You're reading from System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager Cookbook - Second Edition Over 70 recipes to help you design, configure, and manage a reliable and efficient virtual infrastructure with VMM 2012 R2.

Product type Paperback

Published in Jun 2014

Publisher

ISBN-13 9781782176848

Length 428 pages

Edition 2nd Edition

Concepts

Cloud Computing

Authors (2):

EDVALDO ALESSANDRO CARDOSO

Edvaldo Alessandro Cardoso Sobrinho

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Table of Contents (12) Chapters

Preface

1. VMM 2012 Architecture FREE CHAPTER

2. Upgrading from Previous Versions

3. Installing VMM 2012 R2

4. Installing a High Available VMM Server

5. Configuring Fabric Resources in VMM

6. Deploying Virtual Machines and Services

7. Managing VMware ESXi and Citrix® XenServer® Hosts

8. Managing Hybrid Clouds, Fabric Updates, Resources, Clusters, and the New Features of R2

9. Integration with System Center Operations Manager 2012 R2

10. Scripting in Virtual Machine Manager

Index

Planning for High Availability

High Availability is important when your business requires minimum or no downtime, and planning for it in advance is very important.

Getting ready

Based on what we learned about each component, we now need to plan the HA for each VMM component.

How to do it…

Start by planning the HA for the core component, followed by every VMM component of your design. It is important to consider the hardware and other System Center components as well the OS and software licenses.

How it works...

When planning for highly available VMM management servers, you should first consider where you can place the VMM cluster. As per best practices, the recommendation is to install the VMM cluster on a management cluster, preferably on physical servers, if using a converged network for your virtual network. However, if you plan to install highly available VMM management servers on the managed cluster, you need to take into consideration the following points:

Only one highly available VMM management server is allowed per failover cluster.
Despite the possibility of having a VMM management server installed on all cluster nodes, only one node can be active at a time.
To perform a planned failover, use Failover Cluster Manager. The use of the VMM console is not supported.
In a planned failover situation, ensure that there are no running tasks on the VMM management server, as it will fail during a failover operation and will not automatically restart after the failover operation.
Any connection to a highly available VMM management server from the VMM console will be disconnected during a failover operation, and it will be reconnected right after.
The failover cluster must run Windows Server v2012 or higher in order to be supported.
The highly available VMM management server must meet the system requirements. For information about system requirements for VMM, see the Specifying the correct system requirements for a real-world scenario recipe in this chapter.
In a highly available VMM management deployment, you will need a domain account to install and run the VMM management service. You are required to use Distributed Key Management (DKM) to store the encryption keys in Active Directory.
A dedicated and supported version of Microsoft SQL Server should be installed. For supported versions of SQL Server for the VMM database, refer to the Specifying the correct system requirements for a real-world scenario recipe.

There's more…

The following sections are the considerations for SQL Server and the VMM library in an HA environment.

SQL Server

In an enterprise deployment of VMM, it is recommended that you have a SQL Server cluster to support the HA VMM, preferably on a cluster separated from the VMM cluster. VMM 2012 R2 supports SQL Server AlwaysOn Availability Groups. The following link will show you a good example of how you can set it up:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/scvmm/archive/2012/10/24/how-to-configure-sql-2012-alwayson-availability-groups-in-system-center-2012-virtual-machine-manager-service-pack-1.aspx.

The VMM library

As the best practice in an enterprise deployment, it is highly recommended that you use a highly available file server to host the VMM library shares, as VMM does not provide a method to replicate files in the VMM library, and they need to be replicated outside of VMM.

As a suggestion, you can use the Microsoft Robocopy tool to replicate the VMM library files, if necessary.

Authors (2)

Edvaldo Alessandro Cardoso Sobrinho

Edvaldo Alessandro Cardoso is a virtualization and management enthusiast, author, and team leader. He is a subject matter expert in cloud computing and virtualization, and their management. He is strong team player, and pays attention to detail. His major strengths include strong leadership and hands-on skills, excellent communication skills, the ability to manage varied and conflicting demands to agreed standards and timelines. He has dutiful respect for compliance in all regulated environments. He also has supervisory skills, which includes hiring skills. He has experience in managing, finding solutions, planning, organizing, and leading complex projects. All of these acquired in 23 years of experience in IT, in roles that span from an Application Developer through Network Manager, Network Security Manager, Systems Engineer, and Technical Consultant, working in segments spanning from government to health, education, and IT sectors. His product skill set includes Microsoft infrastructure technologies such as Hyper-V, System Center, Windows Server, SQL Server, Active Directory, Exchange, SharePoint, IIS, and Forefront, and he also has sound knowledge of Quest Migration Manager, Linux Infrastructure, Networking, Security Solutions (such as VPN and Firewall), and VMware in complex and large scenarios. He also has a strong grasp of infrastructure and architecture solutions, IT management and industry-related datacenter processes, strategies, and industry regulations and requirements. He has been a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional in virtualization since 2009, he is a well-known speaker at IT-related events such as TechEd, CNASI, Windows Road Shows, and User Groups. He has consistently been a presenter for more than 10 years. He is an active member of Microsoft System Center TAP. He is also an Australian Computer Society (ACS) Certified Professional, a VMware Certified Professional, and also holds certifications in MCSE, MCSA, MCT. He was selected as Microsoft TechNet Brazil IT Hero in 2007. He was also awarded the Microsoft IT Heroes Happen award in Los Angeles in 2008. Furthermore, his virtualization project for a governmental institution in Brazil, while working as IT Manager, was selected as a business case by Microsoft. He lead major virtualization, AD, and Exchange projects for large customers is APJ, closely collaborating and liaising with presales and sales teams to ensure order fulfillment, client satisfaction, and IT synergies. As a key member of his team, he proactively shares expertise with peers around the globe, building and maintaining confidence of colleagues and customers, developing and nurturing deep expertise in key areas such as private cloud, migration and messages, and collaboration. He has also actively contributed to the development of materials and presentations related to his expertise, the development of best practices, and reusable content to ensure high-quality and consistent delivery of service projects across the globe.

See other products by Edvaldo Alessandro Cardoso Sobrinho

EDVALDO ALESSANDRO CARDOSO

See other products by EDVALDO ALESSANDRO CARDOSO

You're reading from System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager Cookbook - Second Edition Over 70 recipes to help you design, configure, and manage a reliable and efficient virtual infrastructure with VMM 2012 R2.

Table of Contents (12) Chapters

Planning for High Availability

Getting ready

How to do it…

How it works...

There's more…

SQL Server

The VMM library

Authors (2)

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