releaseshyper-v

WhitePaperEMCSolutionsAbstractThiswhitepaperexaminesdeploymentandintegrationofaMicrosoftWindowsServerHyper-VvirtualizationsolutiononEMCstoragearrays,withdetailsonintegration,storagesolutions,availability,andmobilityoptionsforWindowsServer2008R2,WindowsServer2012,andWindowsServer2012R2Hyper-V.
November2013EMCSTORAGEWITHMICROSOFTHYPER-VVIRTUALIZATIONDesignanddeploymentconsiderationsandbestpracticesusingEMCstoragesolutionsEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization2Copyright2013EMCCorporation.
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PartNumberH125573EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationTableofcontentsExecutivesummary.
5Businesscase.
5Introduction.
6Purpose6Scope6Audience6Technologyoverview.
7MicrosoftHyper-V7Storageconnectivityoptionsforvirtualmachines.
10VirtualmachinedirectconnectivityusingiSCSI.
10VirtualmachinedirectconnectivitywithvirtualFibreChannel.
11SMB3.
0FileShares.
16Hyper-VServermanagedconnectivity18VirtualHardDisks20Virtualharddisktypes22WindowsServer2012R2newVHDfeatures.
25OnlineVHDre-sizing.
25Sharedvirtualharddisk25Pass-throughdisks26Storageconnectivitysummary29Availabilityandmobilityforvirtualmachines.
30WindowsfailoverclusteringforHyper-Vservers30Windowsfailoverclusteringforvirtualmachines.
32Virtualmachinelivemigrationswithinclusters32Shared-nothinglivemigration.
34Storagelivemigration.
34WindowsfailoverclusteringwithClusterSharedVolumes.
35SizingofCSVs.
38SitedisasterprotectionwithHyper-VReplica.
38SitedisasterprotectionwithClusterEnabler.
39ClusterEnablerCSVbehavior.
41EMCVPLEX.
42VPLEXLocal.
42VPLEXMetrowithAccessAnywhere.
42VPLEXGeowithAccessAnywhere.
43VPLEXwithWindowsfailoverclustering.
43EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization4Manualorscripteddisasterrecoverywithstoragereplication44MicrosoftintegrationwithEMCstoragetechnologies.
45MicrosoftSystemCenterVirtualMachineManager.
45VNXoperatingenvironmentfilebasedSMI-SProvider.
47WindowsServer2012OffloadedDataTransfer47ODXsupportrequirements.
49UsingODXforvirtualmachinedeploymentswithSCVMM2012R249WindowsServer2012thinprovisioningspacereclamation.
51EMCReplicationManager54EMCStorageIntegrator54EMCSolutionsEnabler.
56Conclusion595EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationExecutivesummaryFormanycustomers,therehasbeenagrowingneedtoprovideever-increasingphysicalserverdeploymentstoservicebusinessneeds.
Thishasledtoseveralinefficienciesinoperationalareas,includingtheoverprovisioningofserverCPU,memory,andstorage.
Powerandcoolingcosts,andtherequirementsforfloorspaceindatacenters,growwitheachaddedphysicalserver,whethertheresourcesareoverprovisionedornot.
Largenumbersofphysicalservers,andtheinefficienciesofoverprovisioningtheseservers,resultinhighcostsandapoorreturnoninvestment(ROI).
YoucanuseMicrosoftWindowsServer2008R2,WindowsServer2012,andWindowsServer2012R2Hyper-Vtoconsolidatemultiplephysicalserverenvironmentstoachievesignificantspace,power,andcoolingsavings,andmaintainavailabilityandperformancetargets.
EMCstoragearraysprovideadditionalvaluebyallowingyoutoconsolidatestorageresources,implementadvancedhigh-availabilitysolutions,andprovideseamlessmulti-siteprotectionofdataassets.
Forconsolidatingdatacenteroperations,theMicrosoftHyper-VhypervisorprovidesascalablesolutionforvirtualizationontheWindowsServerenvironment.
Large-scaleconsolidationsavesmoneywhenyouoptimizeandconsolidatestorageresourcestoasinglestoragerepository.
CentralizedstoragealsoenhancestheadvancedfeaturesofHyper-V.
BusinesscaseEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization6IntroductionThiswhitepaperexaminesdeploymentandintegrationofaMicrosoftWindowsServerHyper-VvirtualizationsolutiononEMCstoragearrays.
Thepaperincludesdetailsofintegrationwithstoragesolutions,andalsoincludesavailabilityandmobilityoptionsforWindowsServer2008R2,WindowsServer2012,andWindowsServer2012R2Hyper-V.
YoucanuseEMCstoragearraysforlarge-scaleconsolidationeffortsthatsupportthousandsofconnectedhosts,tensofthousandsoflogicalunits,andadvancedinternalmechanismssuchasOffloadedDataTransfer(ODX)andvirtualprovisioning.
EMCstoragearraysareacentralpartofWindowsServerconsolidationeffortsandprovidethinreclamationsupport,snapshotandcloneoperations,andmulti-sitereplicationsolutionstoprovidedisasterrestartandrecoverysolutions.
ThiswhitepaperexplainshowtouseMicrosoftHyper-VwithEMCstoragearraystoprovideRAIDprotectionandimprovecoresystemperformance.
ThiswhitepaperalsoexplainshowtousecomplementaryEMCtechnologiessuchasEMCReplicationManager,EMCStorageIntegrator(ESI),andEMCSolutionsEnablerforHyper-VenvironmentstoimprovedynamicplacementcapabilitiesforHyper-Vlandscapes.
ThiswhitepaperisforadministratorswhouseMicrosoftWindowsServer2008R2,WindowsServer2012,andWindowsServer2012R2.
Thiswhitepaperisalsoforadministrators,storagearchitects,customers,andEMCfieldpersonnelwhowanttounderstandtheimplementationofHyper-VsolutionsonEMCstorageplatforms.
PurposeScopeAudience7EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationTechnologyoverviewMicrosoftWindowsServer2008R2,WindowsServer2012,andWindowsServer2012R2providetheHyper-VserverroleontheapplicableversionsofWindowsServer.
WhenaWindowsServerinstancehastheHyper-Vroleinstalled,theoriginaloperatingsysteminstanceiscalledthe"parentpartition.
"Microsoftprovides,supports,andrecommendsrunningaHyper-VserverintheminimalfootprintofaWindowsServerCoreinstallation.
WindowsServerInstallationOptions,onMicrosoftTechNet,providesmoreinformationaboutWindowsServerinstallationoptions,includingServerCore.
Hyper-Vproductsareonlyavailableforthe64-bit(x64)releaseofMicrosoftWindows,andrequirethattheserverhardwareenvironmentsupportshardwareassistedvirtualization(Intel-VTorAMD-V).
WhenyouinstalltheHyper-Vserverrole,youalsoinstalltheWindowsHyper-Vvirtualizationhypervisorfortheparentpartition.
Figure1showstheHyper-VManagerManagementConsole(MMC)thatyoucanusetodefinevirtualmachineinstances.
Figure1.
Hyper-VManagerYoucanuseproductssuchasMicrosoftSystemCenterVirtualMachineManager(SCVMM)inmorecomplicatedHyper-Vdeploymentsthatincludemanyphysicalserversandvirtualmachineinstances.
TheSCVMMsolutionprovidesacomprehensivemanagementframeworkwithcentralizedcommandandcontrolfeatures.
SCVMMalsoincludesfunctionalityinthePerformanceandResourceOptimization(PRO)subsystem,andstorageintegrationbasedontheStorageManagementInitiativeSpecification(SMI-S).
Figure2showstheseoptions.
MicrosoftHyper-VEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization8ThePROfunctionalityhasadependencyonMicrosoftSystemCenterOperationsManager(SCOM).
YoucanusethisfunctionalitytobuildautomaticanddynamicmanagementcapabilitiesintoaHyper-Vlandscape.
StoragemanagementintegrationhasadependencyonastoragearraywithanSMI-SProvider.
Suchconfigurationsallowdynamicplacementofvirtualmachineresourcesbasedonthechangingcharacteristicsofthedatacenter.
Note:TheStorageAutomationwithSystemCenter2012andEMCStorageSystemsusingSMI-SwhitepaperonEMCOnlineSupportprovidesinformationaboutSCVMM2012integrationwithEMCstorageusingtheSMI-Sstandard.
Figure2.
SCVMMconsolestoragefabricAvirtualmachineinstancetypicallyincludesaconfigurationfiledefiningtheconfigurationofthevirtualmachine.
Thevirtualmachineincludesprocessorcount,memoryconfiguration,networkconnectivity,andotherhardwaredetails,andoneormorestoragedevicesthatrepresentthestorageresourcesthatareusedbytheoperatingsysteminstance.
ThesefeaturesareconfigurablethroughthevirtualmachinesettingsoptionsintheHyper-VMMC,asshowninFigure3.
9EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure3.
VirtualmachinesettingsWithWindowsServer2008R2,youcanconfiguretwotypesofstoragedevicesforavirtualmachinefromthesettingsoptions.
ProvisionastoragedeviceasaVirtualHardDisk(VHD)thatisconnectedtooneoftheIDEorSCSIControlleradapters.
Youcanalsoprovisionadevicethatisconnectedasaphysicalharddisk(alsocalledapass-throughstoragedevice).
WindowsServer2012includesVHDprovisioning,pass-throughsupport,andanewvirtualFibreChanneloption.
VirtualFibreChannelcreatessyntheticFibreChanneladaptersthatallowdirectstorageaccessusingtheFibreChannelprotocol.
"VirtualmachinedirectconnectivitywithvirtualFibreChannel"onpage11providesmoreinformation.
EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization10StorageconnectivityoptionsforvirtualmachinesMicrosoftHyper-Vconfigurationssupportdifferenttypesofdeploymentmodelsforconnectivitytostoragearrays;however,therearetwobasicmethodsforavirtualmachinetogainaccesstostorageresources.
Connectivityiseitherdirectlytothevirtualhost,orconnectivityisprovisionedthroughtheHyper-Vserver.
TheHyper-Vservermanagesthestoragedevicethatthevirtualmachinesuseforconnectivity.
Fordirectconnectivityfromthevirtualmachine,thevirtualmachineaccessesblock-basedstoragethrougheitheraniSCSIconnection,orthroughavirtualFibreChannelconnection.
Ineithercase,theHyper-Vserverdoesnotphysicallymanagethestoragedevice.
Youcanusenetworkconnectivitytoaccessstorageresourceswithshares,usingtheServerMessageBlock(SMB)protocol.
WithWindowsServer2012,youcanalsoplacevirtualharddiskfilesontoSMB3.
0sharesforvirtualmachineuse.
Note:AlthoughiSCSIandSMBaretypesofdirectconnectivity,thenetworkconnectivityisreallyoccurringovervirtualizednetworkadaptersmanagedbytheHyper-Vserver.
VirtualmachineinstancesrunningWindowsServercanusestorageprovideddirectlytothevirtualmachineasaniSCSItarget.
Forthistypeofconnectivity,theoperatingsystemofthevirtualmachinemustimplementtheMicrosoftiSCSIInitiatorsoftwareandmustaccessnetworkresourcesthroughavirtualnetworkinterface.
AsthevirtualmachineitselfisdirectlyaccessingtheiSCSIstoragedevicethroughthenetwork,theoperatingsystemwithinthevirtualmachineisresponsibleforallmanagementofthediskdeviceandsubsequentvolumemanagement.
AniSCSItargetdevicemustbeappropriatelyconfiguredforthevirtualmachinetoaccesstheiSCSIdevices.
Forchannelredundancy,werecommendusingEMCPowerPathorMicrosoftMultipathI/O(MPIO)fromthevirtualmachineinsteadofNICteaming1.
WealsorecommendusingjumboframesforI/Ointensiveapplications,bysettingtheMaximumTransmissionUnit(MTU)to9,000.
TheMTUshouldbethesameforthestoragearray,networkinfrastructure(switchorfabricinterconnect),Hyper-VservernetworkcardsservicingiSCSItraffic,andonthevirtualNICsforthevirtualmachine.
ThefollowingexamplesetstheMTUonaNICinServer2012usingPowerShell:set-netadapteradvancedproperty–nameiSCSIA-RegistryKeyword"*JumboPacket"-RegistryValue"9014"Forclusteredenvironments,disabletheclusternetworkcommunicationforanynetworkinterfacesthatyouplantouseforiSCSI.
AsshowninFigure4,youcandisableitbyopeningtheiSCSIPropertiesdialogboxfortheiSCSInetworkthatwasdiscoveredbyWindowsfailoverclustering.
1Inthiswhitepaper,"we"referstotheEMCengineeringteamthatvalidatedthesolution.
VirtualmachinedirectconnectivityusingiSCSI11EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure4.
ClusternetworkpropertiesNote:TheEMCHostConnectivityGuideforWindows,availableonEMCOnlineSupport,providesmoredetailsforconfiguringtheMicrosoftiSCSIInitiator.
OnebenefitofiSCSIstorageisthesupportforclusteringwithinvirtualmachines.
SharedstorageclusteringbetweenvirtualmachinesissupportedwithiSCSIforbothWindows2008R2Hyper-VandWindowsServer2012Hyper-V.
"Windowsfailoverclusteringforvirtualmachines"onpage32providesmoreinformation.
FormostconfigurationsyoumuststillprovisionaVHDdevicetosupporttheinstallationofthevirtualmachineoperatingsystem.
"Hyper-VServermanagedconnectivity"onpage18providesdetails.
Note:Third-partyhardwareiSCSIsolutionscansupportabootfromaniSCSISANsolution;however,thesesolutionsarebeyondthescopeofthiswhitepaperduetothespecificdetailsrequiredforeachimplementation.
