7 Replies Latest reply on Jan 28, 2014 3:09 AM by IsmaelRossell

    VMware design - SRM, vMotion and redundancy

    fonzie2k Lurker

      Greetings VMware geeks,


      I am currently consulting a company with VMware, and i've met some .. uncertaints on my way, and i would like to hear if the community has any advice



      The current setup is as following:
      6 hosts, 2 clusters, 2 NetApp SAN's and 2 vCenters.


      Configured as 3 nodes in each cluster, and each cluster in its own datacenter on its own vCenter server.

      The vCenters does not use linked mode. So there is no communication between the two sites at all.


      The current logical setup is described in this picture: http://torgeirarnoy.no/Current_vmware.png


      Now, with this setup its not possible to use vMotion and its no redundancy at all between the two datacenters.


      The physical setup is two datasenters, but they both have the exact same network setup, and a very high network capacity between eachothers.

      (So there is no bottlenecks in sight here)


      So i dont see why there should be two vCenters in  the first place, right? Why not setup the two clusters in the same vCenter server using the same datacenter (vCenter datasenter)?


      We (they) also got a Site Recovery Manager (SRM) license for 25 VMs. That could be used for disaster recovery between the two physical sites, but still, no vMotion.


      So my idea is:


      * Cross mount the NetApp disks so all 6 hosts can use them (required for vMotion).
      * Use only one vCenter and attach the 2 clusters under one datacenter (vCenter datasenter).

      * Make a datastore cluster out of theese two NetApp disks to replicate data for redundancy.


      Here is an drawing on how i might see the optimal setup: http://torgeirarnoy.no/Vision_vmware.png


      The problem:
      * No redundancy on the vCenter server. What if the site that holds the vCenter server goes down. Will HA etc continue to work?


      Any advices here will be deeply valued.


      Regards, Torgeir.