Architecture Flexibility with HP BladeSystem & VMware Infrastructure Barry Sinclair HP BladeSystem Platform Marketing Doug Hart HP VMware Solutions Engineering Russ Stringer Blue Cross Blue Shield of AL
Agenda Overview of HP BladeSystem c-class Barry Sinclair HP BladeSystem Product Manager Deploying VMware on c-class Best Practices Doug Hart Solutions Engineer A Customer s Experience Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama Russ Stringer IT Director
Building a best run infrastructure Infrastructure must be: Time smart: Increase productivity, time efficiency of staff Energy thrifty: Manage power and cooling Change ready: Manage change and coordination across IT Cost savvy: Consolidate IT to control costs of acquisition, operations, and facilities
HP BladeSystem c-class An Adaptive Infrastructure in a 17 inch box Key enablers IT Systems & Services Power & Cooling Management Security Virtualization Automation ProLiant, Integrity, StorageWorks and HP PCs for BladeSystem Infrastructure Lifecycle Services Thermal Logic technologies Data Center Services Power & Cooling The new, modular building block of next-generation datacenters Insight Control Datacenter Edition Instant Support Enterprise Edition Services Security shell Role-based, single sign-on Assessment Services Virtual Machine Environment Virtual Connect Virtual Machine Manager Built-in Automation Engine
Reduce costs by nearly 50 percent over traditional IT Save up to 41% on system acquisition costs Save up to 60% on datacenter facilities costs Save up to 96% on initial setup time
HP BladeSystem c-class - The Best Platform for VMware Each Enclosure is already built for a 16 server VMware farm Choice of 2 or 4 processor server blades Choice of Dual-core and Quad-core Choice of Intel or AMD processors Supports Ethernet, Fibre-channel, and Infiniband switches Full redundancy (servers, interconnects, and power) No single point of failure Intelligent Infrastructure for easy & time-smart management
Agenda Overview of HP BladeSystem c-class Barry Sinclair HP BladeSystem Product Manager Deploying VMware on c-class Best Practices Doug Hart Solutions Engineer A Customer s Experience Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama Russ Stringer IT Director
2 Socket Server Options for VMware ProLiant BL460c 2 socket, 4 core Intel based half-height blade - up to 32GB of memory 2 SFF hot plug HDD 2 expansion mezzanine cards (6 NICs + 2 FC ports) ProLiant BL465c 2 socket, 4 core AMD based half-height blade - up to 32GB of memory 2 SFF hot plug HDD 2 expansion mezzanine cards (6 NICs + 2 FC ports) ProLiant BL480c 2 socket, 4 core Intel based full-height blade - up to 48GB of memory 4 SFF hot plug HDD 3 expansion mezzanine cards (10 NICs + 2 FC ports)
4 Socket Server for VMware ProLiant BL685c 4 Dual-Core AMD Opteron TM Processors Large memory capacity 64GB 4 SFF hot plug HDD 3 Expansion mezzanine cards (10 NICs + 2 FC ports)
Best Practices HP c-class BladeSystem meets all standards for even the most stringent adherence to best practices around redundancy in the data center Inherent system flexibility allows for a variety of configurations to meet best practices Enterprise networking and fibre (no single point of failure) High availability configurations Flexible configurations Number of network cards and fibre ports is determined by Requirements for out of band management Desire for redundancy at the software and hardware levels Datacenter practices around redundancy for physical systems
Enterprise Redundancy Best Practices Separate physical adapters are teamed within ESX for the console, VMkernel and virtual machine networks For each teamed pair of connections 1 wire is placed on each of two physical, redundant switches Fibre ports each have a single connection to a redundant switch
Enterprise Redundancy Redundant NICs for console, virtual machine and VMkernel Redundant fibre ports for SAN connectivity Redundant switching Redundant power Enterprise redundancy is achievable with both halfheight and full-height blades
High Availability Configurations Similar to enterprise redundancy Fewer switches and NICs so the service console and VMkernel network should be shared Very common configuration
HA Configurations Redundant nics with the virtual machine network separated from the VMkernel and Service console networks Redundant fibre ports for SAN connectivity Redundant switching Redundant power
Flexible Configurations Levels of redundancy vary, but the burden for redundancy shifts from the hardware to the software Configurations favor full-height blades for maximum number of network connections Tradeoff in expense comes with reduction of switches and loss of bandwidth Fibre can be redundant or non-redundant without changing the network configuration
Flexible Configuration 1 Non-redundant nics Non-redundant fibre Redundant switching Redundant power Favors a full-height blade for maximum number of available NICs
Flexible Configuration 2 Non-redundant nics, but the virtual machine network is separated from the VMkernel and Service console networks Redundant fibre ports for SAN connectivity Non-redundant switching Redundant power Favors the full-height for maximum number of NICs
Determining Your Configuration Criteria Rack mount best practices for your environment How many nics do you dedicate now? Do you use redundant or non-redundant switching and fibre? Migration requirements Will you use DRS Is VMotion an integral part of your virtualization strategy Network requirements Separate console, VMkernel and virtual machine networks Do you require separate physical networks for certain VMs? What is your tolerance for downtime?
Agenda Overview of HP BladeSystem c-class Barry Sinclair HP BladeSystem Product Manager Deploying VMware on c-class Best Practices Doug Hart Solutions Engineer A Customer s Experience Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama Russ Stringer IT Director
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Some or all of the features in this document may be representative of feature areas under development. Feature commitments must not be included in contracts, purchase orders, or sales agreements of any kind. Technical feasibility and market demand will affect final delivery.