WithWindowsServer2012,youcanusethevirtualFibreChannelfeaturetoprovidedirectFibreChannelconnectivitytostoragearraysfromvirtualmachines,givingoptimalstorageperformanceandfullprotocolaccess.
VirtualFibreChannelalsosupportsguest-basedclusteringonHyper-VserversthatarerunningWindowsServer2012.
VirtualmachinesmustberunningWindowsServer2008,WindowsServer2008R2,orWindowsServer2012tosupportthevirtualFibreChannelfeature.
TosupportHyper-VvirtualFibreChannel,youmustuseNPortIDVirtualization(NPIV)capableFChostbusadapters(HBA)andNPIVcapableFCswitches.
NPIVassignsWorldWideNames(WWN)tothevirtualFibreChanneladaptersthatarepresentedtoavirtualmachine.
ZoningandmaskingcanthenbeperformedbetweenthestoragearrayfrontendportsdirectlytothevirtualWWNscreatedbyNPIVforthevirtualmachines.
NozoningormaskingisnecessaryfortheHyper-Vserver.
FortheinitialconfigurationofvirtualFC,youmustcreateaFibreChannelSANwithintheHyper-VVirtualSANManager,asshowninFigure5.
TheHyper-VSANisalogicalconstructwherephysicalHBAportsareassigned.
YoucanplaceoneormultipleHBAswithinaHyper-VSANforportisolationorfordeterministicfabricredundancy.
UsethesamevirtualSANconfigurationandnamingconventiononallHyper-VserversinaVirtualmachinedirectconnectivitywithvirtualFibreChannelEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization12clusteredenvironment.
ThisensuresthateachnodecantakeownershipandhostahighlyavailableguestwithvirtualFibreChannel.
Figure5.
Hyper-VvirtualSANmanagerAfteravirtualSANiscreated,dothefollowingtopresentvirtualFibreChannel(FC)controllerstothevirtualmachine:1.
Fromwithinthevirtualmachinesettings(withthevirtualmachinepoweredoff),clickAddHardware.
2.
ClickFibreChannelAdapter.
3.
AssignthevirtualFibreChanneladaptertoaspecificvirtualSAN.
ThevirtualadaptersarediscoveredasMicrosoftHyper-VFibreChannelHBAwithinthevirtualmachineoperatingsystem,asshowninFigure6.
13EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure6.
VirtualFCadapterdiscoveredwithinvirtualmachineWerecommendthatyouaddaminimumoftwoadaptersonseparatefabricstoensurenosinglepointoffailure,thesameasinatypicalFibreChanneltopology.
IfyouassignmultiplevirtualFCadapterstothesamevirtualSAN,eachvirtualadapterispinnedtoasinglephysicaladapterwithinthevirtualSAN.
IfavirtualSANhasmultiplephysicaladapters,youcanassigneachvirtualadaptertoadifferentphysicaladapter(inaround-robinfashion)withinthatSAN.
ConfigureseparateSANstoguaranteeredundancyacrossphysicalcomponents.
AssignaminimumoftwovirtualadaptersacrosstheseredundantvirtualSANs.
Zoneandregistereachvirtualadapter(bothsetsofWWPNs),withdevicesunmaskedacrossredundantstoragecontrollers.
TheoverallrecommendedbasetopologyisshowninFigure7.
EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization14PhysicalServer(s)VirtualMachineVirtualFCAdapterAPhysicalFCAdapterAPhysicalFCAdapterBVirtualSANAVirtualSANBVirtualFCAdapterBStorageDirectorAStorageDirectorBFabricAFabricBFigure7.
VirtualFibreChanneltopologyTwoNPIVbasedWWPNs,orHyper-Vaddresssets,areassociatedwitheachvirtualFCadapter,asshowninFigure8.
BothoftheseWWPNsmustbezoned,masked,orregisteredtotheappropriatestorageforlivemigrationtoworkforthatvirtualmachine.
Whenpoweredon,onlyoneofthetwoWWPNaddressesareusedbytheguestataspecifiedtime.
Ifyourequestalivemigration,Hyper-Vusestheinactiveaddresstologintothestoragearrayandensureconnectivitybeforethelivemigrationcontinues.
Afterthelivemigration,thepreviouslyactiveWWPNbecomesinactive.
ItisimportanttovalidateconnectivityandlivemigrationfunctionalitybeforeputtingavirtualmachineintoproductionusingthevirtualFibreChannelfeature.
15EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure8.
VirtualFibreChanneladaptersYoucanalsousetheGet-VMPowerShellcmdlettogetWWPNsbyviewingtheFibreChannelHostBusAdaptersproperty,orusingtheGet-VMFibreChannelHbacommand,asshowninthefollowingWWPNPowerShellexample:Get-VMFibreChannelHba-ComputernameMSTPM3035-VMNameFCPTSMIS|ftSanName,WorldWidePortNameSetA,WorldWidePortNameSetB–autosizeSanNameWorldWidePortNameSetAWorldWidePortNameSetBSAN_AC003FF22E51D0000C003FF22E51D0001SAN_BC003FF8A1F380000C003FF8A1F380001ThevirtualmachinemustmanagemultipathingwhenyouusethevirtualFibreChannelfeature.
YoucanuseeithernativeMPIOorEMCPowerPathfromwithinthevirtualmachinetocontrolloadbalancingandpathfailoverwheremultiplevirtualFCadaptersormultipletargetsareconfigured.
BothMicrosoftandEMCrecommendthatyouusevirtualFibreChannelinsteadofpass-throughdeviceswhendirectstorageaccessisrequiredbythevirtualmachineorrequiredbythelayeredsoftware.
IfcomponentsintheenvironmentdonotsupportEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization16NPIVandcannotusevirtualFC,pass-throughdevicescanstillbeusedandaresupported.
SMB3.
0isthecurrentiterationoftheSMBprotocol,alsoknownasCommonInternetFileSystem(CIFS).
TheSMBprotocolisoftenusedtoprovidesharedaccesstofilesoveraTCP/IP-basednetworkinMicrosoftWindows-basedenvironments.
TheSMB3.
0protocol,whichissupportedbyMicrosoftforHyper-V,providesnewcoreperformanceandhighavailabilityenhancementfeatures.
ServerMessageBlockoverview,onMicrosoftTechNet,providesmoredetailsaboutSMB3.
0.
SMBfilesharescanbepresenteddirectlytoavirtualmachineforstorageuseor,startingwithWindowsServer2012,beusedasatargettosupportvirtualharddisksusedbyvirtualmachines.
BoththeEMCVNXandVNXefamilyofstoragearrayshaveSMB3.
0supportintheirlatestsoftwarereleases.
SomeoftheSMB3.
0featuressupportedincludeMultichannel,ContinuousAvailability,OffloadCopy(WindowsServer2012OffloadedDataTransfer(ODX),andDirectoryLeasing.
Note:EMCVNXSeries:IntroductiontoSMB3.
0SupportandEMCVNXeSeries:IntroductiontoSMB3.
0Support,onEMCOnlineSupport,providesmoredetailsaboutSMB3.
0supportforVNXandVNXearrays.
WhenconfiguringSMB3.
0basedstorageforHyper-Vitisimportanttoincludethefollowingsteps:1.
EnsuretheHyper-Vcomputeraccounts,theSYSTEMaccountandallHyper-Vadministratorshavefullcontrolpermissionstotheappropriatefilesharefolder.
2.
EnabletheSMB3.
0ContinuousAvailability(SMBCA)feature.
SMBCAisnotenabledbydefaultoneitherVNXorVNXefilesystemshares.
3.
EnableCIFSSynchronousWrites.
SynchronouswritesarenotenabledbydefaultoneitherVNXorVNXeshares.
ToenableContinuousAvailabilityontheVNXplatform,usetheCLIfromthecontrolstationasinthefollowingexample:1.
FromanSSHclient(likePutty)connecttotheVNXcontrolstation.
2.
Runtheserver_mountcommandagainsttheprimarydatamoverthatownsthefilesystem.
Notethefilesystemandpathname,SMB_FSon/SMB_FSforthespecifiedexampleinFigure9.
Figure9.
VNXfilesystemandpathnameSMB3.
0FileShares17EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization3.
MountthefilesystemwiththeContinuousAvailability(CA)option:server_mountserver_2–osmbcaSMB_FS4.
ExportthefilesystemwiththeCAoptionserver_export-Pcifs–n-otype=CAExample:'server_exportserver_2–Pcifs–nSMB_Share–otype=CA/SMB_FS'Note:ForVNXe,SMBCAcanbeenabledwithinUnisphere,underAdvancedOptionsinCIFSShareDetail.
ForVNX,synchronouswritescanbeenabledwithinUnisphere,withthefollowingsteps:1.
FromStorageArray>StorageConfiguration>FileSystems,clicktheMountstab.
2.
Selectthemountassociatedwiththetargetedfilesystem,andthenclickProperties.
3.
SelectSetAdvancedOptionsandensurethatDirectWritesEnabledandCIFSSyncWritesEnabledareselected.
Notes:ForVNXOE8.
x,werecommendnotenablingdirectwrites.
EMCVNXUnifiedBestPracticesForPerformanceonEMCOnlineSupportprovidesadditionaldetails.
ForVNXe,youcanenablesynchronouswriteswithinUnisphere,underAdvancedAttributesinSharedFolderDetail.
InWindows,SMBsharescanbeusedbyspecifyingtheUniversalNamingConvention(UNC)pathwithinPowerShellcmdlets,asinthefollowingexample.
YoucanalsouseHyper-VManager,asshowninFigure10.
PowerShellexamplewithSMBstorage:New-VHD-Path\\SFSERVER00\SHARE00\VM00.
VHDX-Dynamic-SizeBytes100GBComputerName:EMCFT302Path:\\SFSERVER00\SHARE00\VM00.
VHDXVhdFormat:VHDXVhdType:DynamicFileSize:4194304Size:107374182400MinimumSize:LogicalSectorSize:512PhysicalSectorSize:4096BlockSize:33554432ParentPath:FragmentationPercentage:0Alignment:1Attached:FalseEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization18DiskNumber:IsDeleted:FalseNumber:Figure10.
UniversalNamingConventiontospecifyaVHDWhenyoufirstdeployavirtualmachineinHyper-V,youmustoftenprovidethelocationfortheVHDstoragethatrepresentstheoperatingsystemimage.
Whenyouformatthevolumetobeusedforvirtualmachinestorage,werecommendusinga64KBallocationunitsize(AU).
The64KBAUhelpstoensuretheVHDfileswithinthefilesystemarealignedwiththeboundariesoftheunderlyingstoragedevice.
AsshowninFigure11,theinitialconfigurationrequiresaHyper-Vmanagementname,andalsothelocationforthevirtualmachineconfigurationinformation.
Ifyouwanttoprovidehighavailabilityforthevirtualmachine,thenthislocationshouldrepresentaSANdevicethatisavailabletoallnodeswithinthecluster.
Inmosthighavailabilitycases,thestoragelocationfortheoperatingsystemVHDresidesonaClusterSharedVolume(CSV).
Hyper-VServermanagedconnectivity19EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure11.
CreateavirtualmachineSubsequentstepsintheNewVirtualMachineWizardrequestsizinginformationformemoryallocationandnetworkconnectivity,whicharebeyondthescopeofthiswhitepaper.
MicrosoftHyper-Vonlinehelpprovidesinformationabouttheseparameters.
UsetheNewVirtualMachineWizardtoconfiguretheVirtualHardDisk(VHDorVHDX)fortheoperatingsysteminstallationasshowninFigure12.
ThedefaultlocationfortheVHDisbasedonthepreviouslocationspecifiedintheLocationfield,andtheVHDNamefieldisbasedonthenameprovidedforthevirtualmachine.
EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization20Figure12.
DefaultdefinitionoftheVHDSizetheVHDappropriatelyfortheoperatingsystembeinginstalled.
Whenconfiguredthroughthewizardinthismanner,theVHDcreatedwillbeadynamicVHDordynamicVHDXfilewhenusingWindowsServer2012.
YoucanmanuallyconfigureVHDdevicesforthevirtualmachinesoastospecifytheVHDcharacteristics.
ToallowformanualconfigurationofVHDdevices,selectAttachavirtualharddisklater.
AftertheNewVirtualMachineWizardhascompleted,selecttheSettingsoptionfromtheHyper-VManagerconsoleforfurthermodificationstothevirtualmachineconfiguration.
TheconfigurationisstoredinanXMLdocumentlocatedinthepreviouslyspecifiedvirtualmachinedirectory.
ThenameoftheconfigurationfileisbasedonaGlobalUniqueIdentifier(GUID)forthevirtualmachine.
YoucanmapmanuallyconfiguredVHDstoeithertheIDEorSCSIcontrollersdefinedinthevirtualmachineconfiguration.
AtleastonesuchVHDmustexisttohostandinstalltheoperatingsystem.
YoucandefineVHDdevicesthatcanbelaterrepurposedtovirtualmachines.
YoucancreateVHDdevicesoutsideofavirtualmachinebyselectingNew>HardDiskwithinHyper-VManager,asshowninFigure13.
Inclusteredenvironments,youcanlaunchthesameharddiskcreationwizardfromthefailoverclustermanagerbyrightclickingRolesandthenselectingVirtualmachines>NewHardDisk.
VirtualHardDisks21EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure13.
VirtualharddiskcreationDefineandassociateaVHDfromwithintheSettingsoptionforavirtualmachinebyselectingthecontroller(IDEorSCSI)towhichaVHDwillbeassociated.
TodefineandmaptheVHDwithinthevirtualmachine,openthesettingsforthevirtualmachineasshowninFigure14.
Byselectingthehardwaredevice(SCSIControllerinthisexample),youcandefinethenewVHDtobecreatedandassignedtothatcontroller.
Figure14.
