Question

Hyper-V RAID Recommendations

Asked by: jschweg

I'm going to be building a new Dell R710 (Dual Quad Core processors, 24GB of DDR3) to virtualize 3-5 lower end physical servers that I have, and decided to use Hyper-V. This will be my first experience with virtualization in a production environment, and would like some real world recommendations.

I'm going with the Dell PERC 6/i SAS RAID Controller, but due to the large amount of space that I require, SAS drives are just going to be too expensive, so I'm thinking about going SATA. I'm planning to do a RAID 1 mirror for the host OS, then a 4 disk RAID 10 to house all of the virtual machines.

First question is concerning my choice of RAID setup, is this optimal? My other concern is using SATA instead of SAS drives. The servers I'm virtualizing are pretty low end, so I don't need massive I/O performance, but I don't want this setup to be anywhere near slow. Can anyone comment?

This Question has been solved and asker verified All Experts Exchange premium technology solutions are available to subscription members.

Subscribe now for full access to Experts Exchange and get

Instant Access to this Solution

  • Plus...
  • 30 Day FREE access, no risk, no obligation
  • Collaborate with the world's top tech experts
  • Unlimited access to our exclusive solution database
  • Never be left without tech help again

Subscribe Now

Asked On
2009-11-06 at 19:43:48ID24879907
Topics

Hyper-V

,

Windows Server 2008

Participating Experts
2
Points
500
Comments
9

Trusted by hundreds of thousands everyday for fast, accurate and reliable tech support.

  • "The time we save is the biggest benefit of Experts Exchange to Warner Bros. What could take multiple guys 2 hours or more each to find is accessed in around 15 minutes on Experts Exchange." Mike Kapnisakis, Warner Bros.
  • "Our team likes having a resource that is more secure than just using Google and most experts using this service really know their stuff. It's nice to look here first versus using Google." Dayna Sellner, Lockheed Martin
  • "Anytime that I've been stumped with a problem, 9 out of 10 times Experts Exchange has either the accepted solution or an open discussion of the potential solution to the problem." Kenny Red, eBay Inc.

See what Experts Exchange can do for you.

Got a question?

We've got the answer.

Experts Exchange has been collecting answers to technology questions since 1996…3 million and counting! If you have a question, chances are we already have your answer.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Need individual assistance?

Our experts are ready to help.

If you can't find the exact answer you're looking for, ask our exclusive community of 50,000 experts. You’ll get a personalized answer from a trusted professional.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Want to learn from the best?

Read articles from industry experts.

Thousands of free tech tips, tricks, how-to’s and tutorials are available in our peer reviewed articles section. See for yourself how smart our experts are, no login required.

Screenshot of an Article

Working on a long term project?

Store your work and research.

Save solutions to your questions, answers you’ve discovered through searching plus helpful articles in your personal knowledgebase for easy future access.

Screenshot of Experts Exchange Knowledgebase

Access the answers to your technology questions today.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

What Makes Experts Exchange Unique?

Members of the expert community talk about why the experience at Experts Exchange is different than what you will find anywhere else.

Trusted by the world's most respected brands.

image of each brand's logo

Faithfully serving IT professionals since 1996.

Experts Exchange Logo

Try it out and discover for yourself.

Subscribe Now

30-day free trial. Register in 60 seconds.

Related Solutions

  1. New Quad Core in Abit AB9 mobo, after raid setup, i ca…
    I'm also setting Raid (raid 1) upp on my Quad core abit AB9 quadGT mobo - and when I have enabled raid (intel) in bios and hit the CTRL + I key and made the setup on the raid bios, then my problem is that - i can't get my sata dvd to boot, so i can reinst. O.S, even that i ha...
  2. Sata Raid drivers for Windows Server 2008
    I am building a Dual Quad Core server using a Supermicro X7DWA-N board. I am going to install Windows Server 2008 on a four drive Raid 5. I cannot seem to find much info on Intel Sata Raid drivers that are compatible with server 2008. I have read that Vista sata drivers have ...
  3. Will a quad-core solve this?
    So, I am multitasking. Really multitasking, but my computer seems to be always behind me. I currently have a Dell Dimension 9200, Core2 Duo 2.6Ghz and 4Gb of RAM, 500GB WD hard disk. I thought it was a fast machine, but sometimes, it does not keep my pace. I have Windows XP P...
  4. We are planning to buy a Quad Core web server where we…
    We are planning to buy a Quad Core web server for our newly starting web hosting company,can we go with 500GB SATA II or RAID 1? What will be the difference?
  5. Hyper-V On a two-socket quad-core server
    I have a two-socket quad-core server (PE2950), the host operating system sees and can use all 8 Cores, yet i can only assign up to 4 Logical Processors per VM. Why? Would installing W2008 R2 Hyper-V help me? Thank you.

