You are viewing a plain text version of this content. The canonical link for it is here.
Posted to user@vcl.apache.org by David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu> on 2014/06/05 16:08:51 UTC
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
Re: Local storage
Posted by Aaron Coburn <ac...@amherst.edu>.
Re: space issues, I have yet to encounter problems with the VM Working directory path -- its usage tends to stay pretty constant (it's more or less a function of the number of running computers). The Virtual Disk path, on the other hand, is constantly filling up (and having to be managed).
As for whether to put the Virtual Disk path on SSDs or to use that for the VM Working directory path, I would encourage you to look at the actual data utilization patterns of your existing infrastructure, when you encounter high I/O latency and what the patterns are for read and write operations. Keep in mind that the Virtual Disk path will primarily be used for read operations while the VM Working directory will be both read and write. And the more concurrent reservations you have running, the more obvious the numbers will be.
In our experience, we encountered more I/O bottlenecks on the VM Working directory during heavy loads of classroom use until we put the VM Working directory onto a faster disk backend (the Virtual Disk path is on comparatively slower disk). But I would encourage you to make that determination based on what you observe in your infrastructure.
Regards,
Aaron Coburn
On Jun 9, 2014, at 4:02 PM, David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu> wrote:
> Thanks Aaron,
>
> In my case , I just have one management node so I think using the 4 local ssd (raid 5) for the Virtual Disk path should be fine and then use the iscsi datastore for my repository and VM Working directory path. Do you have any other recommendations for my proposed set up? It would be nice to have use those 4 300 gig ssd as two raid 1 so I can use 1 for the VM Working directory path and the other for Virtual Disk path just not sure if I will run into space issues.
>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu>.
Thanks Aaron,
In my case , I just have one management node so I think using the 4 local
ssd (raid 5) for the Virtual Disk path should be fine and then use the
iscsi datastore for my repository and VM Working directory path. Do you
have any other recommendations for my proposed set up? It would be nice to
have use those 4 300 gig ssd as two raid 1 so I can use 1 for the VM
Working directory path and the other for Virtual Disk path just not sure if
I will run into space issues.
Re: Local storage
Posted by Aaron Coburn <ac...@amherst.edu>.
The main advantage to using NFS comes if you are exposing the repository path to other, remote management nodes, especially if those nodes wouldn't ordinarily have direct access to your SAN (i.e. over iSCSI, etc).
Aaron Coburn
On Jun 9, 2014, at 3:35 PM, David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I wondering if there is a benefit to using the NFS datastore versus a SAN
> Datastore for my repository path?
>
>
> 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 Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 1:43 PM, David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu> wrote:
>
>> So I can use the SAN datastores that are visible to my two esxi for my Repository
>> path and also for my VM Working directory path?. Currently I have 4 300
>> gig SSD configure for local storage which I plan on using for Virtual
>> disk path. Am I better off have two raid 1 ( one for Virtual disk path
>> and another for VM working directory path ) the other nonssd is where
>> esxi is installed, no other local storage. 6 disk in both esxi hosts , 4
>> ssd and 2 nonssd for esxi.
>>
>>
>> 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 Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 12:59 PM, Josh Thompson <jo...@ncsu.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>>> Hash: SHA1
>>>
>>> On Monday, June 09, 2014 10:06:14 AM Mike Haudenschild wrote:
>>>> 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.
>>>
>>> If you use the VCL Web UI to remove a VM that has an active reservation
>>> from a
>>> VM host, it will create a sort of place holder reservation that starts at
>>> the
>>> end time of the active reservation and tells vcld to remove the VM from
>>> the VM
>>> host at that time. Then, once the active reservation has completed, the
>>> VM
>>> will be stopped and unregistered on the VM host.
>>>
>>> Josh
>>> - --
>>> - -------------------------------
>>> Josh Thompson
>>> VCL Developer
>>> North Carolina State University
>>>
>>> my GPG/PGP key can be found at pgp.mit.edu
>>>
>>> All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which
>>> are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public
>>> Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
>>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
>>> Version: GnuPG v2.0.22 (GNU/Linux)
>>>
>>> iEYEARECAAYFAlOV6AIACgkQV/LQcNdtPQPloACfd2Tl35wjyVTDqedvwsECEb9h
>>> o7IAnRzRcHQFQYUd+tIZAXE/opcyFlJr
>>> =TO0a
>>> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>>>
>>>
>>
Re: Local storage
Posted by David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu>.
Hello,
I wondering if there is a benefit to using the NFS datastore versus a SAN
Datastore for my repository path?
