Design

Analyze and Replay IO Workloads with VMware

by Florian Grehl
February 9, 2014February 9, 2014
3 Comments

One of the most commonly problem in VMware migration projects is that the storage is undersized. When you want to size a new platform it is important to know the IO requirements. Unfortunately storage is often only sized for capacity, which is a great mistake. VMware offers tools you need to analyze and record workloads and replay them in the new platform. This post explains how to capture workloads with vscsiStats trace mode and replay them with I/O Analyzer.

vCenter and the physical or virtual discussion - vSphere 5.5

by Florian Grehl
November 14, 2013December 29, 2014
4 Comments

Since vSphere 5.1 I have heard many advises that it is better to have a physical vCenter due to its enormous resource requirements. In the last years I had many discussions on that topics and it turned out that most people are just afraid because of this "chicken and egg" situation. Technical arguments are mostly related to dvSwitch issues or resource worries. In the following post I'll cover both sides of the argument.

p2v

VMware vSphere 5.5 Configuration Maximums

by Florian Grehl
August 29, 2013

With the upcoming release of VMware vSphere 5.5, there are a few neat platform scalability enhancements. The support for physical hardware has been doubled which… Read More »VMware vSphere 5.5 Configuration Maximums

Howto: vCenter 5.1 SSO with trusted Active Directory

by Florian Grehl
April 14, 2013April 17, 2013
1 Comment

There are a lot of pitfalls when you want to deploy or update to VMware vSphere 5.1. Beside the vSphere Web Client, the most discussed new component is the new authentication engine called Single Sign On (SSO) which is mandatory for the vCenter Server. I've already written about a simple deployment scenario where a vCenter Server (Appliance or Installable) can be authenticated against a single Active Directory domain. In this post i am going to explain the changes and straits when using multiple trusted Active Directory Domains.

VDCD510 Objective 2.6 – Build Recoverability Requirements into the Logical Design

by Florian Grehl
July 12, 2012July 12, 2012

RTO & RPO During the business continuity plan creation it is necessary to define the key metrics of recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time… Read More »VDCD510 Objective 2.6 – Build Recoverability Requirements into the Logical Design

VDCD510 Objective 2.5 – Build Performance Requirements into the Logical Design

by Florian Grehl
July 2, 2012July 2, 2012
1 Comment

Identify Infrastructure Qualities We have already covered infrastructure qualities in objective 2.3. To recall them, here is a short overview: Availability is the ability of… Read More »VDCD510 Objective 2.5 – Build Performance Requirements into the Logical Design

VDCD510 Objective 2.4 – Build Manageability Requirements into the Logical Design

by Florian Grehl
June 23, 2012
1 Comment

Identify Infrastructure Qualities We have already covered infrastructure qualities in objective 2.3. To recall them, here is a short overview: Availability is the ability of a… Read More »VDCD510 Objective 2.4 – Build Manageability Requirements into the Logical Design

VDCD510 Objective 2.3 – Build Availability Requirements into the Logical Design

by Florian Grehl
June 14, 2012June 14, 2012
1 Comment

Identify Infrastructure Qualities VMware named five infrastructure qualities: Availability, Manageability, Performance, Recoverability and Security. If you are familiar with other design methodologies you might have… Read More »VDCD510 Objective 2.3 – Build Availability Requirements into the Logical Design

VDCD510 Objective 2.2 – Map Service Dependencies

by Florian Grehl
June 7, 2012June 7, 2012
6 Comments

This objective talks about service dependencies in your design and how to document them. Services could be everything that matters the design, DNS, databases or… Read More »VDCD510 Objective 2.2 – Map Service Dependencies

VDCD510 Objective 2.1 – Map Business Requirements to the Logical Design

by Florian Grehl
June 2, 2012June 3, 2012

The second objective talks about the logical design. When we talk about the logical design at this point in the project phase we are talking… Read More »VDCD510 Objective 2.1 – Map Business Requirements to the Logical Design