VirtualmachineharddisksettingsForWindows2008R2andWindowsServer2012VHDs,youmustassignvirtualmachinebootdiskstoanIDEcontroller.
Server2008R2andServer2012supportonlytwodevicesperIDEcontroller;becauseofthis,youcanconfigureonlyfourIDEVHDdevicesforanyspecifiedvirtualmachine.
IfadditionalVHDdevicesarerequired,youmustdefinethemasSCSIcontrollermanageddevices.
EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization22ForWindowsServer2012R2,youcanconfiguretwogenerationsofvirtualmachines.
Generation1virtualmachinesarecompatiblewiththepreviousversionofHyper-V,andGeneration2virtualmachinesaddsupportforthefollowingnewfunctionality:SecurebootBootfromSCSIbasedVHDsBootfromSCSIbasedvirtualDVDPXEbootusingastandardnetworkadapterUEFIfirmwaresupportGeneration2virtualmachinesalsoremovesupportforthelegacynetworkadapterandIDEdrives.
SCSIcontrollerssupportmultiplediskdevicespercontroller,andareamorescalablesolutionforconfigurationswhenmultipleLUNdevicesormultipleVHDdevicesarerequired.
EachvirtualmachinecanhavefourvirtualSCSIcontrollers,with64diskspercontroller.
Youcanpresent256virtualSCSIdiskstoavirtualmachine.
Fornon-bootdevices,useSCSIcontrollersforpresentingadditionalstoragetothevirtualmachine.
ForI/Ointensiveworkloads,especiallywithWindows2008R2,youmayneedtoallocatemultiplevirtualSCSIadapterstoavirtualmachine.
WithWindows2008R2,eachvirtualSCSIcontrollerhasasinglechannel,withamaximumqueuedepthof256peradapter.
Additionally,asinglevirtualCPUisusedforstorageI/Ointerrupthandling.
Duetotheselimits,youmayneedtousemultiplevirtualSCSIadapterstoreachtheIOPSpotentialoftheunderlyingstorage.
WindowsServer2012greatlyreducedtheneedtopresentmultiplevirtualSCSIcontrollerstoimproveperformance.
WindowsServer2012providesaminimumofonechannelpervirtualSCSIdevice/percontroller.
Onechannelisaddedforevery16virtualCPUspresentedtothevirtualmachine.
Thequeuedepthwasalsochangedto256perdevice,andtheI/OinterrupthandlingwaschangedtobedistributedacrossallvirtualCPUspresentedtothevirtualmachine.
Becauseofthesechanges,youusuallyneedonlyasinglevirtualSCSIcontrollerforavirtualmachinewithWindowServer2012orWindowsServer2012R2.
TwovirtualharddiskformatsareavailablenativelywithHyper-V.
ForWindowsServer2008R2,theVHDharddiskformatisused.
WithWindowsServer2012boththeVHDandVHDXharddiskformatsaresupported.
TheVHDformatsupportsfilesupto2TBinsize,whiletheVHDXformatsupportsfilesupto64TBinsize.
YoucanusethreedifferenttypesofVHDdiskswhenyouconfigureneworadditionalstoragedevices,asshowninFigure15.
Thechoicebetweenafixedsizeanddynamicallyexpandingformatisusuallybasedonthestorageutilizationrequirements,asthereisadifferenceinhowstorageisallocatedforthesetwotypes.
Forthisreason,thetwoselectionsaffectstorageprovisioningfunctionalitysuchasthatprovidedbyvirtual/thinprovisioningtechnologieswithinstoragearrays.
Virtualharddisktypes23EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure15.
VirtualHardDiskWizardAfixedsizeVHDorVHDXdeviceisfullywrittentoatcreationtime;asaresult,whenselectingthisVHDtype,allstorageequaltothesizeoftheVHDfileisconsumedwithinthetargetedthinpools.
Thecreationofthefixeddevicecanalsotakealongtimebecauseoftherequirementtowritethefullsizeofthefiletothestoragearray.
TohelpaddressthetimeittakestocreateafixedVHD,WindowsServer2012hasafeaturecalledOffloadedDataTransfer,alsoreferredtoasODX.
ODXcanoffloadthewritingofrepeatingpatternstoastoragedevice.
IfODXissupportedbythetargetstoragearray,thecreationoffixedVHDfiles(eitherVHDorVHDX)offloadstheseriesofcontiguouswritestobehandledbythestoragearray.
ThisincreasesthespeedatwhichtheVHDiscreated.
AnotherbenefitoftheODXwriteoffloadcapability,asimplementedbyboththeVMAXandVNXstoragearrays,isinvirtualprovisioningenvironments;thezerosthatrepresentthefixedVHDarenotallocatedwithinthethinpool.
ThismakesafixedVHDfilespaceefficientwithvirtualprovisioningwhereODXisavailable.
ThefixedVHDcontinuestoshowitsfullsizewithinthefilesystem.
Forexample,ifa100GBfixedVHDiscreated,100GBisconsumedwithinthefilesystem,butthatspaceisnotbeconsumedwithinthethinpool.
YoucanhaveafixedVHDXtypethatisnotallocatedwithinathinpool,whereODXisdisabledornotsupportedbythearray.
WindowsServer2012containsanativethinreclamationcapabilitybasedontheTRIMandUNMAPSCSIcommands.
ThisreclaimfunctionalityissupportedfromwithinvirtualmachinesusingtheVHDXdiskformat.
IfyoupresentafixedVHDXtoavirtualmachine,andthatvirtualmachineisrunningWindowsServer2012,afilesystemformatcausesWindowstoissuereclaimrequestsEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization24fortheentiresizeoftheunderlyingVHDXtothestoragedevice.
Asaresult,thespaceforthefixedVHDXisnolongerallocatedinthethinpool.
BoththeVMAXandVNXsupporttheUNMAPfunctionalitynativetoWindowsServer2012.
DynamicallyexpandingVHDdevicesdonotpre-allocateallstoragethatisdefinedforthem,evenifODXisavailableinServer2012environments;however,thesedevicescansufferaslightdegradationinperformancebecausestoragemustbeallocatedwhentheoperatingsystemorapplicationswithinthevirtualmachineneedmoreallocations.
Also,withthedynamicVHDfileformattherearestoragealignmentconcernsduetotheinternalconstructsofthefileasitgrows.
Thiscausesadditionalstorageperformanceoverheadforbothreadandwriteoperations.
AlignmentisnotaproblemwiththeWindowsServer2012VHDXformat.
TheVHDXinternalconstructsensure1MBalignmentontheunderlyingstoragedevice.
MicrosoftalsomadesignificantimprovementsforthestorageperformanceofdynamicVHDXfiles,comparedtothelegacyVHDformat.
Formostworkloads,dynamicVHDXfilesperformsimilarlytofixedVHDXfiles,exceptforsequentialwriteworkloadswherethedynamicVHDXfilemustexpandconsistentlyintothefilesystem.
AfteryouallocatedynamicVHDXspace,thereisnodifferenceinperformancewhencomparedtoafixedVHDXfile.
WhenusingdynamicVHDfiles,youcanoverprovisionafilesystem.
AdynamicVHDfilehasbothacurrentsizeandapotentialsize.
Thecurrentsizeisthesizeitconsumesinthefilesystem,andthepotentialsizeisthesizethatisspecifiedduringcreation,andwhichcanbeconsumedbythevirtualmachine.
AnadministratorcanassignVHDfileswithpotentialsizesthattotalmorethanthesizeofthefilesystem.
Thisisnotnecessarilyaproblem,butbecarefultomonitorfilesystemsandensureadequatefreespacewheredynamicVHDfilesareused.
YoucanusefixedVHDfilestoavoidthepossibilityofover-allocation.
Youcanusethird-partytoolsinthepublicdomaintocreateafixedVHDdevicewhere,likeadynamicVHD,preallocationisnotexecuted.
Becautiouswhenusingpublicdomainsolutions.
Althoughsuchsolutionswork,theymaynotbesupportedbyMicrosoft.
Onesuchtoolisprovidedathttp://code.
msdn.
microsoft.
com/vhdtool.
Suchthird-partytoolsareunnecessarywhenODXisavailable,orwhenreclamationsupportisavailableandthevirtualmachineisrunningWindowsServer2012,astheresultingfixedVHDfileisspaceefficientforvirtualprovisioning.
Basedontheconsiderationsinthepreviousparagraphs,werecommendthefollowingwhenusingVHDfiles:Windows2008R2:Wherestorageperformanceisimportant,usefixedVHDsoverdynamicVHDs.
Ifthinstorageefficiencyismoreimportantthanstorageperformance,usedynamicVHDs.
UsefixedVHDfilesifthepotentialforover-allocatingfilesystemspaceisnotdesired.
WindowsServer2012andServer2012R2:UsetheVHDXfileformatinsteadoftheVHDformat.
25EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationConvertVHDfilestoVHDXfileswhenmigratingvirtualmachinestoHyper-VonServer2012if:Performanceisofhighimportanceforthatfile.
AdvancedfunctionalitysuchasODXandTRIM/UNMAPfromwithinavirtualmachinerunningWindowsServer2012isrequired.
BackwardscompatibilitywithWindows2008R2isnotrequired.
UsedynamicVHDXfilesforgeneral-purposeworkloadswhereinitialwriteperformanceisnotrequired.
UsefixedVHDXfilesifperformanceisthemostimportantfactor.
UsefixedVHDXfilesifthepotentialforover-allocatingfilesystemspaceisnotdesired.
UseVHDfilesinsteadofpass-throughorvirtualFibreChannelstorageunlesstherearespecificrequirementsforthesetechnologiesbyapplicationswithinthevirtualmachine.
DifferencingdiskisthethirdVHDformatoption.
ThisdiskdeviceisconfiguredtoprovideanassociatedstorageareathatiscreatedagainstasourceVHD.
Youcanusethisstyleofconfigurationwhen,forexample,youcreateagoldmasterVHD,andyoucreatemultiplevirtualmachineinstances.
Insuchconfigurations,youmustprotectthegoldmasterfrombeingupdatedbyanyindividualvirtualmachine.
Eachvirtualmachinemustwriteitsownchanges.
Inthisinstance,thegoldmasterVHDbehavesasaread-onlydevice,andallchangeswrittenbythevirtualmachinearesavedtothedifferencingdiskdevice.
Therewillalwaysbeanassociationbetweenthedifferencingdiskandthegoldmasterfor,withouttheoriginalgoldmaster,thedifferencingdiskonlymaintainschanges,anddoesnotrepresentafullyindependentcopy.
WindowsServer2012R2offersseveralnewfeaturesspecifictotheVHDformat,includingonlineVHDre-sizingandsharedVHD:OnlineVHDre-sizingInpreviousversionsofHyper-V,youhadtopoweroffthevirtualmachinebeforeresizingavirtualharddisk.
WindowsServer2012R2allowsyoutoresizeavirtualharddiskfortheVHDXformat,whenpresentedthroughavirtualSCSIadapterandwhilethevirtualmachineisrunning.
Thisfeatureisindependentofanystoragearrayspecificfunctionality.
However,whencombinedwiththeabilitytoexpandstoragepoolsandLUNswithinEMCstoragearrays,thefeatureoffersanendtoendcapabilityforaddingcapacitywhenusingvirtualharddisksnon-disruptively.
OnlineVirtualHardDiskResizingOverview,inMicrosoftTechNet,providesmoredetailsaboutthisfeature.
SharedvirtualharddiskSharedvirtualharddisksenablemultiplevirtualmachinestoaccessthesameVHDXfile.
Themainbenefitofthisfunctionalityisthesupportforsharedstoragewithinavirtualmachine-basedWindowsfailovercluster.
MicrosoftsupportstheuseofsharedVHDXfileswithinClusterSharedVolumesorwithinSMBfilesharesthatsupportcertainpartsoftheSMB3.
0protocol.
YoucanuseWindowsServer2012R2newVHDfeaturesEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization26sharedvirtualharddiskswithCSVsonEMCblock-basedstorage.
VNXorVNXeSMB3.
0basedfilesharesdonotcurrentlysupporttheuseofsharedVHDs.
YoucanenablesharedVHDsfromHyper-VmanagerorPowerShell.
Youmustpoweroffthevirtualmachinetomodifytherequiredsetting.
YoucanuseHyper-Vmanager,fromwithinthesettingsofthevirtualmachine,toenablevirtualharddisksharing,asshowninFigure16.
Figure16.
VHDsharingoptionWithPowerShell,youcanenableharddisksharingeitherwhenyouaddthevirtualdisktothevirtualmachineorafteryouaddthedisk.
Toenableharddisksharingwhenaddingthevirtualdisktoavirtualmachine:Add-VMHardDiskDrive-VMNameVM1-PathC:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Shared.
vhdx-ShareVirtualDiskToenableharddisksharingonavirtualdiskalreadyaddedtoavirtualmachine:$Drive=get-vmVM1|Get-VMHardDiskDrive|Where{$_.
Path-like"C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Shared.
vhdx"}Set-VMHardDiskDrive$Drive-SupportPersistentReservations$trueVirtualHardDiskSharingOverview,inMicrosoftTechNet,providesmoredetailsaboutthisfeature.
BecauseofthewaythatI/OisgeneratedtoaVHDdevicelocatedonavolumemanagedbytheparentpartitionisprocessed,severallevelsofindirectionareimposed.
ThevirtualmachineoperatingsystemservicesI/OwithinthevirtualmachineandpassesI/Otothestoragedevice.
Inturn,astheVHDisphysicallyownedbytheparentpartition,theparentmustnowreceiveanddrivetheI/Otothephysicaldiskthatitowns.
Thismulti-levelindirectionofI/OdoesnotprovidethebestPass-throughdisks27EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationperformance,althoughtheoverheadisrelativelysmall.
