Michael NoelConvergent ComputingTwitter: @MichaelTNoel

Author of SAMS Publishing titles “SharePoint 2010 Unleashed,” “SharePoint 2007 Unleashed,” “SharePoint 2003 Unleashed”, “Teach Yourself SharePoint 2003 in 10 Minutes,” “Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed,” “Exchange Server 2010 Unleashed”, “ISA Server 2006 Unleashed”, and many other titles .

Partner at Convergent Computing (www.cco.com / +1(510)444-5700) – San Francisco Bay Area based Infrastructure/Security specialists for SharePoint, AD, Exchange, Security

Why Virtualize? SharePoint 2010 Virtualization Guidelines and

Models Virtualization of SharePoint Roles Virtualization of SQL Server

Memory Limitations and Guidelines for Guests Microsoft Virtualization Software Options

Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 Third Party Virtualization Product Support

Microsoft Licensing for Virtual Servers Demo: Quick Farm Provisioning with VMM 2008 R2

• Excellent Virtualization Candidate

• Can be easily provisioned via templatesWeb

• Higher proc/mem requirements, but still good candidate

• Often paired with SP2010 Web Role

• Requires 2nd Disk for Index

Search Service App

• Higher proc/mem requirements, but still good candidate

• Low disk requirements compared to other roles

Other Service Apps

• Requires the most memory, proc, and disk IO

• Be cautious when virtualizing, make sure host is scaled

• Remember, Virtualization for Virtualization’s sake is badDB

vCPU RAM (Minimum)

RAM (Recommended)

Web Only* 2 6GB 8GB

Service Application Roles Only

2 6GB 8GB

Dedicated Search Service App

2 8GB 10GB

Combined Web/Search/Service Apps

4 10GB 12GB

Database* 4 10GB 16GB

Allows Organizations that wouldn’t normally be able to have a test environment to run one

Allows for separation of the database role onto a dedicated server Can be more easily scaled out in the future

Server Memory Processors DiskVirtual host 24GB RAM 2 quad-core (8

cores) C drive: OS - Windows Server 2008 R2 with

Hyper-V; 50GB dedicated volume D drive: dedicated volume for OS VHDs E drive: 500GB dedicated volume for SQL

Database VHDs F drive: 100GB dedicated volume for SQL

Logs VHDs.

SQL server 10GB RAM 4 virtual processors

C drive: OS - 100GB fixed-size VHD D drive: fixed-size VHD (100GB) dedicated

for SQL logs E drive: fixed-size VHD (500GB) dedicated

for SQL Data

SharePoint Web/Query/App

10GB RAM 4 virtual processors

C drive: OS and Transport Queue Logs; 100GB fixed-size VHD

E drive: 100GB fixed-size VHD for Index/Query

High-Availability across Hosts

All components Virtualized

Uses only two Windows Ent Edition Licenses

Server Memory Processor DiskVirtual hosts 48GB RAM 2 quad-core (8

cores) C drive: OS; Windows Server 2008 R2 with

Hyper-V; 50GB dedicated LUN D drive: dedicated LUN for VHDs Raw volume: 100GB dedicated LUN for SQL

Logs Raw volume: 2TB dedicated LUN for SQL

DatabasesSQL Servers 16GB RAM 4 virtual

processors C drive: OS; 50GB fixed-size VHD D drive: pass-through dedicated LUN

(100GB) for SQL Logs E drive: pass-through dedicated LUN (2TB)

for SQL DataSharePoint Web/App Servers

12GB RAM 2 virtual processors

C drive: OS; 100GB fixed-size VHD

SharePoint Search/Query Servers

12GB RAM 2 virtual processors

C drive: OS; 100GB fixed-size VHD D drive: 200GB fixed-size VHD for

Index/QuerySQL Witness Server

2GB RAM 1 virtual processor

C drive: OS; 50GB fixed-size VHD

Highest transaction servers are physical

Multiple farm support, with DBs for all farms on the SQL cluster

Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) Boundaries exist at the hardware level.

Virtual guests that are allocated more memory than exist within a single NUMA memory boundary have significantly impacted performance

NUMA boundaries vary by processor and motherboard vendor, but good rule of thumb to calculate boundaries is to divide the amount of memory in the system by the total number of cores.

i.e. Dual Quad-core host (2x4 cores = 8 cores) with 64GB of RAM on the host would mean NUMA boundary is 64/8 or 8GB.