Free Tech Articles

  1. WARNING: 5 Reasons why you should NEVER fix a computer for free.
    It is in our nature to love the puzzle. We are obsessed. The lot of us. We love puzzles. We love the challenge. We thrive on finding the answer. We hate disarray. It bothers us deep in our soul. W...
  2. SCCM OSD Basic troubleshooting
    SCCM 2007 OSD is a fantastic way to deploy operating systems, however, like most things SCCM issues can sometimes be difficult to resolve due to the sheer volume of logs to sift through and the dispe...
  3. Migrate Small Business Server 2003 to Exchange 2010 and Windows 2008 R2
    This guide is intended to provide step by step instructions on how to migrate from Small Business Server 2003 to Windows 2008 R2 with Exchange 2010. For this migration to work you will need the fo...
  4. Create a Win7 Gadget
    This article shows you how to create a simple "Gadget" -- a sort of mini-application supported by Windows 7 and Vista. Gadgets can be dropped anywhere on the desktop to provide instant information, ...
  5. Outlook continually prompting for username and password
    There have been a lot of questions recently regarding Outlook prompting for a username and password whilst using Exchange 2007. There are a few reasons why this would happen and I will try to cover t...
  6. Backup Exchange 2010 Information Store using Windows Backup
    There seems to be quite a lot of confusion around the ability to backup Exchange 2010 using the built in Windows Backup feature. This stems from the omission of this feature prior to Exchange 2007 s...

Cloud Class Webinars

  1. Avoiding Bugs in Microsoft Access
    Alison Balter takes and in-depth look at avoiding bugs in Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the immediate window to debug your applications, invoking the debugger, using breakpoints to troubleshoot, stepping through code, setting the next statement to execute, ...
  2. Top 10 Best New Features in Visio 2010
    Scott Helmers gives live demonstrations of the top 10 new features in Visio 2010. This webinar will teach you how to create compelling diagrams by adding shapes to the page with a single click, linking the shapes in a diagram to data in Excel (or SQL Server, or SharePoint), ...
  3. IT Consultant Business Secrets Revealed
    Michael Munger, Experts Exchange tech pro and IT consultant, pulls back the curtain on his very successful businesses and answers question on every IT consultant and business owner should know about. He shares secrets on what he did to solve the 5 most common problems in IT, ...
  4. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity
    Quest CTO, Mike Billon, gives an overview of the steps involved in building a dunamic disaster recovery plan. Through case studies and an examination of software/hardware tooles for monitoring and testing, you'll gain a better understandin of where you are, where you want ...
  5. Organize Your Visio Diagrams with Containers and Lists
    Scott Helmers uses cross functional flowcharts, wireframe diagrams, data graphic legends and seating charts to teach you: how to ustilize all three new structured diagram components in Visio 2010, the best practices for organizeing shapes in previous version of Visio, how to organize ...
  6. How to Us Objects, Properties, Events and Methods in Microsoft Access
    Alison Dalter gives an in-depbth look at objects, properties, events and methods in Microsoft Access. In this webinar you will learn about using the object browser, referring to objects, working with properties and methods, working with object variables, understanding the ...

Join the Community

Give a Little. Get a Lot.

Join the community of experts here and help other tech pros by answering question in your area of expertise. You can earn FREE access to all Experts Exchange's premium features and resources.

Join the Community

Answers

 

by: mutahirPosted on 2009-11-07 at 04:58:22ID: 25766133

What sort of servers you are virtualizing ?

File servers ? Exchange ? SQL ? DC?

How many users accessing it ?

Would the host machine have any role other then hyper-v ?

Is there no way you can stretch a little bit and get the SAS drives ?

I will be able to suggest more once I have that info requested above ; I have recently done a hyper-v install for two or three clients and in house

they were SQL Server (we used a physical pass through of raid 10 for database
dev machines running win2k3 etc

it all comes down to budget and requirements

 

by: jschwegPosted on 2009-11-07 at 21:13:04ID: 25769471

I will be virtualizing a print server, WSUS server, IIS Server, and a SQL server with a very small database and very low load.

25 users will be utilizing them

The host machine will likely be running 2008 core with nothing else running on it

I could stretch it with SAS, it's just those 500GB SAS drives are off the chart expensive, especially when I need 4 of them for the RAID 10

 

by: CAGdorfPosted on 2009-11-09 at 15:53:26ID: 25781298

I think the SATA will work OK since it is low utilization. The problem is you won't have the scalability needed should it come high. Our typical setup for our Hyper-V hosts is Raid 1 (15k 73GB SAS) and then RAID 10 (146GB x4 if 3.5" x6 if 2.5"). I have tried RAID 10 and 4 drives with Hyper-v and splitting partitions and it works, but not recommended. If  you can't afford all 6 drives SAS, then I would go SATA. 6 is better than 4.

