Dell External OEMR 2800 Quick reference guide

VMware ESX 4 on
Dell PowerEdge Systems
Deployment Guide

Notes and Cautions
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CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates potential damage to hardware or loss of data if
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Reproduction of these materials in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Inc.
is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell™, the DELL logo, PowerEdge™, and PowerVault™ are trademarks
of Dell Inc. Intel
®
and Xeon
®
are registered trademarks and Core™ is a trademark of Intel Corporation
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®
is a registered trademark and AMD Opteron™ is a trademark
of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Microsoft®, SQL Server®, and Windows® are either trademarks or
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2011 - 11 Rev. A12

Contents 3
Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
VMware License Offerings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
ESX Architecture Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
vSphere 4 Architecture Overview . . . . . . . . . . 7
Supported Configurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Important Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Supported vSphere 4 Configuration Solutions . . . . . 24
Configuring ESX 4 Using Dell
Fibre Channel SAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Fibre Channel Environment Setup With ESX . . . . 25
Configuring vSphere 4 Using iSCSI SAN . . . . . . 26
Setting up iSCSI Environment With ESX . . . . . . 27
Deploying ESX and vCenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Guidelines for Deploying ESX . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Installing ESX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Disk Partitioning for ESX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Post Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Tips for Configuring VMotion . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Installing vCenter Server . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Related Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

4Contents

ESX Deployment Guide 5
Introduction
This document is a companion guide to the VMware ESX 4 guides.
This document helps you to deploy ESX 4 on PowerEdge systems and
provides specific information on recommended configurations, best practices,
and additional resources.
NOTE: For information on deploying ESXi 4, see VMware ESXi 4 on Dell PowerEdge
Systems Deployment Guide at support.dell.com/manuals.
VMware License Offerings
Dell offers the following VMware editions:
• vSphere Essentials Plus
• vSphere Standard
• vSphere Enterprise
• vSphere Enterprise Plus
• vCenter Server
NOTE: The latest releases to include both ESX and ESXi hypervisor architectures
are vSphere 4.1 and its subsequent update and patch releases. Future major
releases of vSphere will include only the ESXi architecture. It is recommended that
you consider a plan for migrating to ESXi starting with this release.
NOTE: vSphere Essentials Plus is an all-inclusive package that includes licenses
for three physical systems, each system with up to two processors. It also includes
VMware vCenter Server to centrally manage the systems. vSphere Essentials Plus
edition is supported only on two-socket systems.
NOTE: With the release of vSphere v5.0, all Partner Activation Codes shipped with
current systems is for vSphere 5.0 licensing. If you have a vSphere 5.0 subscription
that is above Trial or Basic, you can downgrade to vSphere 4.1. To get your
downgrade keys, register your Partner Activation Code and login to
vmware.com/accounts. Go to Manage Product Licenses vSphere v5.0 on the
license administration portal.

6ESX Deployment Guide
ESX Architecture Overview
ESX allows multiple operating systems to run simultaneously in virtual
environments on a single physical system. These virtual environments,
referred to as virtual machines (VMs), can be created and managed faster
than conventional systems. The VMs do not interact directly with the
physical hardware. Each of these VMs runs in a resource-isolated,
secure environment and can include Microsoft Windows, Linux,
Novell NetWare, and Solaris operating systems with their
associated applications.
Figure 1. ESX 4 Architecture

ESX Deployment Guide 7
vSphere 4 Architecture Overview
Figure 2. vSphere Components
vSphere infrastructure consists of the following components:
• ESX — Allows multiple operating systems to run simultaneously on
asinglesystem.
•
vCenter Server — Runs on Windows-based operating systems and
monitors and manages Virtual Machines (VM) and copies of ESX. With
vCenter Server, you can create, start, stop, and migrate VMs across the
entire physical data center. vCenter Server is optional and is required for
advanced management capabilities such as VMware VMotion,
Distributed Resource Scheduling (DRS), and High Availability (HA).
PowerEdge System as
ESX Host
Storage Interconnect
Fabric
Ethernet Fabric
vCenter Server
Database
External Storage
for VMs
vSphere
Client/vSphere
CLI
License Server