In this example, allocating more than 8GB for a single guest session would result in performance drops.

Keeping NUMA boundaries in mind, this means that you will get significantly better performance provisioning two SharePoint front-ends with half the amount of RAM as a single front-end with twice as much RAM.

This applies to any Virtualization platform, as the limitation is hardware specific. NUMA allocation specifics will vary by vendor, however.

Refer to MS Whitepaper on Virtualization of SharePoint (http://tinyurl.com/virtualsp) for more specifics.

Manually with Perfmon counters Collect data over a week minimum to look

for trends throughout the week Use to help prove performance problems are

not because of Virtualization Consider using System Center Operations

Manager 2007 R2 for long-term performance analysis and threshold alerting

Processor (Host Only) <60% Utilization = Good 60%-90% = Caution >90% = Trouble

Available Memory 50% and above = Good 10%-50% = OK <10% = Trouble

Disk – Avg. Disk sec/Read or Avg. Disk sec/Write Up to 15ms = fine 15ms-25ms = Caution >25ms = Trouble

• Network Bandwidth –Bytes Total/sec

– <40% Utilization = Good

– 41%-64% = Caution

– >65% = Trouble

• Network Latency -Output Queue Length

– 0 = Good

– 1-2= OK

– >2 = Trouble

Microsoft’s official SharePoint support stance is that any SharePoint role or service is supported for hardware Virtualization, including SQL Server 2005, SQL Server 2008, or SQL Server 2008 R2. There are only three requirements for Virtualization that must be satisfied, these are as follows:

Hardware-assisted Virtualization, which is available in processors that include a Virtualization option—specifically processors with Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) or AMD Virtualization (AMD-V) technology.

Hardware-enforced Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is available and enabled.

Either deployed on Microsoft Hyper-V (RTM or R2 version) or a validated third-party hypervisor that is part of the Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) – KB 897615

SharePoint supported on VMware ESX/ESXi, Citrix XenServer, or others in the SVVP

This only covers Hypervisor products, so excludes products such as VMware Workstation or VMWare Server

Virtualization Host and Guest Management Platform

Part of the System Center Management Suite, which includes the following: System Center Operations Manager 2007

System Center Data Protection Manager 2007

System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2

System Center Mobile Device Manager 2007

System Center Essentials 2007

System Center Capacity Planner 2007

System Center Service Manager 2010

New version out (VMM 2008 R2) VMM 2008 R2 has P2V (Physical to virtual migration) and

V2V (VMware Guest migration to Hyper-V) tools For SharePoint, allows for creation of SharePoint template

servers that can be quickly provisioned for test farms or for new farm members in production

Can manage both Hyper-V and VMware guests (though must ‘go through’ a Virtual Center server to manage VMware guests.)

Self-Service Portal allows end users and remote admins to be able to provision their own virtual machines based on templates

1. Create new Virtual Guest (Windows Server 2008 R2)2. Install SP2010 Binaries. Stop before running Config

Wizard3. Turn Virtual Guest into Template, modify template

to allow it to be added into domain4. Add PowerShell script to run on first login, allowing

SP to be added into farm or to create new farmVoila! 15 minute entire farm provisioning…

Demo

36

$configType = read-host "Do you wish to join an existing Farm? (Y/N)"if ($ConfigType -eq "Y") {

$DatabaseServer = read-host "Sounds good. Please specify the name of your SQL Server";$ConfigDB = read-host "Next, specify the name of your Farm Configuration Database";$Passphrase = read-host "Finally, please enter your Farm passphrase" -assecurestring

} else { $DatabaseServer = read-host "In that case, let's create a new Farm. Please specify the name of your SQL Server";$FarmName = read-host "Please specify a name for your Farm (ex. SP2010Dev)";$ConfigDB = $FarmName+"_ConfigDB";$AdminContentDB = $FarmName+"_Admin_ContentDB";Write-Host "Please enter the credentials for your Farm Account (ex. CONTOSO\SP_Farm)";$FarmAcct = Get-Credential;$Passphrase = read-host "Enter a secure Farm passphrase" -assecurestring;$Port = read-host "Enter a port number for the Central Administration Web App";$Authentication = read-host "Finally, specify your authentication provider (NTLM/Kerberos)";

}if ($ConfigType -eq "Y") {

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell;Connect-SPConfigurationDatabase -DatabaseName $ConfigDB -DatabaseServer $DatabaseServer -Passphrase $Passphrase

