Dell External OEMR 2800 Quick reference guide

VMware ESX 4 on

Dell PowerEdge Systems

Deployment Guide

Notes and Cautions

NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of

your computer.

CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates potential damage to hardware or loss of data if

instructions are not followed.

____________________

Information in this publication is subject to change without notice.

Reproduction of these materials in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc.

is strictly forbidden.

Trademarks used in this text: Dell™, the DELL logo, PowerEdge™, and PowerVault™ are trademarks

of Dell Inc. Intel

and Xeon

are registered trademarks and Core™ is a trademark of Intel Corporation

in the U.S. and other countries. AMD

is a registered trademark and AMD Opteron™ is a trademark

of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Microsoft®, SQL Server®, and Windows® are either trademarks or

registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Novell®

and NetWare®are registered trademarks of Novell Inc. in the United States and other countries.

Oracle®is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates. VMware®, VMotion™,

and vSphere™ are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States

or other countries.

Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this publication to refer to either the entities claiming

the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc. disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and

trade names other than its own.

2011 - 11 Rev. A12

Contents 3

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

VMware License Offerings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

ESX Architecture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

vSphere 4 Architecture Overview . . . . . . . . . . 7

Supported Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Important Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Supported vSphere 4 Configuration Solutions . . . . . 24

Configuring ESX 4 Using Dell

Fibre Channel SAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Fibre Channel Environment Setup With ESX . . . . 25

Configuring vSphere 4 Using iSCSI SAN . . . . . . 26

Setting up iSCSI Environment With ESX . . . . . . 27

Deploying ESX and vCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Guidelines for Deploying ESX . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Installing ESX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Disk Partitioning for ESX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Post Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Tips for Configuring VMotion . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Installing vCenter Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

Related Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

4Contents

ESX Deployment Guide 5

Introduction

This document is a companion guide to the VMware ESX 4 guides.

This document helps you to deploy ESX 4 on PowerEdge systems and

provides specific information on recommended configurations, best practices,

and additional resources.

NOTE: For information on deploying ESXi 4, see VMware ESXi 4 on Dell PowerEdge

Systems Deployment Guide at support.dell.com/manuals.

VMware License Offerings

Dell offers the following VMware editions:

• vSphere Essentials Plus

• vSphere Standard

• vSphere Enterprise

• vSphere Enterprise Plus

• vCenter Server

NOTE: The latest releases to include both ESX and ESXi hypervisor architectures

are vSphere 4.1 and its subsequent update and patch releases. Future major

releases of vSphere will include only the ESXi architecture. It is recommended that

you consider a plan for migrating to ESXi starting with this release.

NOTE: vSphere Essentials Plus is an all-inclusive package that includes licenses

for three physical systems, each system with up to two processors. It also includes

VMware vCenter Server to centrally manage the systems. vSphere Essentials Plus

edition is supported only on two-socket systems.

NOTE: With the release of vSphere v5.0, all Partner Activation Codes shipped with

current systems is for vSphere 5.0 licensing. If you have a vSphere 5.0 subscription

that is above Trial or Basic, you can downgrade to vSphere 4.1. To get your

downgrade keys, register your Partner Activation Code and login to

vmware.com/accounts. Go to Manage Product Licenses vSphere v5.0 on the

license administration portal.

6ESX Deployment Guide

ESX Architecture Overview

ESX allows multiple operating systems to run simultaneously in virtual

environments on a single physical system. These virtual environments,

referred to as virtual machines (VMs), can be created and managed faster

than conventional systems. The VMs do not interact directly with the

physical hardware. Each of these VMs runs in a resource-isolated,

secure environment and can include Microsoft Windows, Linux,

Novell NetWare, and Solaris operating systems with their

associated applications.

Figure 1. ESX 4 Architecture

ESX Deployment Guide 7

vSphere 4 Architecture Overview

Figure 2. vSphere Components

vSphere infrastructure consists of the following components:

•

ESX

— Allows multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on

asinglesystem.

•

vCenter

Server

—

Runs on Windows-based operating systems and

monitors and manages Virtual Machines (VM) and copies of ESX. With

vCenter Server, you can create, start, stop, and migrate VMs across the

entire physical data center. vCenter Server is optional and is required for

advanced management capabilities such as VMware VMotion,

Distributed Resource Scheduling (DRS), and High Availability (HA).

