Jun 13

VirtualSystems in a box

HP has released 3 new models in its VirtualSystem Portfolio, the VS1, VS2 and VS3 each capable of supporting a number of virtual machines out of the box, and all based on the HP Converged Infrastructure solutions.  These are basically Converged Infrastructure, virtualisation platforms in a box (or a rack in this case!) This solution joins the HP CloudSystem and HP AppSystems (more on those in other blogs)

VS1 is built on industry standard HP Proliant servers, running a hypervisor based solution, which hosts the virtual machines.  A HP P4500 SAN and the HP Insight Control software used to manage the whole solution.

The VS2 is built on HP’s bestselling HP Bladesystem housing multiple blade (BL) servers, a separate Bladesystem chassis with a P4000 based SAN solution, all backed off onto HP’s Virtual Connect FlexFabric networking environment, and again, utilizing HP’s Insight Control software to manage it all.

Finally, the VS3 is based on the same HP Bladesystem as the VS2 to house the blade servers, but builds on the P4000 SAN and replaces it with HP’s latest acquisition, the excellent 3Par technology.

The VS1 can manage up to 200 machines and the VS3 can manage as many as 6,000, with the VS2 being somewhere in the middle.

The interesting thing about the Virtual Systems is the ability to basically buy one single line item that is delivered as a rack that just needs power and network connections supplied and you have your virtualisation platform in place.

This looks like direct competition to EMC’s and Cisco’s vblock offering, but I think with a  bit more integration, and the VirtualSystem is from one vendor, so no multi-vendor support issues.

The VirtualSystem can be upgraded to a CloudSystem with the installation of the appropriate software, and licenses, so fits nicely in the whole HP Converged Infrastructure portfolio.

For more information see here.

Jun 08

The new HP EVA P6000 – its here!

It’s here! The new P6000 range, you’ve heard all the techno babble, all the chinese whispers about the features and functions, now see what the P6000 packs:

  • Fifth generation of the HP virtual array system
  • Built in thin provisioning – 30 to 50% more capacity utilization
  • One-step process to move data across storage tiers
  • Utilizes either 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SAS disk drives for a smaller footprint in your DC
  • 8GB Fibre Channel, 1GB iSCSI, 10GB iSCSI/FCoE connectivity options
  • Support for 450 x SFF or 240 LFF SAS drives (depending on model)
  • 480TB Maximum (depending on model)
  • 8GB Cache (depending on model)
  • 2 x HSV340 or HSV360 (depending on model)

Maximum capacity configurations:

The P6300 EVA can support:
– up to 120 LFF SAS drives for:
– up to 240 TBs using 2TB Midline LFF SAS drives, or
– up to 72 TBs using 600 GB 15K LFF drives
or
– up to 250 SFF SAS drives for:
– up to 125 TBs using 500 GB SFF Mid-line SAS drives,
– or up to 150 TBs using 600 GB 10K SFF SAS drives.

The P6500 EVA can support:
– up to 240 LFF SAS drives for:
– up to 480 TBs using 2 TB Mid-line LFF SAS drives, or
– up to 144 TBs using 600 GB 15K LFF SAS drives
or
– up to 450 SFF SAS drives for:
– up to 225 TBs using 500 GB SFF Midline SAS drives, or
– up to 270 TBs using 600 GB 10K SFF SAS drives

Visit HP for the latest quick specs

As a little bonus, here’s a guided tour of the latest P6000:

Jun 07

Windows 2008 R2 SP1 on HP Proliant or Integrity

Deploying Windows 2008 R2 SP1 on HP Proliant or Integrity platforms?  Do you want to know the recommended configuration guidelines for this?  HP have released a white paper on exactly that.  It covers the following key topics:

  • Recommended configurations of ProLiant and Integrity servers
  • Recommended system configurations
  • Recommended software, storage options, and NICs
  • Procedures for a new installation
  • Known issues

Well worth a read here

Jun 07

Recommended hotfixes and updates for Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Failover Clusters

Running a Failover Cluster in Server 2008 R2 SP1?  These patches and updates should help with any issues.

This article documents recommended hotfixes for Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1
Failover Clusters. Applying these fixes can improve the reliability of your high
avialability solution.

Note We recommend you evaluate each fix
to determine whether it applies to your environment. If you determine that
Failover Clusters in your environment may be affected by the problem(s) that a
fix addresses, install the fix on each cluster node using the procedures
described in KB 174799 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/174799) .

Use the information in the “More information”
section to help you determine whether a particular fix applies to the cluster.
Before you install a particular fix, we recommend you review the original
Microsoft Knowledge Base (KB) article that describes the fix.

More Here

Jun 06

Hyper-V: Differencing disks

Differencing disks - from technet site
From Technet Site

Differencing disks, a way to save space, but still deploy the same amount of virtual machines.  This solution allows you to create one parent image with a base Windows installation (including common patches/updates and software) and then setup all other VM’s based on that one parent image.  So, you’d create one parent image, 30GB in size, with W2k8R2 plus all the latest updates, and then create child images for each other VM, only the delta’s of those VM’s (changes between the parent and child) are stored (differencing disks).  This is especially useful if space is at a premium, or storage space is expensive.

See here for a good write up on this technology.