linux install on virtualized system

[mlilien@brighton.com]

Hi,

We will be installing pxplus on redhat linux (anyone have a better linux?) on Nutanix hardware running their Acropolis hypervisor.

I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on how to setup the linux or pxplus to run efficiently -- we tried to install on vmware a few years ago & I've heard that otheres have had performance issues running in VM environments.  We have over 300 users

thanks

Marc

[keith.mcbride]

We are running Centos 7 (Redhat open source linux version) on VMware  with 375 users (just updated to 425 users) with no performance issues. The system seems very snappy and we have no complaints from users.
The key is disk I/O, we use  networked attached storage, originally Dell Equalogix, now Tintri with 10 gig ethernet connections.
We have used VMware Live Motion to move the system from one host to another to balance out loads or do maintenance with no issues. There is only a 1 or 2 second lag while it is moving.
We use Veem for backups. It starts a snapshot of the running system, does the backup from that.

We have been using virtualized servers for 10 years and have been pleased with the  results.

Keith McBride
Halperns Steak & Seafood
keith.mcbride@halperns.com

[mlilien@brighton.com]

Thanks Keith --- do you do updates on the Centos?
We looked into Tintri before we got Nutanix -- I heard they went out of business -- any problems getting suppport?
What kind of hardware is your VM on?

[keith.mcbride]

Marc,
Our hosts are older Dell Poweredge 610 with 8 CPUs at 2.6 G and around 100 GB memory. We assign upto 8 CPUs and 22 GB memory to the VM running the software. Centos 7 is very efficient and works well with VMware, we are almost never pushing the hardware.

We update Centos but not frequently, our maintenance window is late Saturday afternoon to early Sunday morning, otherwise we have production going on.

We were concerned about Tintri, but they have been purchased by a company called DDN and received a healthy cash infusion.

We use a company called Veristor (which is headquartered here in Atlanta) who provide a one stop solution. They are VMware partners, and hardware agnostic when it comes to storage and networking. We bought both our former Dell Equalogix and current Tintri solutions from them and they also mapped out and setup the networking for the hosts and storage arrays. Veristor was  the low price bidder on our initial purchase of hardware.

Veristor provides a one call support service we use. If there is a problem we call Veristor and they troubleshoot or call in the right support people to get it fixed. I have called them at 2 in the morning to fix an issue and it is nice not having to call two or three vendors who all say the problem is somewhere else.

For disaster recovery with replicate data in real-time from our VMs to Veristor's data center. In a disaster we boot up the VMs at their data center and point our network to them.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Keith McBride
keith.mcbride@halperns.com