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 Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 1:43 PM, David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu> wrote:
> So I can use the SAN datastores that are visible to my two esxi for my Repository
> path and also for my VM Working directory path?. Currently I have 4 300
> gig SSD configure for local storage which I plan on using for Virtual
> disk path. Am I better off have two raid 1 ( one for Virtual disk path
> and another for VM working directory path ) the other nonssd is where
> esxi is installed, no other local storage. 6 disk in both esxi hosts , 4
> ssd and 2 nonssd for esxi.
>
>
> 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 Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 12:59 PM, Josh Thompson <jo...@ncsu.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>> Hash: SHA1
>>
>> On Monday, June 09, 2014 10:06:14 AM Mike Haudenschild wrote:
>> > 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.
>>
>> If you use the VCL Web UI to remove a VM that has an active reservation
>> from a
>> VM host, it will create a sort of place holder reservation that starts at
>> the
>> end time of the active reservation and tells vcld to remove the VM from
>> the VM
>> host at that time. Then, once the active reservation has completed, the
>> VM
>> will be stopped and unregistered on the VM host.
>>
>> Josh
>> - --
>> - -------------------------------
>> Josh Thompson
>> VCL Developer
>> North Carolina State University
>>
>> my GPG/PGP key can be found at pgp.mit.edu
>>
>> All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which
>> are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public
>> Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
>> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
>> Version: GnuPG v2.0.22 (GNU/Linux)
>>
>> iEYEARECAAYFAlOV6AIACgkQV/LQcNdtPQPloACfd2Tl35wjyVTDqedvwsECEb9h
>> o7IAnRzRcHQFQYUd+tIZAXE/opcyFlJr
>> =TO0a
>> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>>
>>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu>.
So I can use the SAN datastores that are visible to my two esxi for my
Repository
path and also for my VM Working directory path?. Currently I have 4 300 gig
SSD configure for local storage which I plan on using for Virtual disk
path. Am I better off have two raid 1 ( one for Virtual disk path and
another for VM working directory path ) the other nonssd is where esxi is
installed, no other local storage. 6 disk in both esxi hosts , 4 ssd and 2
nonssd for esxi.
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 Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 12:59 PM, Josh Thompson <jo...@ncsu.edu>
wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> On Monday, June 09, 2014 10:06:14 AM Mike Haudenschild wrote:
> > 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.
>
> If you use the VCL Web UI to remove a VM that has an active reservation
> from a
> VM host, it will create a sort of place holder reservation that starts at
> the
> end time of the active reservation and tells vcld to remove the VM from
> the VM
> host at that time. Then, once the active reservation has completed, the VM
> will be stopped and unregistered on the VM host.
>
> Josh
> - --
> - -------------------------------
> Josh Thompson
> VCL Developer
> North Carolina State University
>
> my GPG/PGP key can be found at pgp.mit.edu
>
> All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which
> are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public
> Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
> Version: GnuPG v2.0.22 (GNU/Linux)
>
> iEYEARECAAYFAlOV6AIACgkQV/LQcNdtPQPloACfd2Tl35wjyVTDqedvwsECEb9h
> o7IAnRzRcHQFQYUd+tIZAXE/opcyFlJr
> =TO0a
> -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by Josh Thompson <jo...@ncsu.edu>.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
On Monday, June 09, 2014 10:06:14 AM Mike Haudenschild wrote:
> 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.
If you use the VCL Web UI to remove a VM that has an active reservation from a
VM host, it will create a sort of place holder reservation that starts at the
end time of the active reservation and tells vcld to remove the VM from the VM
host at that time. Then, once the active reservation has completed, the VM
will be stopped and unregistered on the VM host.
Josh
- --
- -------------------------------
Josh Thompson
VCL Developer
North Carolina State University
my GPG/PGP key can be found at pgp.mit.edu
All electronic mail messages in connection with State business which
are sent to or received by this account are subject to the NC Public
Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties.
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v2.0.22 (GNU/Linux)
iEYEARECAAYFAlOV6AIACgkQV/LQcNdtPQPloACfd2Tl35wjyVTDqedvwsECEb9h
o7IAnRzRcHQFQYUd+tIZAXE/opcyFlJr
=TO0a
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
Re: Local storage
Posted by Mike Haudenschild <mh...@gmail.com>.
Hi Dave,
No, we don't have these hosts in vCenter as they're running under a free
ESXi 4.1 license.
The two quotes you have from my earlier message echo what I wrote re:
"virtual disk path" and "VM working directory path" earlier this morning.
Regards,
Mike
On Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 11:26 AM, David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu> wrote:
> 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 <mh...@gmail.com>
> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <mh...@gmail.com>
>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <ac...@amherst.edu>
>>>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
>>>>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>>>>> > 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 <an...@ncsu.edu>
>>>>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>>>>> 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 <
>>>>>> dchebota@gmu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>>>>> > 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
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> >
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu>.
