You'll obviously still have a different host profile for your >>> SAN/shared storage hosts. >>> >>> Regards, >>> Mike >>> >>> >>> On Thu, Jun 5, 2014 at 4:48 PM, David DeMizio <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Thanks Aaron, >>>> >>>> For your hosts with local storage do you use NFS share for your golden >>>> images? So from what I have gathered so far, each esxi host will have it's >>>> own VM Working Directory Path (local ssd storage). Also, each host will >>>> always run the same virtual machines whereas with shared storage and using >>>> vcenter host profile, it may put the virtual machine on any host in the >>>> cluster. I'm just trying to picture how vcl will work when a user request >>>> an image? How will VCL know which esxi hosts to connect to, to create the >>>> virtual machine? >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Thu, Jun 5, 2014 at 4:30 PM, Aaron Coburn <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Hi, David, >>>>> >>>>> > So am I correct that I need two vm host profiles for each esxi host? >>>>> >>>>> I believe that is correct. In our setup, we have some hosts with local >>>>> storage and some hosts with shared backend storage. For those with local >>>>> storage, the vcl connects directly to the esx host (not using vcenter -- >>>>> vcenter is only used for those hosts with a shared, SAN-based storage). It >>>>> may be the case that you could get this to work with vCenter by disabling >>>>> DRS (vMotion), but it is a lot easier to just connect directly to the >>>>> different hosts. >>>>> >>>>> Regards, >>>>> Aaron Coburn >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> On Jun 5, 2014, at 2:53 PM, David DeMizio <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> > So am I correct that I need two vm host profiles for each esxi host? >>>>> I'll have to have a better look at the VCL website. I'm just not clear on >>>>> how this is going to be setup. I've been using the vcenter profile since I >>>>> started experimenting with VCL. I guess each esxi host will have dedicated >>>>> virtual machines that will always run on that esxi host? >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > David DeMizio >>>>> > Academic Systems Coordinator >>>>> > Office of Information Technology >>>>> > New College of Florida >>>>> > Phone: 941-487-4222 | Fax: 941-487-4356 >>>>> > www.ncf.edu >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > On Thu, Jun 5, 2014 at 2:06 PM, Dmitri Chebotarov <[email protected]> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> > Hmm... I'm not sure if this can be done with vCenter profile. I >>>>> think vCenter profile assumes you have shared storage. >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > You could add ESXi hosts directly to VCL, and then create local >>>>> datastore in each host. You may need to remove ESXi hosts from vCenter, as >>>>> it won't allow you to have the same local datastore name on each host. >>>>> > >>>>> > From: David DeMizio <[email protected]> >>>>> > Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2014 12:34 PM >>>>> > To: user >>>>> > Subject: Re: Local storage >>>>> > >>>>> > Thanks Andy >>>>> > >>>>> > I guess I just need clarification on what type of vm host profile I >>>>> will need to use with this type of setup and if I need a separate vm host >>>>> profile for each of my esxi host servers? >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > David DeMizio >>>>> > Academic Systems Coordinator >>>>> > Office of Information Technology >>>>> > New College of Florida >>>>> > Phone: 941-487-4222 | Fax: 941-487-4356 >>>>> > www.ncf.edu >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > On Thu, Jun 5, 2014 at 12:09 PM, Andy Kurth <[email protected]> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> > I haven't tried it, but apparently you can vMotion VMs without >>>>> having shared storage starting with 5.1: >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/09/vmotion-without-shared-storage-requirement-does-it-have-a-name.html >>>>> > >>>>> > -Andy >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > On Thu, Jun 5, 2014 at 11:22 AM, David DeMizio <[email protected]> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> > Thank Dmitri, >>>>> > >>>>> > I'm getting a bit confused because the VM Working Directory Path >>>>> pointing to the local SSD which the other server knows nothing about. I'm >>>>> currently using the VMware Vcenter host profile will I need to change that >>>>> and use the esxi local storage profile? Seems like I'm going to need two >>>>> virtual hosts using the esxi local storage policy? >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > David DeMizio >>>>> > Academic Systems Coordinator >>>>> > Office of Information Technology >>>>> > New College of Florida >>>>> > Phone: 941-487-4222 | Fax: 941-487-4356 >>>>> > www.ncf.edu >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > On Thu, Jun 5, 2014 at 10:22 AM, Dmitri Chebotarov <[email protected]> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> > Hi David >>>>> > >>>>> > I think it should work fine with local SSD storage on ESXi hosts. >>>>> You still may want to use a shared NFS storage for your images (Virtual >>>>> Disk Path), but you can point VM Working Directory Path to local SSD >>>>> storage. >>>>> > >>>>> > -- >>>>> > Thank you, >>>>> > >>>>> > Dmitri Chebotarov >>>>> > VCL Sys Eng, Engineering & Architectural Support, TSD - Ent Servers >>>>> & Messaging >>>>> > 223 Aquia Building, Ffx, MSN: 1B5 >>>>> > Phone: (703) 993-6175 | Fax: (703) 993-3404 >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > From: David DeMizio <[email protected]> >>>>> > Sent: Thursday, June 05, 2014 10:08 AM >>>>> > To: user >>>>> > Subject: Local storage >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > Hello, >>>>> > >>>>> > We have two servers with local Solid state storage in both of them >>>>> that I would like to start testing with VCL. Currently, I am using vsphere >>>>> 5.5 with the vcl vmware module to provision my nodes by using a SAN. Of >>>>> course if I plan to test VCL just using the local SSD drives than I will >>>>> lose the ability of vmotion, at least I think I will because each server >>>>> will not have access to the other servers SSDs. Can I still use the vmware >>>>> module if I go this route? Any other suggestions are appreciated. Thank >>>>> you. >>>>> > >>>>> > -Dave >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>> >> >