Thebestperformanceoccurswhentherearethefewestlevelsofindirection.
Forstoragedevicespresentedtoavirtualmachine,thebestperformanceoccurswhenyouusevirtualFibreChanneldevices,pass-throughdevices,oriSCSIdevicesdirectlytothevirtualmachine.
Aspreviouslymentioned,werecommendthatyouusevirtualFibreChannelinsteadofpass-throughdeviceswhereitissupportedinaspecifiedenvironment.
Pass-throughdevicesmustbeconfiguredasofflinetotheparentpartitionandarethereforeinaccessibleforanyparentmanagedfunctions,suchascreationormanagementofvolumes.
Theseofflinediskdevicesarethenconfiguredasstoragedevicesdirectlytothevirtualmachine.
Youcanusethediskmanagementconsoleor,alternatively,theDISKPARTcommandlineinterface,totransitionSANstoragedevicesbetweenonlineandofflinestatus.
TheSANPolicyset,whichisaccessedthroughtheDISKPARTcommandlineinterface,managesthedefaultstoragedevicesstate.
YoucanusetheHyper-VMMCtoconfigurepass-throughdevicesasshowninFigure17.
DiskscanbeallocatedagainstaSCSIcontrollerthatisconfiguredforthevirtualmachine.
EachSCSIcontrollercanmapupto64pass-throughdevices,anduptofourdiscreteSCSIcontrollersmaybeconfiguredtoanindividualvirtualmachine.
Thisprovidessupportforupto256SCSIdevices.
Figure17.
Configurationofpass-throughdiskdevicesforavirtualmachineEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization28Afteryouconfiguretherequireddiskdevicesaspass-throughdevicestothevirtualmachine,theoperatingsystemofthevirtualmachinedetectsanddisplaysthemasshowninFigure18.
Inthisinstance,thevirtualmachinehasbeenconfiguredwithaVHDdevicethatisusedasabootdevice.
TheVirtualHDATADeviceisthebootdevice.
TheEMCSYMMETRIXSCSIDiskDeviceidentifiesthetwopass-throughdevices,asthisisthedetectedstoragedevicefromtheWindowsServer2008R2operatingsystemofthevirtualmachine.
Figure18.
Pass-throughstorageforanEMCSymmetrixVMAXarrayYoumustconfigurestoragedevicesthathavebeenconfiguredaspass-throughdevicestoavirtualmachineinthesamewayasistypicalforstoragedevicestoaphysicalserver.
Administratorsshouldfollowtherecommendationsprovidedforaphysicalenvironment,whichcanincludetherequirementstoalignpartitionsonapplicableoperatingsystems.
WindowsServer2008R2andWindowsServer2012,donotrequiremanualpartitionalignment,aspartitionsareautomaticallyalignedtoa1MBoffset.
WhenyoucreateaNewTechnologyFileSystem(NTFS)volume,followMicrosoftSQLServerandMicrosoftExchangeServerrecommendationsforsuchtasksasselectinganallocationunitsizeof64KBwhenformattingvolumes.
Youcandeployvirtualmachineinstancesthatusepass-throughdevicesasthebootdevicefortheoperatingsystemdiskdevice.
Youmustdefinethepass-throughdevicebeforeinstallingtheoperatingsystemofthevirtualmachineandbeforeselectingthepass-throughdisk(configuredthroughtheIDEcontroller)astheinstalllocation.
Inclusteredenvironments,ensurethattheproperresourcedependenciesareinplaceforpass-throughdeviceswiththeirrespectivevirtualmachine,asshowninFigure19.
Thepass-throughdiskshouldbewithinthevirtualmachinegrouporrole.
Thevirtualmachineresourceandvirtualmachineconfigurationresourcemustalsobemadedependentonthepass-throughdevices.
TheUpdate-ClusterVirtualMachineConfigurationPowerShellcmdletcanbeusedtohelpsettheproperdependenciesforaclusteredvirtualmachine.
29EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure19.
Pass-throughdiskdependenciesEMCstoragearraysprovideandsupportallformsofstorageconnectivityrequiredbyWindowsServer2008R2andWindowsServer2012Hyper-V.
YoucandeployanyformofHyper-VServermanagedby,ordirectedtovirtualmachineconnectivity,andcanevencombinemultipleformsofconnectivitytosatisfyapplication-levelrequirements.
Eachformofstorageconnectivityprovidesdifferentmanagementoroperationalfeatures.
Forexample,storagethatisprovisioneddirectlytoavirtualmachine,usingvirtualFibreChannel,iSCSIconnectivity,orpass-throughdisks,restrictsthatstoragevolumeonlytovirtualmachines.
Conversely,storageallocatedinVHDdevicescreatedonvolumeswithintheHyper-VserverallowsasingleLUNtobecollocatedamonganynumberofvirtualmachines.
ThevariousVHDdevicesarealsosharedwith,andlocatedontheparent-managedvolume.
WhenyouuseacommonvolumetocollocateVHDdevices,youcanalsoaffectsomehigh-availabilityormobilitysolutions,becauseachangetothesingleLUNaffectsallvirtualmachineslocatedontheLUN.
Thiscanaffectconfigurationsusingfailoverclustering.
However,theimplementationofClusteredSharedVolumes(CSV)withWindowsServer2008R2andWindowsServer2012failoverclusteringaddressestheneedforhighavailabilityofconsolidatedVHDdeployments.
WhenyoucollocateVHDdevicesontoasinglestorageLUN,considerhowtoaddressthecumulativeworkload.
IncaseswhereanapplicationsuchasMicrosoftSQLServerorMicrosoftExchangeServerisdeployedwithinavirtualmachine,usesizingbestpracticestoensurethattheunderlyingstorageisabletosupporttheanticipatedworkload.
WhencollocatedVHDdevicesareplacedonacommonstoragevolume(LUN),provisionthedevicetoensurethatitcansatisfythecumulativeworkloadofallapplicationsandoperatingsystemslocatedontheVHDs.
WhenstoragehasbeenStorageconnectivitysummaryEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization30under-provisionedfromaperformanceperspective,allcollocatedapplicationsandvirtualmachinescanbeadverselyaffected.
AvailabilityandmobilityforvirtualmachinesAfterinitialdeploymentofavirtualizedinfrastructure,youmustoftenprovidehighavailabilityfortheservicesrunningwithintheenvironment.
Initssimplestform,youcanprovideahigh-availabilitysolutionbyconfiguringmultipleWindowsserversintoafailoverclusteringconfiguration.
Thisstyleofconfigurationcanclusterupto16physicalserverswithWindows2008R2andupto64physicalserverswithWindows2012.
ThevirtualmachinesthatareconfiguredonsharedSANstoragethenbecomeresourcesthatcanbemovedamongstthenodes.
YoucanimplementWindowsfailoverclusteringforusewithHyper-VvirtualmachinesinthesamewayasimplementingtheWindowsclusterenvironmentforotherapplicationssuchasSQLServerorExchangeServer.
Virtualmachinesbecomeanotherformofapplicationthatfailoverclusteringcanmanageandprotect.
Usethefailoverclustermanagementwizardtoconfigureanewapplicationthatconvertsanexistingvirtualserverinstanceintoahighlyavailableconfiguration.
UsetheoptiontoconfigureavirtualmachineasshowninFigure20.
Shutdownthevirtualmachinetoconfigureitforhighavailability,andlocateallstorageobjects,includingitemssuchasISOimagesthataremountedtothevirtualmachine,toSANstorage.
FailoverclusteringwithWindows2008R2assumesthataccesstostorageobjectsfromallnodeswithintheclusterissymmetrical.
Thismeansthatalldrivemappings,filelocations,andmountpointsareidentical,andduringconfiguration,checksaremadetoensurethatthisconditionismet.
WithfailoverclusteringwithWindowsServer2012,youcanhaveasymmetricalstorageconfigurations,wherethesamestorageisnotconnectedtoallnodesinthecluster.
Suchconfigurationsarepossibleinmanygeographicallydispersedclusterscenarios.
Inthiscase,theclustervalidationwizardsonlyvalidatestorageagainstnodesinacommonsite.
Wizardfailureresultswhenmandatoryrequirementsarenotmet.
Youwillreceivewarningswhenfailoverclusteringisnotabletoverifysomeoftheseaspects,orwhenfailureislikely.
Readthewarningsforinformationabouthowtofixtheproblems.
WindowsfailoverclusteringforHyper-Vservers31EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure20.
HighAvailabilityWizardAfteryouimportavirtualmachineintofailoverclustering,manageandmaintainthevirtualmachinethroughthefailoverclustermanagementinterface.
Avoidstartingandstoppingthevirtualmachineoutsideofthecontroloffailoverclustering.
Ifthevirtualmachineshutsdownoutsideofthecontroloffailoverclustering,theclusteringsoftwareassumesthatthevirtualmachinehasfailedandrestartsthevirtualmachine.
FailoverClustermanager,wherenecessary,launchestherequiredvirtualmachinemanagementinterfaces.
Usefailoverclusteringtomanageallavailabilityoptionsandstatechangesforthevirtualmachine.
Whenyouimportavirtualmachineinstanceintoahigh-availabilityconfiguration,themachinemustincludeallrelatedstoragediskdevicessothatyoucanmanagethevirtualmachinecorrectly.
TheHighAvailabilityWizardfailsifitisunabletoincludeallstorageconfiguredforthevirtualmachinewithintheclusterenvironment.
Configureallsharedstoragecorrectlyacrosstheclusternodes.
Whenyouadddiskstoragedevices,correctlyconfigurethedevicesassharedstoragewithinthecluster.
TheprimarygoalofWindowsServerfailoverclusteringistomaintainavailabilityofthevirtualmachinewhenthevirtualmachinebecomesunavailableduetounforeseenfailures;however,thisprotectiondoesnotalwaysmaintainthevirtualmachinestatethroughsuchtransitions.
Asanexampleofthisstyleofprotection,considerthecaseofaphysicalnodefailurewhereoneormorevirtualmachineswererunning.
Windowsfailoverclusteringdetectsthatthevirtualmachinesarenotoperationalandthatanodeisnolongeravailableandattemptstorestartthevirtualmachinesonaremainingnodewithintheclusterconfiguration.
EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization32AvailabilityforthevirtualmachineresourcesisensuredthroughtheuseofWindowsfailoverclusteringattheparentlevel;however,protectionatthevirtualmachinelevelmaynotprovidehighavailabilityfortheapplicationsrunningwithinthevirtualmachines.
Forexample,aserverinstancecannotstartifavirtualmachineinstancehascorruptedfiles.
Thehigh-availabilityprotectionforthevirtualmachinecanensurethatthevirtualmachineisrunning,butcannotensurethattheoperatingsystemitself,ortheapplicationsinstalledontheserver,areaccessible.
Windowsfailoverclusteringchecksattheapplicationleveltoensurethatservicesareaccessible.
Forexample,aclusteredSQLServerinstancecontinuallyundergoes"LookAlive"and"IsAlive"checkstoensurethattheSQLServerinstanceisaccessibletouserconnections.
Implementingclusteringwithinthevirtualmachinescanprovidethisadditionallevelofprotection.
YoucannotconfigureaFailoverClusterwithinvirtualmachinesthatarerunningWindowsServer2008R2orWindowsServer2012usingvirtualdisksorpass-throughdisks.
ThislimitationisbecauseofthefilteringofthenecessarySCSI-3PersistentReservationcommands.
However,youcanformWindowsClusterconfigurationswithvirtualmachinesthatarerunningWindowsServer2008R2withiSCSIsharedstoragedevices.
Insuchconfigurations,theiSCSIinitiatorisimplementedwithinthechildvirtualmachines,andthesharedstorageisdefinedontheiSCSILUNs.
WithWindowsServer2012youcanusebothiSCSIandvirtualFibreChannelassharedstoragewithinavirtualmachinecluster.
YoucanalsouseSMBfilesharestoragewithcertainclusteredapplications,suchasSQLServer.
IfyouuseSMBfilesharestorage,youshouldalsouseSMB3.
0basedfileshares.
WithWindowsServer2012R2,youcanalsouseVHDsassharedstoragebetweenvirtualmachinesthatrunWindowsfailoverclustering.
"WindowsServer2012R2newVHDfeatures"onpage25providesmoreinformationaboutthesharedvirtualharddiskfeature.
MovementofvirtualmachineswithinaclusterwasdifferentforsystemsbeforeWindows2008R2.
Whenanadministratororanautomatedmanagementtoolrequestedamove,thevirtualmachinestatewassavedtoadiskandthenresumedafterdiskresourcesweremovedtothetargetnode.
Thismove,orquickmigrationoperation,tooksolongthatoutagesoftenoccurred,eventhoughthevirtualmachinestatewouldthenresume.
WithWindowsServer2008R2andWindowsServer2012forfailoverclusternodes,youcanusethelivemigrationfunctionalityavailablewiththeclusteringenvironment.
Livemigrationsmovevirtualmachinestransparentlybetweennodes.
Unlikequickmigrationmoverequests,thereisnooutageforaclientapplication,andthemigrationbetweennodesiscompletelytransparent.
Toachievethislevelofclienttransparency,livemigrationscopythememorystaterepresentingthevirtualmachinefromoneservertoanothersoastomitigateanylossofservice.
Livemigrationconfigurationsrequirearobustnetworkconfigurationbetweenthenodeswithinthecluster.
Thisnetworkconfigurationoptimizesthememorycopybetweenthenodesandenablesanefficientvirtualmachinetransition.
Forsuchlivemigrationconfigurations,youmusthaveatleastonededicated1Gb(orgreater)networkbetweenclusternodestoenablethememorycopy.
WealsorecommendthatWindowsfailoverclusteringforvirtualmachinesVirtualmachinelivemigrationswithinclusters33EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationyoudedicatespecificprivatenetworksexclusivelytolivemigrationtraffic,asshowninFigure21.
