VIRTUALIZATION ACTUALIZATION
Balacom Services
Virtual Server Farm
Daniel R. Bennett, Kyle Campbell, Jimmy Schmalzl
Virtualization
Actualization
INTRODUCTION
• Group
• UPS
Background
• ESX
• Project Overview • Stress Testing
• ITCS
• ISP’s
• Servers
• Lessons Learned
• Networking
• Conclusion
• Backups
• Questions
• Storage
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Actualization
GROUP BACKGROUND
•
•
•
•
Group Formed in 2010
Worked Together on a Perl project
Studied Together Weekly
Shared Common Interests
Virtualization
Actualization
Project Overview
• Our Client is Balacom Services
• Designed a Virtual Server Farm
• Proof of concept
• Capable of hosting 50 VMs
• Smallest possible footprint
Virtualization
Actualization
Interested in ITCS?
• This project coincides with the
ITCS curriculum
• ESX, server stress testing and
configuration, OS setup,
networking
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Servers
• Test server was configured in the
ITCS project lab
• Server implemented was an HP
DL385G7
• Other server manufacturers
considered include Dell and
Gateway
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Actualization
Servers
• Server required for VMware
Virtual Center
• Allows for administration of virtual
servers
• Suggested system is the Dell
PowerEdge T310
• Windows computer is also
required for vSphere
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Actualization
Networking
• Selected switch was a Cisco ESW540-24
• Network design keeps production
and management traffic separate
• Cat5e chosen over Cat6 for gigabit
Ethernet
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Actualization
Backups
• Backups are done for loss prevention
not file retrieval
• Backup scheme involves a weekly
copy of the virtual machine virtual
disk file using tar and cron
• Chosen media is the hard drive as
opposed to other traditional methods
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Expanded Storage
• The NAS box is a Buffalo TeraStation III
• Data is transferred using iSCSI
• TeraStation III is capable of storing 8TB
of data
• Other researched alternative is the
Dell PowerEdge NX3000 running
Windows Server 2008 R2
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Actualization
UPS
• Optional UPS’ Considered:
• SMT3000
• SMT1500RM2U
• The UPS Selected: SMT2200
• Why it was selected
• Cost and Performance
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VMware ESX vs ESXi
• ESX
• Red Hat Linux console
• ESXi
• Free of charge
• Why we selected ESX over ESXi
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STRESS TESTING
• Web Load Tester
• Graphical user interface(GUI)
• Very versatile
• Siege
• Run from the command line
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ISP’s
• Internet Service Providers
Shaw
TELUS
Rogers
Bell
Cost/Month
$301.95
$345.00
$169.95
$160.00
Upload Speed
5 Mbps
1.5+ Mbps
2 Mbps
800 Kbps
Download Speed 15 Mbps
1.5+ Mbps
10 Mbps
6 Mbps
Bandwidth
200 GB/Month
Unlimited
Unlimited
300 GB/Month
Support
Weekdays, 24hours 24/7
24/7
24/7
Yes
Yes
Yes
5 Static IP's
5 Static IP's
1 Static IP
Provision of
No
Domain
No. Of Static IP's 1 Static IP
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Actualization
LESSONS LEARNED AND
CHALLENGES
• Pre-Planning
• Communication
• Time Management
• Read The Manual
• Don’t Rush
Virtualization
Actualization
CONCLUSION
• We are the Virtualization
Actualization workgroup
• Our project involved designing a
virtual server farm for Balacom
Services
• This project was a proof of concept
• We researched and planned for the
networking, physical hardware and
software for the server farm
Virtualization
Actualization
QUESTIONS?