Help choosing replacement Hyper-V host machines and connected storage
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@JohnFromSTL said:
Would a PowerVault MD3200i work with any of these servers that have been mentioned above?
That's a low end iSCSI SAN. So there is no consideration for compatibility. iSCSI is iSCSI and everything supports it. But there is no use case for you where this would make any sense. This would be about the worst possible options, right? Slow, expensive and incredibly dangerous - no failover and very fragile? It would defeat everything that you are trying to accomplish. Isn't this the antithesis of your goals?
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@scottalanmiller said:
@JohnFromSTL said:
Would a PowerVault MD3200i work with any of these servers that have been mentioned above?
That's a low end iSCSI SAN. So there is no consideration for compatibility. iSCSI is iSCSI and everything supports it. But there is no use case for you where this would make any sense. This would be about the worst possible options, right? Slow, expensive and incredibly dangerous - no failover and very fragile? It would defeat everything that you are trying to accomplish. Isn't this the antithesis of your goals?
You're correct, it's the opposite of what I need. I'm frustrated the purse-strings are more watertight than a frog.
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@JohnFromSTL said:
You're correct, it's the opposite of what I need. I'm frustrated the purse-strings are more watertight than a frog.
Even with tight pursestrings, though, doesn't the MD SAN approach make it worse? The cost of the SAN PLUS the cost of the drives and all for nought since it doesn't accomplish any of the goals? If we were to skip all of the goals we could do lots of things for way cheaper.
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@scottalanmiller @Dashrender @StrongBad @Reid-Cooper
Apologies in advance if I missed anyone. So, there are several options up here.
@scottalanmiller said:
That is a huge amount of SQL Server workloads. Figuring out the CPU and memory needs for that will be the biggest part of doing capacity planning.
We have a lot of SQL databases but they are not being accessed that frequently. I'm working on gathering metrics for our 3 SQL Server instances.
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Lots of information to digest, I know.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@JohnFromSTL said:
You're correct, it's the opposite of what I need. I'm frustrated the purse-strings are more watertight than a frog.
Even with tight pursestrings, though, doesn't the MD SAN approach make it worse? The cost of the SAN PLUS the cost of the drives and all for nought since it doesn't accomplish any of the goals? If we were to skip all of the goals we could do lots of things for way cheaper.
Reducing power consumption and BTUs is most important.
I'm not opposed to having multiple Hyper-V host machines, but that would require twin servers for failover and load sharing.
Did I list each of the servers I'm currently using?
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If you don't need redundant servers for high availability, then going down to a single R720xd or R730xd is all that you need. One server, only two CPUs. Fraction of the cost of what we have been proposing, way easier to manage, tiny fraction of the power that you are burning up today.
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@JohnFromSTL said:
Did I list each of the servers I'm currently using?
You listed two of them. Two R900s.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@dafyre said:
I currently have a Dell R720xd running Hyper-V 2012R2. It works really really well. Not sure on the price tag, but that is a nicely built system. Raid controller can do RAID 10, and RAID 6 in addition to the others... Add ram to meet your needs.
We have a monster R720xd with 128GB too. Sweet machine. R730xd has even bigger CPU options.
@scottalanmiller, @dafyre Which CPU and how much RAM is installed in your R720xd server?
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@JohnFromSTL said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@dafyre said:
I currently have a Dell R720xd running Hyper-V 2012R2. It works really really well. Not sure on the price tag, but that is a nicely built system. Raid controller can do RAID 10, and RAID 6 in addition to the others... Add ram to meet your needs.
We have a monster R720xd with 128GB too. Sweet machine. R730xd has even bigger CPU options.
@scottalanmiller, @dafyre Which CPU and how much RAM is installed in your R720xd server?
Not sure on the CPU in ours. I know it is 128GB of RAM.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@JohnFromSTL said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@dafyre said:
I currently have a Dell R720xd running Hyper-V 2012R2. It works really really well. Not sure on the price tag, but that is a nicely built system. Raid controller can do RAID 10, and RAID 6 in addition to the others... Add ram to meet your needs.
We have a monster R720xd with 128GB too. Sweet machine. R730xd has even bigger CPU options.