Networksthataredisabledforclustercommunicationcanstillbeusedforlivemigrationtraffic.
Deselectnetworkswithinthelivemigrationsettingsifyoudonotwanttousethem.
Figure21.
LiveMigrationSettingswindowWhenyouusealivemigration,failoverclusteringreplicatesthevirtualmachineconfigurationandmemorystatetothetargetnodeofthemigration.
Multiplecyclesofreplicatingthememorystateoccurtoreducetheamountofchangesthatneedtobesentonsubsequentcycles.
Youcanuselivemigrationoperationsforvirtualmachinesthatcontainvirtualdisks,pass-throughdisks,virtualFibreChannelstorage,oriSCSIstorageaspresenteddirectlytothevirtualmachine.
WerecommendusingCSVsforvirtualdisks,buttheyarenotrequiredforlivemigrations.
Youcanmigrateavirtualmachinewithdedicatedstoragedevicesthatareusedforvirtualdiskaccess.
Ifyoumigrateavirtualmachine,thevirtualdiskstransitionfromofflinetoonlineonthetargetclusternodeduringthelivemigrationprocess.
Networkconnectivityallowsforthetimelytransferofstate,andthemigrationprocess,asafinalphase,momentarilysuspendsthemachineinstance,andswitchesalldiskresourcestothetargetnode.
Afterthisprocess,thevirtualmachineimmediatelyresumesprocessing.
ThetransitionofthevirtualmachineisrequiredtocompletewithinaTCP/IPtimeoutintervalsuchthatnolossofconnectivityisexperiencedbyclientapplications.
Note:Thelivemigrationprocessisdifferentfromthequickmigrationprocessbecausenosuspensionofvirtualmachinestatetodiskoccurs.
Failoverclusteringstillprovidessupportforquickmigrations.
Ifthemigrationofthevirtualmachinecannotexecutesuccessfully,themigrationprocessrevertsthevirtualmachinebacktotheoriginatingnode.
Thisalsomaintainstheavailabilityofthevirtualmachinetoensurethatclientaccessisnotimpacted.
YoucanalsoterminatealivemigrationbyusingtheCancelinprogressLiveMigrationoptionintheClusterManagerconsole.
EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization34WindowsServer2012introducesanewtypeoflivemigrationreferredtoasashared-nothinglivemigration.
Thisformoflivemigrationallowsforthemovementofnon-clusteredvirtualmachinesbetweenHyper-Vhostswhenthereisnosharedstorage.
Themigrationcanoccurbetweenhostsusinglocalstorage,SANstorageorSMB3.
0fileshares.
IfbothhostshaveaccesstotheSMBfileshare,thennostoragemovementisnecessary.
Whennon-sharedstorageisused,Hyper-Vusesthesestepstoinitiateastoragelivemigration:1.
Throughoutmostofthemigration,readsandwritesareservicedfromthesourcevirtualdisks,whilethecontentsofthesourcearecopied,overthenetwork,tothenewdestinationVHDs.
2.
Followingtheinitialfullcopyofthesource,writesaremirroredtothesourceanddestinationVHDs.
Outstandingchangestothesourcearealsoreplicatedtothetarget.
3.
WhenthesourceandtargetVHDsaresynchronized,thevirtualmachinelivemigrationbegins,followingthesameprocessusedforsharedstoragelivemigrations.
OffloadedDataTransfercanbeusedasapartofthemigration.
"Storagelivemigration"onpage34providesmoredetails.
4.
Whenthelivemigrationcompletes,thevirtualmachinerunsfromthedestinationserverandtheoriginalsourceVHDsaredeleted.
VirtualMachineLiveMigrationOverview,inMicrosoftTechNet,providesmoreinformationaboutshared-nothinglivemigrations.
StartingwithWindowsServer2012youcanmigratethevirtualharddiskstorageofavirtualmachinebetweenLUNsnon-disruptively.
Youcanmigratestorageonstand-alonehostsoronHyper-VclusterswherevirtualharddisksresideorwillresideonCSVsorSMB3.
0fileshares.
YoucanstartthestoragemigrationprocessfromHyper-Vmanagerforstand-alonehosts,fromFailoverClusterManagerforclusteredhosts(asshowninFigure22)orfromPowerShell,byusingtheMove-VMStoragecmdlet.
IfSCVMMexistsintheenvironment,youcanstartmigrationsfromtheSCVMMconsoleorfromPowerShell.
Ifthevirtualmachinethatisbeingmigratedisoffline,themachineremainsofflineandthevirtualharddisksaremovedbetweenthesourceandtarget.
Ifthevirtualmachinethatisbeingmigratedisonline,alivestoragemigrationoccurs,usingthefollowingprocess:1.
Throughoutmostofthemigration,readsandwritesareservicedfromthesourcevirtualdiskswhilethecontentsofthesourcearecopiedtothenewdestinationVHDs.
2.
Followingtheinitialfullcopyofthesource,writesaremirroredtothesourceanddestinationVHDs.
Outstandingchangestothesourcearealsoreplicatedtothetarget.
3.
WhenthesourceandtargetVHDsaresynchronized,thevirtualmachinebeginsusingthetargetVHDs.
Shared-nothinglivemigrationStoragelivemigration35EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization4.
TheoriginalsourceVHDsarethendeleted.
Figure22.
StorageMigrationwithinaHyper-VclusterYoucanacceleratethestoragemigrationprocesswithODX.
IfthestoragearraywherethemigrationoccurssupportsODX,thestoragemigrationautomaticallyrunsODX.
UsingODXgreatlyenhancesthespeedoftheinitialcopyoperationbetweenthesourceandtargetdevices.
ForEMCSymmetrixVMAX,EMCVNXandEMCVNXesystemswhereODXissupported,boththesourceandtargetmustresideinthesamestoragearray.
EMCenvironmentsalsorequireaWindowshotfixforServer2012supportwithODX.
ThehotfixensuresthatifODXcopyoperationsarerejectedthatthehostbasedcopyengagesandresumesfromwheretheODXcopyleftoff.
Thehotfixalsocorrectsanissuewithclusteredstoragelivemigrationthatcanleadtodataloss.
YoucandownloadtheUpdatethatimprovescloudserviceproviderresiliencyinWindowsServer2012hotfixfromMicrosoftSupportat:http://support.
microsoft.
com/kb/2870270.
"WindowsServer2012OffloadedDataTransfer"onpage47providesmoredetails.
YoucanuseWindowsServer2008R2andWindowsServer2012toconfiguresharedSANstoragevolumessothatallnodeswithinagivenclusterconfigurationcanaccessthevolumeconcurrently.
Inthisconfiguration,thevolumeismountedasread/writetoallnodesatthesametime.
Thenewmodelforallowingdirectread/writeaccessfrommultipleclusternodesiscalledClusterSharedVolumes(CSVs).
CSVsupportsrunningmultiplevirtualmachinesondifferentnodeswheretheVHDstoragedevicesarelocatedonacommonlyaccessiblestoragedevice.
CSVshelpmakethetransitionprocessforVHDownershipduringlivemigrationsmoreefficient,asnotransitionofownershipandsubsequentmountingisrequired,asistypicalforclusterstoragedevices.
TheSANstorageconfiguredasCSVsismountedandaccessiblebyallclusternodes.
WindowsfailoverclusteringwithClusterSharedVolumesEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization36TheCSVfeatureisenabledbydefaultinWindowsServer2012.
YoumustenabletheCSVfeatureinWindowsServer2008R2.
Toenablethefeature,selectEnableClusterSharedVolumes,orselectEnableClusterSharedVolumesfromFailoverClusterManageronaWindowsServer2008R2cluster,asshowninFigure23.
Figure23.
Windows2008R2CSVfromFailoverClusterManagerAfteryouenableCSV,inWindows2008R2,anewClusterSharedVolumesoptionappearsinFailoverClusterManager.
InWindowsServer2012,youcanaccessCSVsatStorage>DisksinFailoverClusterManager.
AsshowninFigure24,youcanusethisoptiontoconvertanydiskwithintheavailablestoragegrouptoaCSV.
37EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure24.
AddavailablestoragetoCSVsForWindowsServer2008R2andWindowsServer2012,youmustformatadiskwithNTFStobeaddedasaCSV.
ResilientFileSystem(ReFS)isnotsupportedforCSVuseonWindowsServer2012.
ForWindowsServer2012,theCSVfilessystemiscalled"CSVFS.
"Althoughthenamehaschanged,theunderlyingfilesystemisstillNTFS.
IfaCSVisremovedfromacluster,thefilesystemdesignationreturnstoNTFS,withalldataonthefilesystemremainingintact.
AfteryouconvertaSANdevicetobeusedasaCSVvolume,youcanaccessthestoragedeviceonallclusternodes.
TheCSVvolumeismountedtoacommon,butlocal,locationonallnodes,whichensuresthatthenamespacetoVHDobjectsisidenticalonallclusternodes.
ThenamespaceattributedforeachCSVvolumeisbasedonthesystemdrivelocation,whichmustbethesameforallclusternodes.
ThenamespaceincludesaClusterStoragelocation,inwhichthevolumesarephysicallymountedoneachnode.
ThemountlocationisasequentiallygeneratednameoftheformVolume1wheretheappendednumericvalueisincrementedforeachsubsequentvolume.
Note:YoucanrenamethemountpointsassignedtoCSVs.
Torenamethespecifiedvolumebasedmountpoint,selectRenamefromWindowsExplorer.
Thenewnameappearsonallnodesofthecluster.
AllCSVdeviceslistthecurrentownerfortheresource.
TheownermustcoordinateaccesstothevariousVHDdevicesthatrepresentvirtualmachinestoragewithinthecluster.
Virtualmachinescontinuetorunononlyasinglephysicalserveratanytime.
WhenavirtualmachinethatisdeployedonCSVstorageconfiguredwithintheclusteristobebroughtonline,thenodethatisstartingthevirtualmachinecommunicateswiththeCSVownertorequestpermissiontogenerateI/OtotheVHDdevicewhenthevirtualmachineisbroughtintooperation.
ThenodethatstartsthevirtualmachinelockstheVHDdevicetoensurethatnootherprocesscanwritetotheVHDfromanyothernode.
IftheVHDhasalreadybeenlockedbyanothernode,thentherequestisdenied.
WhentheCSVownergrantspermission,thenodegeneratesdirectI/OtotheVHDonthestoragedeviceasneededbythevirtualmachine.
CSVsalsoprotectagainstexternalfailurescenarios,suchasphysicalconnectivitylossfromagivennode.
Ifconnectivityfromanodeislosttotheunderlyingstorage,EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization38I/OoperationsareredirectedovertheCSVnetworktothecurrentowningnode.
Thisfunctionalitypreventsthefailureofavirtualmachineasaresultofthelossofstorageconnectivity.
Whilethisfunctionalityallowsthevirtualmachinetocontinueoperating,thisindirectionshouldnotbereliedontoprovideongoingaccesstothevirtualmachine.
Performanceisaffectedwhenrunninginredirectedmode,resolvethelossofconnectivity,orexecutealivemigration.
CSVsareNTFSvolumes,andhavethesamelimitsasNTFS.
NTFSvolumesandCSVshaveatheoreticalmaximumofthelargestNTFSvolumeof256TB.
YoucandetermineappropriatesizingforCSVvolumesbasedonthecumulativeworkloadexpectedfromtheVHDfileslocatedintheCSV.
TheCSVisphysicallyrepresentedbyasingleLUNpresentedfromastoragearray.
TheLUNissupportedbysomenumberofphysicaldiskswithinthearray.
UsethetypicalsizingforbothstorageallocationandI/OcapacitytoensurethatboththestorageallocationforagivenCSVandtheI/Orequirementsareadequatelymet.
UndersizingtheLUNforI/OloadresultsinpoorperformanceforallVHDslocatedontheCSV,andforallapplicationsinstalledinthevirtualmachinesthatusetheVHDs.
WerecommendaddingmultipleCSVstodistributeworkloadsacrossavailableresources.
WindowsServer2012includesHyper-VReplica,anativereplicationtechnologyforvirtualmachines.
YoucanuseHyper-VReplicatoenableasynchronoushost-basedreplicationofVHDsbetweenstandalonehostsorclusters.
YoucanalsouseHyper-VReplicatoenablevirtualmachinereplicationbetweensiteswithoutsharedstorage.
Hyper-VReplicaisusefulforbranchofficesandforreplicatingvirtualmachinestohostedcloudproviders.
WhenusingHyper-VReplica,youcanenableordisablereplicationforeachVHD.
Youcanselectdatathatyoudonotwanttoreplicate,suchasanoperatingsystempagefile,andcreateaseparatevirtualdiskthatyouconfigureforthatworkloadanddisableforreplication.
Note:YoucanonlyreplicateVHDs.
Ifyouconfigureavirtualmachinewithpass-throughorvirtualFibrechannelstorage,Hyper-Vreplicaisblocked.
WhenyoureplicatespecificVHDswithinavirtualmachine,aninitialfullcopyofthedatafromtheprimaryvirtualmachineissenttothereplicavirtualmachinelocation.
ThisreplicationcanbeoverthenetworkoryoucanmanuallycopytheVHDfilestothereplicasite.
Ifyoumanuallycopythefiles,afilecomparisonisperformedandensuresthatonlyincrementalchangesarereplicatedfortheinitialsynchronization.
Aftertheinitialsynchronization,changesinthesourcevirtualmachinearetransmittedoverthenetworkatperiodicreplicationfrequencyintervals.
Thereplicationfrequencyisdependentoncycletimes.
Hyper-VreplicarequirescycletimesofatleastfiveminuteswithWindowsServer2012.
