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Virtualisation

Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 CSV and Equallogic SAN

18 06 2010

Posted by Maarten Wijsman in Equallogic, Hardware, Hyper-V, Window Server | 1 Comment

Since Windows 2008 R2 it is possible to build an Hyper-V cluster with Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV). One way to build suge a cluster is to use Equallogic PS series.

With atleast firmware 4.3.5 there is an issues when you create an Failover Cluster for use with Hyper-V with the following configuration:

- More then one PS series Equallogic
- More then 2 NIC’s per node
- More than 4 nodes
- More then the default MPIO HIT kit which is 2.

All has too do with how Equallogic handles Peristent Reservations (PR). Per CSV there are only  max. 32 PRs available. But how do they get this number? My assumption is the following formula:

Number of Equallogics   = E
Number of NICs    = N
Number of MPIO    = M (default HIT = 2)
Number of Servers   = S

E * N * M * S = 32

So for instance if you have 2 Equallogics, 2 NIC’s per node which is the minimum, the default  HIT kit settings of 2 and 4 nodes you will end up with the following:

2 * 2  * 2 * 4 = 32

Why did I use this example. This because with 5 nodes the failover cluster will fail when ever you want to do a storage migration or an reboot of one of the nodes. This is because you will have 40 PR’s! This all is with firmware version 4.3.5.

Now, is Equallogic doing nothing to fix this because a Hyper-V cluster can contain a maximum of 16 nodes. With the formula from above you will get with the use of only 1 Equallogic atleast 64 PR’s (1 * 2 * 2 * 16). But why build a 16 nodes Hyper-V cluster with only 1 Equallogic PS series? You will probably use atleast 2 maybe 3 arrays.

Equallogic has released a firmware version 4.3.5 Patch L1 which you can get here. If this will fix the issue with the limited number of PR’s I don’t know. What I also don’t know is if this Patch L1 includes the Patch H1 which I received from Equallogic support which fixed my problems with my 7 nodes, 2 Equallogic, 2 NIc’s per nodes and default HIT kit settings Hyper-V failover cluster. What do I know? Firmware 4.3.5 patch H1 fixed my problem, but rumours are that this only allows 96 PR’s.

This 96 PR’s will get you this:

E * 2 * 2 * S = 96

This leaves you with 24 to be made up out of (the 2 NIC’sS and 2 MPIO’s are a minimum) :

2 Equallogics and 12 nodes
3 Equallogics and 8 nodes
8 Equallogics and 3 nodes
12 Equallogics and 2 nodes

Hopefully Equallogic will enlarge the number of PR’s per CSV to atleats support the maximum number of arrays in a group which is I believe is 15 and with the maximum of 16 nodes in a Hyper-V Cluster . With these numbers and the default of 2 NIC’s and 2 MPIO’s the PR number must be 960 per CSV!

This article is also posted on Dell Tech Center with some interesting comments!

This artcile is based on my personal experience with Equallogics and is in no way supported by Equallogic or Microsoft. I’m still waiting on an answer how the PR number per CSV is calculated.

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Video referentie : Thuis met Windows 7

25 02 2010

Posted by Luc Joziasse in Forefront Client Security, Remote Desktop Services, Windows 7 | No Comments

 Thuis kunnen werken alsof je op kantoor bent. Als organisaties werken volgens Het Nieuwe Werken, dan zitten medewerkers ook regelmatig thuis achter hun pc, Windows 7 ondersteund hierbij. Danny Burlage CTO van Wortell vertelt hoe hij Windows 7 thuis inzet om nog gemakkelijker thuis te kunnen werken. In deze korte film kun je zien hoe hij Windows 7 thuis gebruikt, van de huiskamer tot in de keuken.

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Create bootable VHD’s in Windows 7

8 12 2009

Posted by Roeland Jimenez in Virtualisation, Windows 7 | No Comments

In Windows 7 you can easily create bootable VHD’s.  As a developer I think this is great especially now after PDC with so many beta releases. With a bootable VHD you can make full use of your hardware and keep a clean production machine. In this post I’ll show you the steps to create a bootable VHD that has been created in Windows Virtual PC.

The steps that we need to take are as follows:

  • Create a virtual machine using Windows Virtual PC (If you already have one, go to step 2)
  • Open you virtual machine in Windows Virtual PC
  • Run sysprep
  • Make it bootable

First you need a virtual machine. You can create a new one or use an existing one.
Open the virtual machine using Windows Virtual PC. When the virtual machine is loaded and you have logged in, run sysprep.
Open the command prompt as administrator. In the command prompt type:

c:\windows\system32\sysprep\ sysprep /generalize /shutdown

This will open the System Preparation Tool. Be sure to select the Generalize checkbox.

Wortell blog - Create bootable VHD’s in Windows 7

Wortell blog - Create bootable VHD’s in Windows 7

The next step is to add the VHD to the boot menu.
On your main system open the command prompt as administrator and type:

C:\>bcdedit /copy {current} /d "Beta System VHD"

This will great a GUID for your new entry. Copy this and use it in the line below:

C:\>bcdedit /set {98684a74-c96a-11de-a111-002170eb3c93} device vhd=[c:]\VHD\BetaSystem.vhd
C:\>bcdedit /set {98684a74-c96a-11de-a111-002170eb3c93} osdevice vhd=[c:]\VHD\BetaSystem.vhd
C:\>bcdedit /set {98684a74-c96a-11de-a111-002170eb3c93} detecthal on

Note: point the vhd= to your VHD on you file system.

That’s it. If you reboot your system, you will see you new VHD in the boot menu.

You can also create an VHD using the Disk Manager. Aviraj Ajgekar’s writes a great article on his blog “Windows 7: Boot from VHD First Impression”.

I hope this helps you having a clean production system.
Happy programming,

A special thanks to Volkert for testing this with me!