PowerEdge System as

ESX Host

Storage Interconnect

Fabric

Ethernet Fabric

vCenter Server

Database

External Storage

for VMs

vSphere

Client/vSphere

CLI

License Server

8ESX Deployment Guide

•

vCenter Server Database

— Stores all the configuration data about

vSphere. It is recommended that you use a production database such as

Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle for the vCenter Server database.

•

License Server

— Authorizes ESX hosts and vCenter Server as per the

purchased license keys and licensing agreement. It is recommended to

install the license server on the vCenter Server host. This can also reside

on a separate host.

NOTE: A license sever is not required for ESX 4 hosts. However,

if vCenter Server manages the ESX 3.0.x or ESX/ESXi 3.5 hosts,

you require a license server.

•

vSphere Client

— Manages an ESX host by directly connecting to it or

through the vCenter Server. It is installed on a system running a supported

Windows operating system.

•

VM DataStore

— Stores VMs configuration and virtual disk files. The VM

storage can either be an internal storage local to ESX or an external storage

that can be shared by multiple copies of ESX. Advanced features such as

VMotion, HA, and DRS require that the disk and configuration files are

stored on VMs external shared storage.

•

vSphere CLI

— Performs many operations that you can also perform using

the ESX 4 service console. vSphere CLI commands are especially useful for

an ESXi 4 host because it does not include a service console. vSphere CLI

commands can be used in scripts that run on ESXi 4 and ESX 4 hosts

located remotely.

ESX Deployment Guide 9

Supported Configurations

This section provides information about currently shipping systems only.

NOTE: For a complete list of Dell-supported systems, see VMware ESX/ESXi 4 on

Dell PowerEdge Systems and Storage Compatibility Matrix at

support.dell.com/manuals.

NOTE: SAS/SATA drives mentioned under Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3 also include

SSDs.

Table 1 lists the currently shipping modular-based PowerEdge systems that

support ESX.

Table 1. Modular-Based PowerEdge Systems

PowerEdge M915

Processors AMD Opteron 6100/6200 series

Minimum Memory 4 GB

Internal Storage Two 2.5" SAS/SATA disks

Internal Storage Adapter PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H200

Integrated and PERC H700 Integrated

External Disk Storage Adapter Not applicable

Fibre Channel HBA

(SAN connectivity)

All supported HBAs

Networking Four integrated network ports and all

supported peripheral NICs

Remote Access Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller

(iDRAC)6

PowerEdge M910

Processor Intel Xeon 6500 series or

Intel Xeon 7500 series or Intel Xeon E7-

2800/4800/8800 product family

Minimum Memory 4 GB

Internal Storage Two 2.5" SAS/SATA disks

Internal Flash Memory Supported SD memory card

Internal Storage Adapter PERC H200 Integrated and PERC H700

Integrated

10 ESX Deployment Guide

External Disk Storage Adapter Not applicable

Fibre Channel HBA

(SAN connectivity)

All supported HBAs

Networking Four integrated network ports and all

supported peripheral NICs

Remote Access iDRAC6

PowerEdge M710HD

Processors Intel Xeon 5500/5600 series

Minimum Memory 4 GB

Internal Storage Four 2.5" SAS/SATA disks

Internal Storage Adapter PERC H200 Embedded

External Disks Storage Adapter Not applicable

Fibre Channel HBA

(SAN connectivity)

All supported daughter cards

Networking Four integrated network ports and all

supported NIC daughter cards

Remote Access iDRAC6

PowerEdge M710

Processors Intel Xeon 5500/5600 series

Minimum Memory 4 GB

Internal Storage Four 2.5" SAS/SATA disks

Internal Storage Adapter SAS 6/iR Integrated, CERC 6/i Modular,

PERC 6/i Integrated, PERC H200 Modular,

and PERC H700 Modular

External Disks Storage Adapter Not applicable

Fibre Channel HBA

(SAN connectivity)

All supported daughter cards

Networking Four integrated network ports and all

supported NIC daughter cards

Remote Access iDRAC6

Table 1. Modular-Based PowerEdge Systems

(continued)

This manual suits for next models

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