soadmin
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Use VM to reduce proposed footprint
Hi All,
I have a design question I'm hoping you can help with:
Current Production Documentation Server Setup:
1x Primary Server 2008 box running AD, IIS, SQL and DFSR
- OS is on C with fast disk (150GB total), and document data is on the D with slow disk (400GB used of 1.5TB)
1x Backup Server 2008 box running AD, IIS, SQL and DFSR
- OS is on C with fast disk (150GB total), and documents are on the D with slow disk (400GB used of 1.5TB)
The purpose of the backup server is in case the primary goes down, I'll be able to get the document server operations up and running again. I'd have to restore the sql DB being backed up from Primary to backup via DFSR. DFSR is currently replicating documents from Primary to backup and IIS is ready to go as the documentation application just needs to be turned on, pointed to the sql database and we should be good to go.
I inherited this mess so it is not the way I would have designed it.
Proposed solution:
1x VM host box with fast disk C: for the VM's and slow disk D; for the data. The fast disk would house a VM DC and a VM document server with IIS, SQL and DFSR
1x VM host backup box with fast disk C: for the VM's and slow disk D: for the data. The house disk would house a VM backup DC and a VM backup document server with IIS, SQL and DFSR
If I do this, is there a way I could make the VM for the document server see the D: slow disk for the data? I would of course be using Hardware Raid with an array for the C and another array for the D slow disk. I've read if I take the array offline on the VM host, the guest should see it, but am not sure since I've never done this type of setup before.
The alternative is to buy 4 new servers (2x DC's and 2 File servers for the documents, IIS, SQL and DFSR)
I would be using Hype-v for the VM's.
Please let me know if I'm on the right track or way out in left field.
Thanks,
I have a design question I'm hoping you can help with:
Current Production Documentation Server Setup:
1x Primary Server 2008 box running AD, IIS, SQL and DFSR
- OS is on C with fast disk (150GB total), and document data is on the D with slow disk (400GB used of 1.5TB)
1x Backup Server 2008 box running AD, IIS, SQL and DFSR
- OS is on C with fast disk (150GB total), and documents are on the D with slow disk (400GB used of 1.5TB)
The purpose of the backup server is in case the primary goes down, I'll be able to get the document server operations up and running again. I'd have to restore the sql DB being backed up from Primary to backup via DFSR. DFSR is currently replicating documents from Primary to backup and IIS is ready to go as the documentation application just needs to be turned on, pointed to the sql database and we should be good to go.
I inherited this mess so it is not the way I would have designed it.
Proposed solution:
1x VM host box with fast disk C: for the VM's and slow disk D; for the data. The fast disk would house a VM DC and a VM document server with IIS, SQL and DFSR
1x VM host backup box with fast disk C: for the VM's and slow disk D: for the data. The house disk would house a VM backup DC and a VM backup document server with IIS, SQL and DFSR
If I do this, is there a way I could make the VM for the document server see the D: slow disk for the data? I would of course be using Hardware Raid with an array for the C and another array for the D slow disk. I've read if I take the array offline on the VM host, the guest should see it, but am not sure since I've never done this type of setup before.
The alternative is to buy 4 new servers (2x DC's and 2 File servers for the documents, IIS, SQL and DFSR)
I would be using Hype-v for the VM's.
Please let me know if I'm on the right track or way out in left field.
Thanks,
ASKER
Hello,
Thank you for the post. My goal is to separate the DC's from the files servers as right now they are all on the same box.
When you say attach a drive to VM, do you mean I'll be able to attach a local system raid array to the VM as long as it is offline in the guest OS?
Thank you for the post. My goal is to separate the DC's from the files servers as right now they are all on the same box.
When you say attach a drive to VM, do you mean I'll be able to attach a local system raid array to the VM as long as it is offline in the guest OS?
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
Hello,
If I do use a VM replicate my data with dfsr, my vm would be almost a 1TB large as it would include the data, IIS and sql database. Is that feasible? Just I'm just making sure I understand what you mean.
Thanks,
If I do use a VM replicate my data with dfsr, my vm would be almost a 1TB large as it would include the data, IIS and sql database. Is that feasible? Just I'm just making sure I understand what you mean.
Thanks,
Yes, you can directly attach a drive to a VM.
If you want to go to Hyper-V 2012 or 2012 R2, you have the option of doing Hyper-V Replication, which replicates an entire VM, and is an alternative to DFS-R. It is probably easier to bring up a VM replica than to switch over database servers and document servers. Note that a replica is not a substitute for backups, and you can have something blow up in one VM that gets replicated to the other host, so you still need backups. Hyper-V replication really only protects you against hardware failure. Software/configuration failure is more common.