} else {Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SharePoint.PowerShell;Write-Host "Your SharePoint Farm is being configured..."New-SPConfigurationDatabase -DatabaseName $ConfigDB -DatabaseServer $DatabaseServer -AdministrationContentDatabaseName $AdminContentDB -Passphrase $Passphrase -FarmCredentials $FarmAcct

}Initialize-SPResourceSecurityInstall-SPServiceInstall-SPFeature -AllExistingFeaturesNew-SPCentralAdministration -Port $Port -WindowsAuthProvider $AuthenticationInstall-SPHelpCollection -AllInstall-SPApplicationContentWrite-Host "Your SharePoint 2010 Farm has been created!"if ($ConfigType -eq "N") {

$WebAppCreation = read-host "Would you like to provision a Web Application using the default Team Site Template? (Y/N)";if ($WebAppCreation -eq "Y") {

$HostHeaderQ = read-host "Would you like to specify a host header? (Y/N)";if ($HostHeaderQ -eq "Y") {

$HostHeader = read-host "Please specify a host header for your Web Application (ex. intranet.contoso.com)";$URL = "http://"+$HostHeader;Write-Host "Creating your Web Application...";New-SPWebApplication -Name "SharePoint 2010 Team Site" -Port 80 -HostHeader $FQDN -Url $URL -ApplicationPool "Content_AppPool" -ApplicationPoolAccount (Get-SPManagedAccount $FarmAcct.UserName) -DatabaseServer $DatabaseServer -

DatabaseName $FarmName + "_TeamSite_ContentDB_01";New-SPSite $URL -OwnerAlias $FarmAcct.UserName -Language 1033 -Template "STS#0" -Name "Team Site";Write-Host "Configuration completed.";

}else {Write-Host "Creating a Web Application using the default Team Site Template..."}

}else {

Write-Host "Configuration completed.";}

}Write-Host "Press any key to continue..."$x = $host.UI.RawUI.ReadKey("NoEcho,IncludeKeyDown")

Windows Server Virtualization Licensing Standard Edition: One virtual guest (if host is dedicated to

Virtualization role) Enterprise Edition: Four virtual guests (if host is dedicated to

Virtualization role) / Guests can be Std/Ent DataCenter Edition: Unlimited Number of Virtual Guests / Per

processor socket license Virtualization OS licensing applies to Hyper-V or any virtual host

software listed in SVVP (KB 897615) System Center Virtualization Licensing

System Center Management Suite Standard Edition License: Gives DPM, OpsMgr, ConfigMgr, and VMM Agents for 1 server.

System Center Management Suite Enterprise Edition License: Gives unlimited DPM, OpsMgr, ConfigMgr, and VMM Agents for all virtual guests on the host.

Check with Microsoft for Specifics…

Guests can run any combination of downlevellicenses (i.e. Datacenter host, Ent or Std edition guests)

Applies not only to OSes running Virtualized with Windows Virtualization, but it also applies to 3rd

party Virtualization as well!

Understand the architecture options for SharePoint 2010 Consider Virtualization for SharePoint, but architect host and

guest environments very carefully. Best performance comes from dedicated virtual hosts,

dedicated passthrough NICs, and dedicated passthroughdisks and by not overcommitting resources.

KB897615 outlines MS Support for 3rd Party Virtualization such as VMware and XenServer…

Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V technology gives high performance and is a very cost competitive option

MS Licensing has new Virtualization support, and Datacenter edition will provide for unlimited guests under a single host.

SharePoint 2007 Unleashed and SharePoint 2010 Unleashed (SAMS Publishing) (http://www.samspublishing.com)

Windows Server 2008 R2 Unleashed and/or Hyper-V Unleashed (http://www.samspublishing.com)

Microsoft ‘Virtualizing SharePoint Infrastructure’ Whitepaper (http://tinyurl.com/virtualsp)

Microsoft ‘Virtualizing SQL Server’ Whitepaper (http://tinyyurl.com/virtualsql) Microsoft SQL Mirroring Case Study http://tinyurl.com/mirrorsp Failover Mirror PowerShell Script http://tinyurl.com/failovermirrorsp Microsoft Edge Videos on Virtualization of SharePoint:

http://tinyurl.com/edgenoel2 http://tinyurl.com/edgenoel3

Contact us at CCO.com

Michael NoelTwitter: @MichaelTNoel

www.cco.com