WithWindowsServer2012R2youcanconfigurethereplicationfrequencyat30second,5minute,or15minutecycles.
SizingofCSVsSitedisasterprotectionwithHyper-VReplica39EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationHyper-VReplicaalsoallowsforadditionalrecoverypoints.
Multiplerecoverypointsenabletheabilitytorecovertoanearlierpointintime.
WindowsServer2012supports16hourlyrecoverypointswhileWindowsServer2012R2supports24hourlyrecoverypoints.
WindowsServer2012R2includesextendedreplication,afeaturethatenablessupportforasecondreplica,wherethereplicaserverforwardschangesthatoccurontheprimaryvirtualmachinestoathirdserver.
Thisfunctionalitycanenablethreesitesolutionswhichprovideforadditionaldisasterrecoveryprotectionintheeventofasinglesiteorregionaldisruption.
Youcanmoveavirtualmachinetoareplicaserverinaplannedfailover.
Withaplannedfailover,anychangeswhichhavenotbeenreplicatedarefirstcopiedtothereplicasite,sothatnodataislost.
Afterdataismovedtothereplicasite,youcanconfigurereversereplicationtosendchangesbacktotheoriginalsite.
Forunplannedfailovers,youcanbringthethereplicavirtualmachineonline.
Youcanlosesomedatainanunplannedfailover.
Whenyouuseextendedreplication,replicationcontinuestotheextendedreplicaserverifaplannedorunplannedfailoveroccurs.
Note:PlanningandconfigurationforHyper-VReplicaisoutsidethescopeofthiswhitepaper.
DeployHyper-VReplica,onMicrosoftTechNet,providesmoredetails.
EMCClusterEnablerhasbeenasupportedproductformanyyearsundertheWindowsGeographicallyDispersedClusteringprogram.
YoucanuseClusterEnablerproducttoseamlesslyintegratemulti-sitestoragereplicationintotheframeworkprovidedbyWindowsfailoverclustering.
TheMicrosoftWindowsServerCataloglistscompatiblesolutions.
ClusterEnablersupportsfailoverclusterconfigurationswithmultipleformsofstorage-basedreplication,includingbothsynchronousandasynchronous,replicationacrosssites.
ClusterEnablerprovidesaplug-inarchitecturetosupportvariousEMCreplicationproducts,includingEMCRecoverPoint,EMCSymmetrixRemoteDataFacility(SRDF)andEMCMirrorView.
BecauseofthistightintegrationwiththeWindowsfailoverclusterframework,validsupportedfailoverclusterconfigurationsanddeployedapplicationsarefullysupportedundertheClusterEnablersolutionset.
ThisincludesWindowsHyper-Vvirtualmachines.
Note:StepsforinstallingClusterEnablerwithinaMicrosoftclusterenvironmentarebeyondthescopeofthiswhitepaper.
ClusterEnablerproductguidesonEMCOnlineSupportprovidemoredetails.
ClusterEnableristransparenttotheoperationsofthetypicalfailoverclustermanagementframework.
Installationofclusterenablerincludesaclusterenablerserviceandclusterresource.
Figure25,showstheclusterresourceforSRDF/CE.
Thenameassignedtotheresourceisprecededwith"EMC_"andappendsthenameofthespecificresourcegroup.
SitedisasterprotectionwithClusterEnablerEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization40Figure25.
FailoverClusterManagerwithanSRDF/CEresourceTheclustereddiskswithintheresourcegrouphavetheirdependenciesmodifiedtoincludetheClusterEnablerresourcedefinedforthegroup.
Thisensuresthattransitionstoothernodesarecoordinatedappropriately.
Forlateralmovements,ormovementtonodesthatarewithinthesamesiteastheowningnode,notransitionofthereplicationstateisrequired.
Ifyourequestthattheresourcebemovedtoapeernode,oranodethatislocatedintheremotesite,theClusterEnablerresourcecoordinateswiththeunderlyingstoragereplicationservicetotransitiontheremotedisktoaread/writestate.
Managementofthereplicationstateofdiskdevicesisfullymanagedbytheclusterenablerresource,andthisfunctionalityistransparenttotheadministrator.
TheClusterEnablerenvironmentincludesaFailoverClusterManagementConsoletoconfigureandmanageClusterEnablerspecificfunctionality,asshowninFigure26.
Youcanusetheconsoletoidentifyresourcesusedwithinthevariousgroupsconfiguredinthegeographicallydispersedclusterenvironment.
Themanagementframeworkusesalogicalconstructofsites,andlogicallydisplaysresourcesbasedonthislayout.
Allmovement,configurationofresources,andonline/offlinestatuschangesofresourceswithintheclustercontinuetobeexecutedthroughthestandardFailoverClusterManagementConsole.
TheClusterEnablerManagerConsoleisusedtoconfigurenewlycreatedresourcegroupintegration,ortointroducenewshareddiskresourcesintotheclusterconfiguration.
41EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure26.
EMCClusterEnablerManagerDuetothetransparentimplementationofClusterEnabler,mostoftheconfigurationsthataresupportedbyWindowsfailoverclusteringarealsosupportedbyClusterEnabler.
ClusteredSharedVolumes(CSV)isanimportantexception.
CSVfunctionalityprovidesequalaccesstotheCSVvolumesfromallnodes,whilemoststoragereplicationtechnologieslimitaccesstothetargetstoragedevices.
ClusteredsolutionsforHyper-VvirtualmachinesthatdonotuseCSVarefullysupportedwithallclusterenablerplug-ins.
CSVsupportdependsontheWindowsversionandthereplicationtechnology.
RefertotheappropriateClusterEnablerplug-inproductguideforcurrentCSVsupportstatements.
ForClusterEnablerwithWindowsServer2008R2,youcanrunvirtualmachinesonlyontheprimarysitewheretheCSVdevicesareonlineandread/writeenabled.
ClusterEnabler,withWindowsServer2008R2,blocksvirtualmachinesfromrunningonthesecondarysitebecausethedevicesareread/writedisabled.
ThisisdifferentfromfailoverclusterbehaviorwithoutClusterEnablerconfigured,wherevirtualmachinesareallowedonthesecondarysitebutinredirectedaccessmode.
Geo-clusteringisthereasonforthisrestriction,becausesitetositenetworktransferswouldhavehighernetworklatenciesandmoreexpensivebandwidthrequirements.
ClusterEnablerrestrictsvirtualmachinestoremainonthesiteonwhichtheyhavedirectaccesstothedisk,andmovethemonlywhentheCSVdiskfailsovertothesecondarysite.
ForWindowsServer2012,virtualmachinescanrunonanynoderegardlessofwheretheCSVdiskisonline.
ThismeansthatthevirtualmachinecanfailovertoanodewheretheCSVdiskismarkedaswrite-disabledandruninredirectedaccessmode.
ClusterEnablerCSVbehaviorEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization42Toavoidthisstate,avirtualmachinecanberestrictedtoasitebyeditingthepossibleownerslistandlimitingthevirtualmachineresourcestorunfromspecificnodesinthecluster.
EMCproductguidesonEMCOnlineSupportprovideconfigurationandmanagementdetailsforsupportedClusterEnablerreplicationtechnologies.
EMCVPLEXtechnologyisascalable,distributed-storagefederationsolutionthatprovidesnon-disruptive,heterogeneousdatamovementandvolumemanagementfunctionality.
EMCoffersVPLEXinthreeconfigurationstoprovidehigh-availabilityanddatamobility:EMCVPLEXLocalEMCVPLEXMetroEMCVPLEXGeoFigure27.
VPLEXconfigurationsVPLEXLocalVPLEXLocalprovidesseamless,non-disruptivedatamobilityandallowsyoutomanagemultipleheterogeneousarraysfromasingleinterfacewithinadatacenter.
VPLEXLocalalsoprovidesincreasedavailability,simplifiedmanagement,andimprovedutilizationacrossmultiplearrays.
VPLEXMetrowithAccessAnywhereYoucanuseVPLEXMetrowithAccessAnywheretechnologytoenableactive/active,blocklevelaccesstodatabetweentwositeswithinsynchronousdistances.
Thedistanceislimitedtowhatsynchronousbehaviorcanwithstandandalsoconsidershostapplicationstability.
Werecommendthat,dependingontheapplication,replicationlatencyforMetrobelessthanorequalto5msRTT.
YoucanusethecombinationofvirtualstoragewithVPLEXMetroandvirtualserverstoprovidetransparentmovementofvirtualmachinesandstorageacrossadistance.
Thistechnologyprovidesimprovedutilizationacrossheterogeneousarraysandmultiplesites.
EMCVPLEX43EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationVPLEXGeowithAccessAnywhereYoucanuseVPLEXGeowithAccessAnywheretechnologytoenableactive/active,blocklevelaccesstodatabetweentwositeswithinasynchronousdistances.
VPLEXGeoenablescost-effectiveuseofresourcesandpowerandallowsprimaryandsecondarydatacenterstobeactiveagainstthesamelogicalstorage.
GeoprovidesthesameDistributedVirtualVolumeflexibilityasMetrobutextendsthedistanceuptoandwithin50msRTT.
VPLEXwithWindowsfailoverclusteringDeploymentsofdistributedWindowsgeographicallydispersedclustersolutionswithEMCVPLEXMetroandGeosupportHyper-Vlivemigrationsacrosssiteboundaries.
Youcanuseactive/activesolutionstoimplementloadbalancinginadditiontothecorehighavailability/disasterrecoveryfeaturesofWindowsfailoverclustering.
EMCVPLEXMetroandGeoprovideactive/activestorageaccessacrosssynchronousandasynchronousdistancesbycreatingVPLEXdistributedvirtualvolumesofaRAID1mirrorwithextentslocatedacrosstwoVPLEXGeoclusters.
Afteryoucreatethedistributedvirtualvolumes,volumesarethenplacedintoaconsistencygroupformanagementdecisionsmadebyEMCVPLEXWitness.
DistributedDevicesRAID-1MirrorsAcrossSitesSITE-BSITE-AVPLEXCluster2VPLEXCluster1EthernetWAN(HostConnectivity)EthernetWAN(VPLEXConnectivity)Figure28.
VPLEXdistributedvirtualvolumesInanactive/activepresentation,hostscanperformread/writeoperationsonthedistributedvirtualvolumewhilesimultaneouslypresentingthemtobothsites.
Thispresentationisfundamentallydifferentfromtraditionalarrayreplicationsolutionswherethevolumeonthesecondaryclustersremainswrite/disableduntilafailoveroccurs.
VPLEXfunctionalityisparticularlypowerfulinenvironmentsthatuseCSVs.
YoucandistributeHyper-VvirtualmachinesresidingonCSVsacrosssiteswhereaVPLEXdistributedvolumeisused.
ThisallowsforloadbalancingofvirtualmachinesacrossEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization44storagearraysandsites,disasteravoidancewithproactivevirtualmachinemobilitybetweendatacenters,andcoredisasterrecoveryforunplannedevents.
WithVPLEXdistributedvirtualvolumes,youdonotneedtousemanualfailoverprocesses.
TheglobalcachecoherencylayerinVPLEXpresentsaconsistentviewofdataatanypointintime.
Youcanmanagevirtualmachinemobilityacrosssiteswithquickorlivemigrationsliketraditionalsharedstoragesolutions.
TheconfigurationanduseofVPLEXwithWindowsfailoverclusteringandHyper-Visoutsidethescopeofthisdocument.
Hyper-VLiveMigrationwithVPLEXGeoonEMCOnlineSupportprovidesmoreinformationaboutVPLEXandHyper-V.
Youcanalsousetheimport-vmPowerShellcmdletfordisasterrecoverywithWindowsServer2012forstoragereplicationandHyper-V.
WiththisenhancedPowerShellcmdlet,youcanimportvirtualmachinesfromtheiroriginalconfigurationandVHDfiles.
Youcanalsoreplicateconfigurationfilesandreplicatedatabetweensites,andthenimportdirectlyfromthereplicateddata.
YoudonotneedtoexportthevirtualmachinesasrequiredwithWindows2008R2.
Ifallvirtualswitchesareavailablewiththesamenamesandallmountpointlocationsareidenticaltotheoriginalconfiguration,youcanimportallvirtualmachineconfigurationfilesinaspecifieddirectoryhierarchyonatargethostwiththefollowingcommand:Get-ChildItem.
\*.
xml-recurse|import-vmManualorscripteddisasterrecoverywithstoragereplication45EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationMicrosoftintegrationwithEMCstoragetechnologiesEMCstorageisintegratedwithMicrosofttechnologieswhenusingthefollowingEMCorMicrosoftsoftwareandfeatures:MicrosoftSystemCenterVirtualMachineManagerWindowsServer2012OffloadedDataTransferWindowsServer2012Thin-ProvisioningSpaceReclamationEMCReplicationManagerEMCStorageIntegrator(ESI)EMCSolutionsEnablerYoucanuseMicrosoftSystemCenterVirtualMachineManager(SCVMM)toefficientlymanageaHyper-Venvironmentthatcanincorporatehundredsofphysicalservers.
SCVMMintegrateswiththevariousavailabilityproductssuchasfailoverclusteringforasystemthatprovidescentralizedmanagement,reporting,andalerts.
SCVMMalsoprovidesmanagementservicesforVMwareserversandtheirvirtualmachineresources.
Youcanusethecentralizedmanagementconsoleforacentralizedviewofallmanagedserversandresources.
Fromthemanagementconsole,youcandiscover,deploy,ormigrate,existingvirtualmachinesbetweenmanagedphysicalservers.
Youcanusethisfunctionalitytodynamicallymanagephysicalandvirtualresourceswithinthelandscape,andtoadapttochangingbusinessdemands.
SCVMM2012providesstandards-baseddiscoveryandautomationofiSCSIandFibreChannelblockstorageresourcesinavirtualizeddatacenterenvironment.