8ESX Deployment Guide
• vCenter Server Database — Stores all the configuration data about
vSphere. It is recommended that you use a production database such as
Microsoft SQL Server or Oracle for the vCenter Server database.
•
License Server — Authorizes ESX hosts and vCenter Server as per the
purchased license keys and licensing agreement. It is recommended to
install the license server on the vCenter Server host. This can also reside
on a separate host.
NOTE: A license sever is not required for ESX 4 hosts. However,
if vCenter Server manages the ESX 3.0.x or ESX/ESXi 3.5 hosts,
you require a license server.
• vSphere Client — Manages an ESX host by directly connecting to it or
through the vCenter Server. It is installed on a system running a supported
Windows operating system.
•
VM DataStore — Stores VMs configuration and virtual disk files. The VM
storage can either be an internal storage local to ESX or an external storage
that can be shared by multiple copies of ESX. Advanced features such as
VMotion, HA, and DRS require that the disk and configuration files are
stored on VMs external shared storage.
•
vSphere CLI — Performs many operations that you can also perform using
the ESX 4 service console. vSphere CLI commands are especially useful for
an ESXi 4 host because it does not include a service console. vSphere CLI
commands can be used in scripts that run on ESXi 4 and ESX 4 hosts
located remotely.

ESX Deployment Guide 9
Supported Configurations
This section provides information about currently shipping systems only.
NOTE: For a complete list of Dell-supported systems, see VMware ESX/ESXi 4 on
Dell PowerEdge Systems and Storage Compatibility Matrix at
support.dell.com/manuals.
NOTE: SAS/SATA drives mentioned under Table 1, Table 2, and Table 3 also include
SSDs.
Table 1 lists the currently shipping modular-based PowerEdge systems that
support ESX.
Table 1. Modular-Based PowerEdge Systems
PowerEdge M915
Processors AMD Opteron 6100/6200 series
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Two 2.5" SAS/SATA disks
Internal Storage Adapter PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) H200
Integrated and PERC H700 Integrated
External Disk Storage Adapter Not applicable
Fibre Channel HBA
(SAN connectivity)
All supported HBAs
Networking Four integrated network ports and all
supported peripheral NICs
Remote Access Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller
(iDRAC)6
PowerEdge M910
Processor Intel Xeon 6500 series or
Intel Xeon 7500 series or Intel Xeon E7-
2800/4800/8800 product family
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Two 2.5" SAS/SATA disks
Internal Flash Memory Supported SD memory card
Internal Storage Adapter PERC H200 Integrated and PERC H700
Integrated

10 ESX Deployment Guide
External Disk Storage Adapter Not applicable
Fibre Channel HBA
(SAN connectivity)
All supported HBAs
Networking Four integrated network ports and all
supported peripheral NICs
Remote Access iDRAC6
PowerEdge M710HD
Processors Intel Xeon 5500/5600 series
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Four 2.5" SAS/SATA disks
Internal Storage Adapter PERC H200 Embedded
External Disks Storage Adapter Not applicable
Fibre Channel HBA
(SAN connectivity)
All supported daughter cards
Networking Four integrated network ports and all
supported NIC daughter cards
Remote Access iDRAC6
PowerEdge M710
Processors Intel Xeon 5500/5600 series
Minimum Memory 4 GB
Internal Storage Four 2.5" SAS/SATA disks
Internal Storage Adapter SAS 6/iR Integrated, CERC 6/i Modular,
PERC 6/i Integrated, PERC H200 Modular,
and PERC H700 Modular
External Disks Storage Adapter Not applicable
Fibre Channel HBA
(SAN connectivity)
All supported daughter cards
Networking Four integrated network ports and all
supported NIC daughter cards
Remote Access iDRAC6
Table 1. Modular-Based PowerEdge Systems
(continued)