[GRLUG] VMWare ESXi Was: Raid, LVM, and Cheap Storage

[Bruce Smith]

> Let me explain my experiences in some more detail for you Bruce :)

And I appreciate this very much!!!  :-)

Currently I have mostly Linux servers virtualized.

The only Windows boxes I currently have in a VM are a couple Win2003
Terminal Servers, and those were built from scratch.

> Exchange 2003, and 2000 servers:

We will be installing Exchange 2007 shortly, although probably not in
a VM since our consultant says it's not supported by Microsoft.

> Sql 2000:

What about newer versions of SQL server?  (2005?)

We have a couple low usage SQL servers that are installed and
maintained by outside parties (i.e. our payroll vendor).  Those would
be nice to virtualize.  And it's be nice to avoid major problems so
employees (including myself) keep geetting paid!  :-)

> Domain Controllers: (I will go into some detail here seeing you are
> considering this)
> Windows Domain Controllers states cannot be restored, they cannot be left
> offline, snapshots cannot be used - any of this can cause a USN Rollback -
> which is bad, and basically makes the server useless, untrusted by the
> remaining domain controllers, and unsyncable.
> This can happen if you leave the server connected to the network AFTER
> performing your Conversion.
> When you convert a DC (which I don't advise, it's better to rebuild it,
> transfer Host Master Roles, and retire the old one just because of how
> insanely tempermental AD really is.)
>...
> Note: YOU MUST start the virtual machine within literally HOURS of
> converting it, if a DC is left offline in a multi-site multi-dc environment
> Microsoft states that problems can start in as little as 8 hours.

What you're saying about replication makes sense to me, except for the
part of leaving a DC offline can cause problems.  (I'm not disagreeing
with you, I'm just trying to understand why)

[Forget VM's for this]  Isn't that the point of having multiple DC's?
The network still runs in the event one DC fails?  But what happens if
it takes a couple days to get a replacement part to get the failed DC
back up and running?

 - BS