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 <mh...@gmail.com>
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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <mh...@gmail.com>
>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <ac...@amherst.edu>
>>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
>>>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>>>> > 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 <an...@ncsu.edu>
>>>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>>>> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
>>>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>>>> > 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
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by Mike Haudenschild <mh...@gmail.com>.
If a low-RAM/over-provisioned host was doing a lot of swapping out to disk
I could see there being a more significant advantage to that. The Virtual
Disk Path contains the image being booted and run by each running VM, so
the end-user benefits from fast random reads both in cases where an image
would need to boot and in application startup time during a reservation.
On Mon, Jun 9, 2014 at 12:20 PM, Aaron Coburn <ac...@amherst.edu> wrote:
> Mike,
> Were you finding that the "Virtual Disk Path" (RAID 1 with SSDs) was
> seeing the biggest I/O latency while users had active VCL reservations? I
> would have thought the "VM Working directory path" would be a better
> candidate for SSDs.
>
> Aaron
>
> On Jun 9, 2014, at 10:06 AM, Mike Haudenschild <mh...@gmail.com> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <mh...@gmail.com>
> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <ac...@amherst.edu>
> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
> > > 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 <an...@ncsu.edu>
> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
> > > 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
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > <host_profile.png><vmhost_datastores.png>
>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by Aaron Coburn <ac...@amherst.edu>.
Mike,
Were you finding that the "Virtual Disk Path" (RAID 1 with SSDs) was seeing the biggest I/O latency while users had active VCL reservations? I would have thought the "VM Working directory path" would be a better candidate for SSDs.
Aaron
On Jun 9, 2014, at 10:06 AM, Mike Haudenschild <mh...@gmail.com> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <mh...@gmail.com> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <ac...@amherst.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
> > 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 <an...@ncsu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
> > 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
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
>
> <host_profile.png><vmhost_datastores.png>
Re: Local storage
Posted by Mike Haudenschild <mh...@gmail.com>.
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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <mh...@gmail.com>
> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <ac...@amherst.edu>
>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
>>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>>> > 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 <an...@ncsu.edu>
>>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>>> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
>>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>>> > 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
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu>.
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 <mh...@gmail.com> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <ac...@amherst.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>> > 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 <an...@ncsu.edu>
>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>> > 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
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by Mike Haudenschild <mh...@gmail.com>.
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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <ac...@amherst.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>> > 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 <an...@ncsu.edu>
>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>> > 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
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by Aaron Coburn <ac...@amherst.edu>.
> For your hosts with local storage do you use NFS share for your golden images?
Yes. (there's no need to put the golden images on SSDs)
> So from what I have gathered so far, each esxi host will have it's own VM Working Directory Path (local ssd storage).
Correct.
> 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.
Also correct.
> 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?
If I remember correctly, when a user makes a reservation request, that request is assigned to a particular computer id. This determination depends on which resources a particular user has access to (image groups, computer groups, management node groups, etc), and on which computers may have that image preloaded. From the computerid, vcld determines which management node handles that request and also which vm host controls that particular computer.
Hope that helps,
Aaron
> On Thu, Jun 5, 2014 at 4:30 PM, Aaron Coburn <ac...@amherst.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
> > 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 <an...@ncsu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
> > 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
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu>.
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 <ac...@amherst.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
> > 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 <an...@ncsu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
> > 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
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by Aaron Coburn <ac...@amherst.edu>.
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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
> 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 <an...@ncsu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
> 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
>
>
>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu>.
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 <dc...@gmu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
> *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 <an...@ncsu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
>>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>>> *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
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>
RE: Local storage
Posted by Dmitri Chebotarov <dc...@gmu.edu>.
?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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
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<http://www.ncf.edu/>
On Thu, Jun 5, 2014 at 12:09 PM, Andy Kurth <an...@ncsu.edu>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>> 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<http://www.ncf.edu/>
On Thu, Jun 5, 2014 at 10:22 AM, Dmitri Chebotarov <dc...@gmu.edu>> 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<tel:%28703%29%20993-6175> | Fax: (703) 993-3404<tel:%28703%29%20993-3404>
________________________________
From: David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu>>
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
Re: Local storage
Posted by David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu>.
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 <an...@ncsu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
>> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>>> *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
>>>
>>
>>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by Andy Kurth <an...@ncsu.edu>.
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 <dd...@ncf.edu> 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 <dc...@gmu.edu>
> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
>> *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
>>
>
>
Re: Local storage
Posted by David DeMizio <dd...@ncf.edu>.
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 <dc...@gmu.edu> 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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
> *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
>
RE: Local storage
Posted by Dmitri Chebotarov <dc...@gmu.edu>.
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 <dd...@ncf.edu>
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