Virtualization Redemption?
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@Dashrender said:
@coliver said:
@Dashrender said:
My thought is to use something like Appassure or any backup product that will not only backup the VMs but also push the VM in a ready to start state to another VM host, i.e. his host at the remote DC.
Sure he'd lose whatever new data was made since the last backup, but the amount of downtime would be minimal. The old server dies, he simply starts up the VM on the remote VM Host.
Right but that won't work with ESXi Free.
Of course not, moving to Hyper-V or finding a solution that works in Xen would be required.... or he could buy ESXi - but that seems like a waste of money to me.. even if it is only $600 - I suppose the time spent converting could be higher than $600, so that might be one reason to keep ESXi in the short term.
My assumption was that @hubtechagain couldn't change hypervisors as he is stuck with what was provided. I'm not sure though.
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And if SA doesn't grant that right, is it already included, or is it required that you pay Microsoft for a different license?
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SA does give you the right to move VM from Host to Host!
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@DustinB3403 said:
@Dashrender said:
@DustinB3403 said:
The VM's should already be properly licensed. SA isn't a requirement as far as I'm aware.
You can't move the Windows Licenses except once every 90 days (legally) unless you license each machine for Windows Server Datacenter edition.
I don't think SA gives you the right to move a VM between hosts.
Does this also count for HA (On any platform?)
Yes.
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@coliver said:
@Dashrender said:
@coliver said:
@Dashrender said:
My thought is to use something like Appassure or any backup product that will not only backup the VMs but also push the VM in a ready to start state to another VM host, i.e. his host at the remote DC.
Sure he'd lose whatever new data was made since the last backup, but the amount of downtime would be minimal. The old server dies, he simply starts up the VM on the remote VM Host.
Right but that won't work with ESXi Free.
Of course not, moving to Hyper-V or finding a solution that works in Xen would be required.... or he could buy ESXi - but that seems like a waste of money to me.. even if it is only $600 - I suppose the time spent converting could be higher than $600, so that might be one reason to keep ESXi in the short term.
My assumption was that @hubtechagain couldn't change hypervisors as he is stuck with what was provided. I'm not sure though.
He is not stuck on any hypervisor, he can move at will.
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@anonymous said:
SA does give you the right to move VM from Host to Host!
Right, but you have the right included in all Windows Server Licenses. You can move licenses once every 90-days or in the event of hardware failure.
In general, you can reassign software licenses for server products, but not on a short-term basis (that is, not within 90 days of the last assignment). When reassigning a license, keep in mind that when you move the license from one server to another that your original server will still need to be appropriately licensed to cover all of the virtual OSEs that you may run on that server at any given time moving forward. If applicable, you can reassign licenses sooner if you retire the licensed server due to permanent hardware failure. In addition, for certain server software licenses, under certain conditions, license mobility is permitted within a server farm. For the server farm definition and more information about the server software license mobility rule, including the list of eligible server and External Connector licenses, please read the License Mobility section of this brief.
You cannot separate software to run it in more than one OSE under a single license, unless expressly permitted—even if the OSEs are on the same server.Which arguably is what we are talking about here having a DR site.
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@Dashrender said:
@coliver said:
@Dashrender said:
@coliver said:
@Dashrender said:
My thought is to use something like Appassure or any backup product that will not only backup the VMs but also push the VM in a ready to start state to another VM host, i.e. his host at the remote DC.
Sure he'd lose whatever new data was made since the last backup, but the amount of downtime would be minimal. The old server dies, he simply starts up the VM on the remote VM Host.
Right but that won't work with ESXi Free.
Of course not, moving to Hyper-V or finding a solution that works in Xen would be required.... or he could buy ESXi - but that seems like a waste of money to me.. even if it is only $600 - I suppose the time spent converting could be higher than $600, so that might be one reason to keep ESXi in the short term.
My assumption was that @hubtechagain couldn't change hypervisors as he is stuck with what was provided. I'm not sure though.
He is not stuck on any hypervisor, he can move at will.
Ah, if he can move away from ESXi Free then that would be a good option. Especially if he wants to use HA features.