 

by: jschwegPosted on 2009-11-10 at 07:03:36ID: 25786033

I think I'll try to push for SAS, it'll be better in the long run.

What do you mean splitting partitions? Can you elaborate? I was planning on putting all the VM's on the one RAID 10 array.


 

by: CAGdorfPosted on 2009-11-10 at 08:48:58ID: 25787206

That will be the most scalable solution.

As for the partition I did it when I had an old Dell that had only 4 drives. I put the 4 in RAID 10 and made two partitions one for the OS and one for Data. It got me by, but having 6 drives (or even 8) is a much better solution. Not only do you get to skip the partitions but your performance is better.

 

by: mutahirPosted on 2009-11-10 at 11:13:07ID: 25788631

If you can get SAS, that will be a good one ;

Further, make sure that the vhd's are on seperate partitions and their config files take up space when you switch the vm on, it creates the ram in the config file (you would know that) - so make sure your partitions are planned properly.

As for your DB if you think it will grow and access would grow too then do a physical pass through for your DB that will give you more IO power for the db.

RAID 10 would be a good option for the VM disk partition

You can use a tool "quickvhd" to create vhds in a flash, make sure you create fixed size vhds as they give better performance

You can use wim2vhd to create sysprepd windows 2008 / windows 7 vms straight away from the install source

You can create a sysprep'd virtual machine of Windows7, WIndows Server 2008 R2 (ONLY) via WIM2VHD

QuickVHD : http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/vhdtool

WIM2VHD : http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/wim2vhd

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/hyperv-faq.aspx

http://4sysops.com/archives/free-wim2vhd-convert-a-wim-image-to-a-vhd-image/ (article on how to convert a wim to vhd - only valid for server 2008 r2 and windows 7 ) very  useful for quickly creating vms instead of installing everything.

Once you have created your vms and have installed the Operating system, I would recommend to install updates etc and sysprep and shut down, then copy that vhd over to a external storage for your backup / disaster recovery reasons, so if you have to create a new one you would just need to attach one new vm and thats it.

RAID 10 for VMS and if any IO intense db then physical pass through

You can even combine IIS and WSUS on one VM and set the WSUS synch time to something during the night when your network activity is really low.

Hope this helps - sorry for the delay in getting back.

 

by: jschwegPosted on 2009-11-11 at 07:02:35ID: 25795582

The Operating system for the actual host machine is going to be on it's own RAID 1, the RAID 10 array is going to be used for nothing other than the Hyper-V images.

That being said, I don't need to partition the RAID 10 correct?

 

by: CAGdorfPosted on 2009-11-11 at 08:38:35ID: 25796525

I never do, too much work, not enough results. All the literature I have read is that as long as you keep the OS away from the data you should be good. If you were running a db behind say this website or something then ya you would want an iSCSI just for that VM.

 

by: mutahirPosted on 2009-11-11 at 08:44:04ID: 25796574

Fixed Size VHDS :-) don't forget

As CAGdorf has also mentioned, if you were to run a db which will be IO intense then a physical pass through disk is recommended ;

Best of Luck

Also, plan your Hyper-v Networking as well properly just to avoid any problems in the future ;

http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2008/01/08/understanding-networking-with-hyper-v.aspx

20120131-EE-VQP-002

3 Ways to Join

30-Day Free Trial

The Experts

98% positive feedback on 31,087 answers since March 2000. angeliii is a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for his work with MS SQL Server & Develoment.

He has also proven his knowledge of Visual Basic Programming, PHP Scripting and Oracle Databases.

The Experts

97% positive feedback on 10,752 answers since July 2000. lrmoore has more than 18 years experience in the networking industry.

The six-time Mircosoft MVPs specialties include firewalls, virtual private networking, and network management.

Testimonials

"...and excellent source for support... Kind of like having your very own IT dept." Electriciansnet

Testimonials

"I was apprehensive at signing up at first. However... it has already made my life as an IT administrator much easier." JaCrews

Testimonials

"WOW! You guys have great, active, and knowledgeable people on here." moore50

Business Clients

Business Clients

In the Press

"If you’ve got a question... Experts Exchange can supply an answer.”

In the Press

"...an invaluable aid for both IT professionals and those who require tech support."

In the Press

"where IT professionals provide quick answers on just about any topic"

Business Account Plans

Loading Advertisement...