@scottalanmiller, @dafyre Which CPU and how much RAM is installed in your R720xd server?
Not sure on the CPU in ours. I know it is 128GB of RAM.
Does yours have the 2.5" or 3.5" drive option?
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@JohnFromSTL said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@JohnFromSTL said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@dafyre said:
I currently have a Dell R720xd running Hyper-V 2012R2. It works really really well. Not sure on the price tag, but that is a nicely built system. Raid controller can do RAID 10, and RAID 6 in addition to the others... Add ram to meet your needs.
We have a monster R720xd with 128GB too. Sweet machine. R730xd has even bigger CPU options.
@scottalanmiller, @dafyre Which CPU and how much RAM is installed in your R720xd server?
Not sure on the CPU in ours. I know it is 128GB of RAM.
Does yours have the 2.5" or 3.5" drive option?
3.5". The 12 LFF plus 2 SFF option is really nice.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@JohnFromSTL said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@JohnFromSTL said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@dafyre said:
I currently have a Dell R720xd running Hyper-V 2012R2. It works really really well. Not sure on the price tag, but that is a nicely built system. Raid controller can do RAID 10, and RAID 6 in addition to the others... Add ram to meet your needs.
We have a monster R720xd with 128GB too. Sweet machine. R730xd has even bigger CPU options.
@scottalanmiller, @dafyre Which CPU and how much RAM is installed in your R720xd server?
Not sure on the CPU in ours. I know it is 128GB of RAM.
Does yours have the 2.5" or 3.5" drive option?
3.5". The 12 LFF plus 2 SFF option is really nice.
The Dell Outlet has several nicely equipped machines for under $5,000, but I'm not sure about using nearline SAS.
Processor: Intel Xeon E5-2620 Processor (2.00GHz, 15M Cache, 7.2GT/s QPI, Turbo, 6C, 95W, Max Mem 1333MHz,OEM,XL)
Processor: Intel Xeon E5-2620 Processor (2.00GHz, 15M Cache, 7.2GT/s QPI, Turbo, 6C, 95W, Max Mem 1333MHz,OEM,XL)
2 TB 7.2K RPM Near-Line SAS 6Gbps 3.5in Hotplug Hard Drive [QTY : 12]
300GB 10K RPM SAS 6Gbps 2.5in Hot-plug Hard Drive [QTY : 2]
8GB RDIMM, 1600MT/s, Low Volt, Dual Rank, x8 Data Width [QTY : 4]
Intel Ethernet I350 QP 1Gb Network Daughter Card -
@JohnFromSTL said:
The Dell Outlet has several nicely equipped machines for under $5,000, but I'm not sure about using nearline SAS.
What is your concern with NL-SAS?
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@scottalanmiller said:
@JohnFromSTL said:
The Dell Outlet has several nicely equipped machines for under $5,000, but I'm not sure about using nearline SAS.
What is your concern with NL-SAS?
Are they fast enough?
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@JohnFromSTL said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@JohnFromSTL said:
The Dell Outlet has several nicely equipped machines for under $5,000, but I'm not sure about using nearline SAS.
What is your concern with NL-SAS?
Are they fast enough?
Do you know the IOPs load you need to support?
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Figuring out the IOPS needs is key. Without that we are guessing quite a bit.
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@Dashrender said:
@JohnFromSTL said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@JohnFromSTL said:
The Dell Outlet has several nicely equipped machines for under $5,000, but I'm not sure about using nearline SAS.
What is your concern with NL-SAS?
Are they fast enough?
Do you know the IOPs load you need to support?
I'll have to gather and calculate the info from our 3 SQL machines.
Does this page show the best way to determine current IO details?
http://www.sqltuners.net/blog/13-05-16/Measuring_Disk_IO_performance_for_SQL_Servers.aspxThe page suggested using the following select statement to obtain the required information.
SELECT
*
,wait_time_ms/waiting_tasks_count AS 'Avg Wait in ms'
FROM
sys.dm_os_wait_stats
WHERE
waiting_tasks_count > 0
ORDER BY
wait_time_ms DESC -
Thanks everyone!! I've got to leave for the day, I'll try and connect back to work later tonight.