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@anonymous said:
SA does give you the right to move VM from Host to Host!
This might be a better link
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/licensing-programs/software-assurance-license-mobility.aspx#tab=2But from my glance, I don't think this works for Windows, it appears to be for Application Servers, like Exchange and SQL, not Windows Servers.
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@coliver said:
Ah, if he can move away from ESXi Free then that would be a good option. Especially if he wants to use HA features.
Someone agrees with me?
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@coliver said:
Ah, if he can move away from ESXi Free then that would be a good option. Especially if he wants to use HA features.
He doesn't need real HA, he needs short recovery time.
Server crashes, starts VM on another host, down time = 15 mins. This is just an example.
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@anonymous said:
@coliver said:
Ah, if he can move away from ESXi Free then that would be a good option. Especially if he wants to use HA features.
Someone agrees with me?
Yep I do :), My assumption was that he was under certain obligations to maintain ESXi Free. XenServer would be a much better option.... especially as much of what we are talking about is already baked in.
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@coliver I just stick to HyperV because I know it better. I am sure XenServer would be fine too.
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Ether-way, VMware isn't a good choice.
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@coliver said:
@anonymous said:
SA does give you the right to move VM from Host to Host!
Right, but you have the right included in all Windows Server Licenses. You can move licenses once every 90-days or in the event of hardware failure.
In general, you can reassign software licenses for server products, but not on a short-term basis (that is, not within 90 days of the last assignment). When reassigning a license, keep in mind that when you move the license from one server to another that your original server will still need to be appropriately licensed to cover all of the virtual OSEs that you may run on that server at any given time moving forward. If applicable, you can reassign licenses sooner if you retire the licensed server due to permanent hardware failure. In addition, for certain server software licenses, under certain conditions, license mobility is permitted within a server farm. For the server farm definition and more information about the server software license mobility rule, including the list of eligible server and External Connector licenses, please read the License Mobility section of this brief.
You cannot separate software to run it in more than one OSE under a single license, unless expressly permitted—even if the OSEs are on the same server.Which arguably is what we are talking about here having a DR site.
Yeah from a DR POV this will probably work. He could never do a failover for driver updates for example, as you would be expecting to move more than once every 90 days.
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OK, sorry i posted and vanished. My current single caveat to doing anything right now is storage space. I know SQL and AD will replicate without issue. I also know that they say that their applications data will do the same using robocopy nightly. Would it be stupid for me to overcome the current storage shortage of running all 4 vms on 1 host by switching from raid 10 to raid 6 on the DR server?
Datacenter is connected over vpls and we have a 30x30 pipe between us and DC.
I like the idea of xen just because of all of the built in goodies that aren't included with ESXi, like HA.
I think I have two slots on each server that I could put drives in to expand storage even more. alteast on the DR server.
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and all of the hardware is exactly the same @anonymous so would driver updates be necessary?
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@hubtechagain said:
Would it be stupid for me to overcome the current storage shortage of running all 4 vms on 1 host by switching from raid 10 to raid 6 on the DR server?
I think I have two slots on each server that I could put drives in to expand storage even more. alteast on the DR server.
I would look at the drives in the DR site. If you can add 2 to that and keep RAID10 and then have enough space. If not, then I would think about a RAID6 as this is DR only and not normally mission critical space. Just have to be aware of the risk if the DR site suddenly needs to be used that everything is on a fragile system and replacement primary needs updated ASAP.
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One license of VMWare Essentials (not plus) will cover all three servers. Then you can use third part migration tools. This would likely be cheaper than the time it would take you to migrate to another Hypervisor.
It would come don to what the 3rd party tools can do for you. Are those functions enough to handle your replication/backup needs.
For example, is a 6 socket license of Veeam Essentials something that would give you enough features?
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@anonymous This is not correct. That is the price WITH one year of support. Additional support (And upgrades) are ~1K a year (assuming mission critical 24/7 phone support contract) so comparing that to free anything else is apples/oranges.
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@DustinB3403 There are other "cheap" VMware kits for different purposes (vSphere Robo edition, foundation etc).