ThesenewcapabilitiesbuildontheStorageManagementInitiativeSpecification(SMI-S)thatwasdevelopedbytheStorageNetworkingIndustryAssociation(SNIA).
TheSMI-SstandardizedmanagementinterfaceenablesanapplicationsuchasSCVMMtodiscover,assign,configure,andautomatestorageforheterogeneousarraysinaunifiedway.
AnSMI-SProviderusesSMI-Stoenablestoragemanagement.
Totakeadvantageofthisnewstoragecapability,EMCupdatedtheSMI-SProvidertosupporttheSCVMM2012RTMandSP1releases.
EMCSMI-SProvidersupportsunifiedmanagementofmultipletypesofstoragearrays.
Withtheone-to-manymodelenabledbytheSMI-Sstandard,avirtualmachinemanagercaninteroperate,byusingtheEMCSMI-SProvider,withmultipledisparatestoragesystemsfromthesamevirtualmachinemanagerconsolethatisusedtomanageallotherprivatecloudcomponents.
Table1outlinessomeofthebenefitsofcentralizedstoragemanagementwithSCVMM.
MicrosoftSystemCenterVirtualMachineManagerEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization46Table1.
CentralizedstoragemanagementwithSCVMMBenefitDescriptionReducecostsOn-demandstorage—AlignsITcostswithbusinessprioritiesbysynchronizingstorageallocationwithfluctuatinguserdemand.
SCVMMelasticinfrastructuresupportsthinprovisioning,expandingorcontractingtheallocationofstorageresourcesonEMCstoragearraysinresponsetochangingdemand.
Ease-of-use—Simplifiesconsumptionofstoragecapacity,savestime,andlowerscosts,byenablingtheinteractionofEMCstoragearrayswith,andtheintegrationofstorageautomationcapabilitieswithin,theSCVMMprivatecloud.
SimplifyadministrationPrivatecloudGUI—Allowsadministrationofprivatecloudassets,includingstorage,throughtheSCVMMconsole,asinglemanagementUIforSCVMMorcloudadministrators.
PrivatecloudCLI—EnablesautomationthroughtheSCVMMcomprehensivesetofWindowsPowerShellcmdlets,including25newstorage-specificcmdlets.
Reduceerrors—TrackserrorsbyusingtheSCVMMUIorCLItoviewandrequeststorage.
Privatecloudself-serviceportal—Providesaweb-basedinterfacethatpermitsuserstocreatevirtualmachines,asneeded,withastoragecapacitythatisbasedonpredefinedclassifications.
Simplerstoragerequests—Automatesstoragerequeststoeliminatedelaysofdaysorweeks.
DeployfasterDeployVMsfasterandatscale—SupportsrapidprovisioningofvirtualmachinestoHyper-Vhostsorhostclustersatscale.
SCVMMcancommunicatedirectlywithyourSANarraystoprovisionstorageforyourvirtualmachines.
SCVMM2012canprovisionstorageforavirtualmachineinthefollowingways:Createanewlogicalunitfromanavailablestoragepool—Controlsthenumberandsizeofeachlogicalunit.
Createawriteablesnapshotofanexistinglogicalunit—Provisionsmanyvirtualmachinesquicklybyrapidlycreatingmultiplecopiesofanexistingvirtualdisk.
Snapshotscauseminimalloadsonhostsandusespaceonthearrayefficiently.
Createacloneofanexistinglogicalunit—Offloadsafullcopyofavirtualdiskfromthehosttothearray.
Typically,clonesdonotusespace-asefficientlyassnapshotsandtakelongertocreate.
Reduceload—ProvisioningofvirtualmachinesquicklyusingSAN-basedstorageresourcestakesfulladvantageofEMCarraycapabilitieswhileplacingnoloadonthenetwork.
StorageAutomationwithSystemCenter2012andEMCStorageSystemsusingSMI-SonEMCOnlineSupportprovidesdetailsabouttheintegrationbetweenSCVMMandtheEMCSMI-Sprovider.
TheEMCSMI-SProviderisbasedonEMCSolutionsEnablerandsupportsblockbasedstorage(FC/iSCSI)forbothVMAXandVNX.
47EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationTheVNXoperatingenvironment8.
1orlatersupportsSCVMMwithanSMI-SproviderthatrunsnativelyontheVNXcontrolstation.
ThisSMI-SProviderisenabledbydefaultandsupportsfilebased(CIFS)storage.
ThefollowingbasicfunctionalitysupportsNASstoragewithinSCVMMandissupportedbytheVNXprovider:CreatingfilesystemsandsharesonVNXCIFSorNFSbasedserversRemovingfilesystemsandsharesNote:Thefilesystemsmustbeemptypriortoremoval.
UpdatingSCVMMwhencreatingnewfilesystemsorsharesfrommanagementapplicationsotherthanSCVMM(forexample,Unisphere).
Note:SCVMMisupdatedbyrescanningfromtheProviderareaoftheSCVMMconsole.
ConfiguringtheSystemCenterVirtualMachineManagerConsolefortheNASSMI-SProvider,onEMCOnlineSupport,providesupdatedinstructionstoconfigureSCVMMforusewiththeVNXFileSMI-SProvider.
OffloadedDataTransfer(ODX)isanewfeatureoftheWindowsServer2012operatingsystemandtheWindows8client.
ODXenablesWindowsServertooffloaddatatransfersbetweenLUNs,oroffloadthewritingofrepeatingpatterns,tothestorageareanetwork(SAN).
ByoffloadingthedatatransferorrepeatingthewritepatterntotheSAN,client-servernetworkusage,CPUutilizationandstorageinputoutputoperationsarereducedtonearlyzeroasthedatamovementisperformedbytheintelligentstoragearray.
Theseoperationscantakeafractionofthetimecomparedtoconventionalmethods.
ODXstartsacopyrequestwithanoffloadreadoperationandretrievesatokenrepresentingthedatafromthestoragedevice.
ODXthenusesanoffloadwritecommand,whichincludesthetoken,torequestdatamovementfromthesourcedisktothedestinationdisk.
Thestoragesystemthenperformstheactualdatamovement.
Figure29illustratestheODXprocess.
VNXoperatingenvironmentfilebasedSMI-SProviderWindowsServer2012OffloadedDataTransferEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization48Figure29.
ODXprocessYoucanuseODXbasedcopyoperationswithinaphysicalLUNoracrossmultipleLUNsfromthesamestoragearray.
YoucanalsouseODXcopyoperationsacrossmultipleWindowsServer2012hoststhathaveasourceLUNononeserverandatargetonthesecondaryserverwithinthesamearray.
Inthislattercase,SMB3.
0isrequired(andisimplementedbyWindowsServerinstances).
Hyper-VvirtualmachinesalsosupportODXfortheWindowsServer2012operatingsystem.
ODXsupportsvirtualmachinestorageforVHDs(VHDXonly,)Pass-throughharddisks,virtualFibreChannelLUNs,oriSCSILUNspresenteddirectlytothevirtualmachine.
ODXisenabledbydefaultwithinWindowsServer2012andyoucanuseitforanyfilecopyoperationwherethefileisgreaterthan256KBinsize.
WindowsautomaticallydetectswhetherODXissupportedbyagivenstoragedevice.
IfthestoragedevicedoesnotsupportODX,thedeviceusesastandardhost-basedcopy.
IfODXissupported,butanoffloadrequestisrejectedbythestoragearray,Windowsrevertstoahostbasedcopytocompletetheoperation.
Insomecases,whenODXisrejected,WindowswaitsthreeminutesbeforeagainattemptingtouseODXagainstthatdevice.
ThecopyoperationthatfailedanODXcallcancontinuetouselegacycopyoperationsuntilcompletion.
ODXisespeciallyusefulforcopyinglargefilesbetweenfileshares,deployingvirtualmachinesfromtemplates,andperformingstoragelivemigrationsofvirtualmachinesbetweenLUNs.
Inadditiontocopyoperations,ODXcanbeusedforoffloadingthewritingofrepeatingpatternstoastoragedevice.
Forexample,Hyper-VwithWindows49EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationServer2012usesODXtooffloadwritingarangeofzeroswhencreatingfixedVHDs.
WindowsOffloadedDataTransfersoverview,onMicrosoftTechNet,providesmoredetails.
TheclientthatrequeststhecopyoperationmustbeODX-aware.
YoumustuseWindowsServer2012orWindows8toinitiatethecopyoperationforODXtoengage.
ODXalsorequiresthestoragearrayswithintheSANtosupporttheoffloadrequestsfromtheoperatingsystembasedontheT10specifications(http://www.
t10.
org/.
)ForODXtobeleveragedinHyper-Vvirtualmachines,virtualSCSIadapterswithVHDX(VHDformatisnotsupported)andpass-throughdisksorvirtualFibreChanneladaptersarerequired.
IfODXisenabledonanEMCstoragearray,forexample,followingacodeupgrade,youmusteitherreboottheWindows2012serverormaskandunmaskthedevicessothatWindowscandetectthechangeinODXsupport.
WindowsServer2012discoversdevicefeaturesupportcharacteristicsonlyatthetimeofinitialdevicediscoveryandenumeration.
Anychangeindevicefeaturesupportcharacteristicsforpreviouslydiscovereddevicesisnotrecognizedwithoutahostrebootordevicere-discovery.
Table2listsODXsupportforEMCstoragearrays:Table2.
ODXsupportforEMCstoragearraysStoragearraySupportedversionNotesVNXBlockVNXOEforblockversion05.
32.
000.
5.
201releasedon2/22/2013AnODXenablermustbeinstalledontheVNXbeforetheODXfeaturecanbeused.
WherecantheODXenablerforVNXOE05.
32beobtainedonEMCOnlineSupportprovidesdetailsabouttheenablerandhowtoobtainit.
VNXFileVNXOEforfileversion7.
1.
65.
8releasedon2/22/2013EMCVNXSeries:IntroductiontoSMB3.
0SupportonEMCOnlineSupportprovidesdetailsaboutsupportforODXwithSMB3.
0.
VNXeVNXeOEversion2.
4.
0.
20932(MR4)releasedon1/7/2013EMCVNXSeries:IntroductiontoSMB3.
0SupportonEMCOnlineSupportprovidesdetailsaboutsupportforODXwithSMB3.
0.
VMAXEnginuityversion5876.
229.
145(Q22013SR)EnabledbydefaultStartingwithSCVMM2012R2,youcanuseODXwhenyoudeployvirtualmachinesfromtemplates.
Whenusingthenetworktransfertype,SCVMM2012R2automaticallyattemptstouseODXtoperformthevirtualmachinedeploymentsifODXissupportedintheenvironment.
ForODXtobeused,thelibraryserver,Hyper-Vhosts,andclustersneedanappropriaterunasaccountfortheirhostmanagementcredentials.
YoucanassignODXsupportrequirementsUsingODXforvirtualmachinedeploymentswithSCVMM2012R2EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization50thecredentialbyspecifyingarunasaccount,whichhaspermissionstotheserverstobeadded,whileaddingtheserverorclusterintoSCVMM.
TherunasaccountisthenassignedtothehostmanagementcredentialsasshowninFigure30.
Figure30.
HostmanagementcredentialsForclusteredhostspreviouslyaddedtoSCVMM,theabilitytochangethehostmanagementcredentialcanbedisabledfromwithintheSCVMMconsole.
Tochangethecredential,runthefollowingPowerShellcommands:$Cluster=Get-SCVMHostCluster-NameHyperVR2Clus.
contoso.
com$RunAs=Get-SCRunAsAccount-NamedcadminSet-SCVmHostCluster-VMHostCluster$Cluster–VMHostManagementCredential$RunAsWhenODXisautomaticallyinvoked,thecreatevirtualmachinejobperformingthedeploymentdisplaysastepcalledDeployfile(usingFastFileCopy)asshowninFigure31.
51EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure31.
CreatevirtualmachinewithODXIfODXfailsorisnotusedwhenyoucreateavirtualmachine,thedeploymentcontinuesandcompletesbyrevertingtoatraditionalhostbasedcopy.
ThejobdisplaysastatusofCompletedw/InfowhichnotesthefailuretouseODX.
Figure32showsanexample.
Figure32.
SCVMM2012R2failuretoinvokeODXStoragearrayssuchasVMAXandVNXsupportapoolingandstorageallocationon-demandfunctionalitycalledvirtual(orthin)provisioning.
Youcanusethinprovisioningtoallocatestorageforaspecificdevice,withinathinpool,whenaserverwritesdataforthefirsttime.
Resourcesaremoreefficientlyusedbyonlyallocatingstorageon-demand.
Overtime,thedatawrittenbytheservercancanbedeleted,butthespaceallocatedwithinthethinpoolpersists,leadingtoinefficientstorageutilization.
WindowsServer2012includesanewfeaturethatallowstheoperatingsystemtorequestthatpreviouslywritten,butnowdeleteddata,isreclaimed.
Thisreclaimfunctionalityfreestheallocated,butnolongerrequireddata,fromwithinathinpool.
WindowsServer2012supportsdetectingthinlyprovisionedstorageandissuingT10standardUNMAPorTRIMbasedreclaimcommandsagainstthatstorage.
WindowsWindowsServer2012thinprovisioningspacereclamationEMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization52Server2012usestheUNMAPspecificationforreclaimoperationsagainstEMCstorage.
ThefollowingEMCstoragesupportsdetectionandreclamationwithUNMAP:VNX—SupportforthinawarenessandreclamationisprovidedinVNXOEforblockversion05.
32.
000.
5.
201releasedon2/22/2013.
SymmetrixVMAX—SupportforthinawarenessandreclamationisavailablestartingintheEnginuity5876Q42012ServiceRelease.
WerecommendusingthenewestEnginuityrelease(Q22013SRorhigher)priortousingWindowsServer2012reclamationsupport.
IfaLUNisdetectedasathinprovisioneddriveinWindowsServer2012,bydefaultreclaimoperationsareperformedunderthefollowingscenarios:Whenavolumeresidingonathinprovisioneddriveisformattedwiththequickoption,theentiresizeofthevolumeisreclaimedinreal-time.
WhentheOptimizeoptionisselectedforavolumeasapartofaregularlyscheduledoperation,orwhenmanuallyselectedfromtheOptimizeDrivesinterfaceshowninFigure33.
Bydefault,drivesareautomaticallyoptimizedonaweeklybasis.
CSVscannotbeoptimizedunlesstheyareinredirectedmode.
Whentheoptimize-volumePowerShellcmdletisusedwiththeRetrimoption.
Whenafileorgroupsoffilesaredeletedfromafilesystem,Windowsautomaticallyissuesreclaimcommandsfortheareaofthefilesystemthatwasfreedbasedonthefiledeletion.
ThisisalsotrueforCSVvolumes,eveniftheyarenotinredirectedmode.
Thisautomatedmethodofreclamationreducestheneedofrunningoptimizeoperations;howevertoachievefullefficiency,anoptimizedriveoperationmaystillneedtoberun.
WindowsServer2012supportsreclaimoperationsagainstbothNTFSandReFSformattedvolumes.
ThenewVHDXvirtualdiskformat,nativetoWindowsServer2012,alsosupportsreclaimoperationsfromwithinaHyper-Vvirtualmachinetoavirtualdisk.
YoucanperformallreclaimoperationssupportedonaphysicalLUNwithinandagainstaVHDXbasedvirtualdiskoragainstapass-throughdiskpresentedtoaHyper-Vbasedvirtualmachine.
53EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure33.
WindowsServer2012OptimizeDrivesdialogboxYoucangloballydisablethedefaultbehaviorofissuingreclaimoperationsonaWindows2012server.
Modifythedisabledeletenotifyparametertopreventreclaimoperationsfrombeingissuedagainstallvolumesontheserver.
ThissettingcanbechangedwiththeFsutilcommandlinetoolincludedwithWindowsServer2012.
Todisablereclaimoperationsrunthefollowingfromanelevatedcommandprompt:FsutilbehaviorsetDisableDeleteNotify1Toquerythereclamationsetting:FsutilbehaviorqueryDisableDeleteNotifyIfDisableDeleteNotify=0,thisisthedefaultvalueandreclamationisenabled.
IfDisableDeleteNotify=1,spacereclamationisdisabled.
LabtestinghasshownthatbothautomaticreclamationandreclaimwhenrunningoptimizevolumeoperationsaredisabledwhenDisableDeleteNotify=1.
Norebootisrequiredandthechangetakeseffectimmediately.
ForWindowsServer2012environmentsthatusespacereclamation,installtheUpdatethatimprovescloudserviceproviderresiliencyinWindowsServer2012hotfixpackagefromhttp://support.
microsoft.
com/kb/2870270.
Thehotfixcontainsafixtohelppreventfilesystemhangswhilereclaimoperationsarebeingperformed.
EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization54EMCReplicationManagersimplifiesthemanagementofstoragereplication,integrateswithcriticalbusinessapplications,andcreates,mounts,andrestorespoint-in-timereplicasofdatabasesorfilesystemsresidingonsupportedstoragearrays.
Youcanalsouseittoperformautomaticdiscoveryofchangestothestorageorapplicationenvironmentanddelegatetaskstoappropriateresources.
ReplicationManagerincludesthefollowingbenefits:Automatedmanagementofpoint-in-timereplicasonEMCSymmetrix,EMCCLARiiON,EMCVNX,EMCCelerra,andEMCVNXestorage.
ApplicationconsistentreplicationofMicrosoft,Oracle,andUDBapplications.
Reducesoreliminatestheneedforscriptingsolutionsforreplicationtasks.
Providesasinglemanagementconsoleandwizardstosimplifyreplicationtasks.
Improvedrecoveryandrestorefeatures,includingapplicationrecovery.
Integrationwithphysical,VMware,Hyper-V,orIBMAIXVIOvirtualenvironmentsReplicascanbestoredonEMCSymmetrixTimeFindermirrors,clones,orsnapshots;CLARiiONclonesorsnapshots;VNXsnapshots,CelerraSnapSurelocalsnapshots,orEMCCelerraReplicatorremotesnapshots.
ReplicationManageralsosupportsdatausingtheRecoverPointAppliancestorageservice.
UseReplicationManagertoperformlocalandremotereplicationsusingTimeFinder,OpenReplicator,EMCSRDF,EMCSANCopy,EMCNavisphere,EMCCelerraiSCSI,CelerraNFS,and/orreplicasofEMCMirrorView/AorMirrorView/SsecondariesusingEMCSnapViewsnapshotandSnapViewclonereplicationtechnologieswheretheyareappropriate.
YoucaninstallReplicationManageronHyper-Vvirtualmachinesandperformreplications,mounts,andrestoresofdevicesresidingonSymmetrix,CLARiiON,VNX,andCelerrastorage.
ReplicationManagerrequireseitheriSCSIorpass-throughstoragetosupportHyper-Venvironments.
ReplicationManagerproductandadministratorguidesonEMCOnlineSupportprovideinformationaboutHyper-Vsupport.
EMCStorageIntegrator(ESI)forWindowsSuiteisasetoftoolswhichintegrateMicrosoftWindowsandMicrosoftapplicationswithEMCstoragearrays.
Thesuiteincludes:ESIforWindows,ESIPowerShellToolkit,ESIService,ESISCOMManagementPacks,ESISCOIntegrationPack,andtheESIServicePowerShellToolkit.
YoucanuseESIforWindowstoview,provision,andmanageblockandfilestorageforMicrosoftWindowsenvironments.
ESIsupportstheEMCSymmetrixVMAX,EMCVNX,EMCVNXeandEMCCLARiiONCX4seriesofstoragearrays.
InadditiontophysicalenvironmentsESIalsosupportsstorageprovisioninganddiscoveryforWindowsvirtualmachinesthatrunonMicrosoftHyper-V,inadditiontoothertypesofhypervisors.
ForHyper-V,ESIsupportsthecreationofVHDsandpass-throughdisks,andalsosupportsthecreationofhostdisksandclusteredsharedvolumes.
EMCReplicationManagerEMCStorageIntegrator55EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationFigure34.
ESIMMCmappingofHyper-VVMsTheESIPowerShellToolkitisapowerfuloptionfordiscoveringandmanagingWindowsenvironments,includingHyper-V.
ESIincludesover150PowerShellcmdletsfordiscoveringandmanagingvirtualmachines,serversandstoragearrays.
Forexample,thefollowingscriptusesESItotakeallHyper-Vregisteredhosts,discoverallhostvolumesandmapthemtotheunderlyingstorageLUNandpool(thescriptoutputisshowninFigure35).
$myobj=@()$hypervsystem=get-emchypervsystemforeach($systemin$hypervsystem){$volumes=$system|get-emchostvolumeforeach($volin$volumes){$lun=$vol|get-emclun$pool=$lun|get-emcstoragepool$myobjtemp=New-ObjectSystem.
Object$myobjtemp|Add-member-nameComputerName-typeNoteProperty-value$system.
Name$myobjtemp|Add-member-nameVolumePath-typeNoteProperty-value$vol.
MountPath$myobjtemp|Add-member-nameVNXLunName-typeNoteProperty-value$Lun.
Name$myobjtemp|Add-member-nameVNXLunCapacity-typeNoteProperty-value$Lun.
Capacity$myobjtemp|Add-member-namePoolName-typeNoteProperty-value$pool.
Name$myobjtemp|Add-member-namePoolTotal-typeNoteProperty-value$pool.
TotalCapacity$myobjtemp|Add-member-namePoolAvailable-typeNoteProperty-value$pool.
AvailableCapacity$myobj+=$myobjtemp}}EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization56$myobj|Out-GridViewFigure35.
ESIScriptOutputESIcanbedownloadedfromEMCOnlineSupport.
ESIreleasenotesandonlinehelpprovidemoreinformationaboutESI.
EMCSolutionsEnablerisaprerequisiteformanylayeredproductofferingsfromEMC.
InstallationofSolutionsEnablerattheparentlevelisfullysupportedandprovidesthenecessarysupportforconfigurationssuchasClusterEnabler,whenrunattheHyper-Vserverlevel.
DeploymentsofSolutionsEnablerwithinvirtualmachinesthatareusingiSCSIstoragedevicesarealsofullysupported.
Forgatekeeperaccess,SolutionsEnableralsosupportsavirtualmachinewheregatekeepersarepresentedovervirtualFibreChannel.
WhengatekeepersarepresentedtoavirtualmachineovervirtualFibrechannel,noadditionalstepsarerequired.
WerecommendusingvirtualFibrechannelinsteadofpass-throughdeviceswhenpresentinggatekeeperdevicestoHyper-Vvirtualmachines.
EMCSolutionsEnabler57EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationNote:SolutionsEnablercannotfunctionagainststoragedevicesthatareVHDdevices,evenwhentheVHDdevicesarelocatedonEMCSymmetrixstorage.
TheunderlyingLUNconfigurationforastoragedevicethatisusedforVHDplacementcannotbedetectedfromthechildpartition.
Incertaincases,youmustimplementSolutionsEnablerwithinavirtualmachinethatisusingpass-throughstoragedevicespresentedthroughtheHyper-Vserverandintendedasgatekeepers.
EMCsupportsinstallingSolutionsEnablerwithachildvirtualmachineusingpass-throughstoragedevicesonlywhentheparentisrunningWindowsServer2008R2orWindowServer2012,andwhentheappropriatesettingsforthevirtualmachinehavebeenmade.
EMCSolutionsEnablerimplementsextendedSCSIcommands,whicharebydefault,filteredbytheparentwherevirtualdisksorpass-throughdisksareused.
AbypassofthisfilteringisprovidedwithWindowsServer2008R2andWindowsServer2012Hyper-V,andthispass-throughmustbeenabledtoallowforappropriatediscoveryoptionsfromthevirtualmachine.
PlanningforDisksandStorage,onMicrosoftTechNet,providesinformationaboutfullpass-throughofSCSIcommands.
WerecommendallowingSCSIcommandpass-throughonlyforthosevirtualmachineswhereitisnecessary.
TodisablethefilteringofSCSIcommands,youcanrunthefollowingPowerShellscriptonaHyper-Vparentpartition.
Inthisexample,thenameoftheaffectedvirtualmachineispassedtothePowerShellscriptwhenitisexecuted.
$Target=$args[0]$VSManagementService=gwmiMSVM_VirtualSystemManagementService-namespace"root\virtualization"foreach($ChildinGet-WmiObject-Namespaceroot\virtualizationMsvm_ComputerSystem-Filter"ElementName='$Target'"){$VMData=Get-WmiObject-Namespaceroot\virtualization-Query"Associatorsof{$Child}WhereResultClass=Msvm_VirtualSystemGlobalSettingDataAssocClass=Msvm_ElementSettingData"$VMData.
AllowFullSCSICommandSet=$true$VSManagementService.
ModifyVirtualSystem($Child,$VMData.
PSBase.
GetText(1))|out-null}Figure36providesanexampleofhowtorunthisscript.
Intheexample,thescriptisfirstdisplayed,andthenthevirtualmachinenamedManagementServerisprovidedasthetargetfordisablingSCSIfiltering.
Thescriptisprovidedas-is,andincludesnovalidationorerrorcheckingfunctionality.
EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualization58Figure36.
ExampleofdisablingSCSIfilteringinaVirtualMachineYoucanalsocheckthecurrentvalueoftheSCSIfiltering.
ThefollowingPowerShellscriptreportsonthecurrentSCSIfilteringstatus.
Youmustprovidethenameofthevirtualmachinetargettobereportedon.
$Target=$args[0]foreach($ChildinGet-WmiObject-Namespaceroot\virtualizationMsvm_ComputerSystem-Filter"ElementName='$Target'"){$VMData=Get-WmiObject-Namespaceroot\virtualization-Query"Associatorsof{$Child}WhereResultClass=Msvm_VirtualSystemGlobalSettingDataAssocClass=Msvm_ElementSettingData"Write-host"VirtualMachine:"$VMData.
ElementNameWrite-Host"CurrentlyByPassingSCSIFiltering:"$VMData.
AllowFullSCSICommandSet}Onceset,thesettingpersistsforthevirtualmachine,asthesettingisrecordedagainstthevirtualmachineconfiguration.
Forthesettingtotakeeffect,youmustrestartthevirtualmachine,afterthesettinghasbeenchanged.
59EMCStoragewithMicrosoftHyper-VVirtualizationConclusionEMCstoragearraysprovideanextremelyscalablestoragesolution,whichprovidescustomerswithindustry-leadingcapabilitiestodeploy,maintain,andprotectWindowsHyper-Venvironments.
EMCstorageprovidesscale-outsolutionsforapplicationssuchasMicrosoftWindowsHyper-V,allowingflexibledataprotectionoptionstomeetdifferentperformance,availability,functionality,andeconomicrequirements.
SupportforawiderangeofservicelevelswithasinglestorageinfrastructureprovidesakeybuildingblockforimplementingInformationLifecycleManagement(ILM)bydeployingatieredstoragestrategy.
EMCtechnologiesprovideaneasierandmorereliablewaytoprovisionstorageinMicrosoftWindowsHyper-Venvironments,whileenablingtransparent,non-disruptivedatamobilitybetweenstoragetiers.
Industry-leadingmulti-siteprotectionthroughtheuseofVPLEXorClusterEnablerallowscustomerstoimplementacompleteend-to-endsolutionforvirtualmachinemanagementandprotection.