+Fahim S. MVC Posted April 1, 2014 MVC Share Posted April 1, 2014 I have been running an Ubuntu VM for quite some time which performs a number of functions for me: 1) OwnCloud Server 2) Google CloudPrint Server 3) WordPress Development Server (including MySQL) 4) Node.js Server 5) MongoDB Server Sitting on the same hypervisor is a number of VMs including a FreeNAS VM to which almost all of my storage is connected (several terabytes), a pfSense VM which acts as firewall/router to my whole home network. I have plans to add a Windows Home Server VM (I have a license sitting around doing nothing) and a Windows 7 VM to run sporadically. This VM isn't heavily used and runs Ubuntu Desktop 12.04 including Unity for interactive access and to generally play with. I'd like to split this into 7 VMs: 1) OwnCloud Server 2) Google CloudPrint Server 3) WordPress Development Web Server 4) MySQL Development Server 5) Node.js Development Server 6) MongoDB Development Server 7) Ubuntu Desktop Ideally I would like to keep this VMs as small as is necessary. Only the OwnCloud Server gets used far more than the rest, but even that is used a very trivial amount. For the OwnCloud and WordPress I would like to use an iSCSI datastore on the FreeNAS VM for the location of content/files. I would consider doing this also for the MySQL and MongoDB so as to keep the size of the machine predictable. The only machine I would like to keep entirely on the ESXi datastore would be the Ubuntu Desktop which would require headroom to install applications and to generally play. The part I would like help with is sizing up these VMs. None really needs to run a UI besides the Ubuntu (they are servers after all). The Hypervisor is ESXi 5.1 and runs on a HP Proliant MicroServer N54L (Turion II Neo N54L Dual Core @ 2.2GHz per core) with 16GB RAM and 160GB of SSD (including the ESXi installation itself). The SSD can be expanded to a maximum of 240GB if it is really necessary. The FreeNAS VM currently has 16TB of disk allocated to it for storage. This doesn't give me a whole lot of power to play with, but with a superlight version of linux for each of the above I would hope it is achievable. Any help you can provide would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted April 1, 2014 MVC Share Posted April 1, 2014 Since you run ubuntu as your desktop are you wanting to stick with that for your other vm's or are you thinking of a different distro? Something really light? Here is a list of some lightweight linux distros http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Linux_distribution Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted April 1, 2014 MVC Share Posted April 1, 2014 Why booting ESXi off an SSD? That is a waste of a good SSD. The best way to right size VMs is to look at the current usage and adjust accordingly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted April 1, 2014 MVC Share Posted April 1, 2014 esxi boot is small amount of space, really small!! I think like 1GB.. I bet you his esxi boots really fast with it on the SSD ;) fusi0n 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Fahim S. MVC Posted April 1, 2014 Author MVC Share Posted April 1, 2014 Since you run ubuntu as your desktop are you wanting to stick with that for your other vm's or are you thinking of a different distro? Something really light? Here is a list of some lightweight linux distros http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightweight_Linux_distribution Willing to consider anything. Would prefer a Debian based distro with a decent level of support. Why booting ESXi off an SSD? That is a waste of a good SSD. The best way to right size VMs is to look at the current usage and adjust accordingly. They are the only drives I had laying around. I currently have 1 VM, I want to make that 7 - I am assuming that I can't just divide by 7 :rofl: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briangw Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Could also use a SD card to boot ESXi off of. That's what we run at work with all of our hosts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted April 1, 2014 MVC Share Posted April 1, 2014 I think his comment to to why on the SSD vs say the USB port.. While that does work - usb ports on the older microservers is only 2, and very slow ;) Boot takes long enough off the actual HDD it comes with. Doing so off a USB would be painful.. I will have to look to see how long it takes or time it next time I reboot. Curious how fast yours is off of SSD since I have been toying with adding that for my main VMs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Fahim S. MVC Posted April 1, 2014 Author MVC Share Posted April 1, 2014 I think his comment to to why on the SSD vs say the USB port.. While that does work - usb ports on the older microservers is only 2, and very slow ;) Boot takes long enough off the actual HDD it comes with. Doing so off a USB would be painful.. I will have to look to see how long it takes or time it next time I reboot. Curious how fast yours is off of SSD since I have been toying with adding that for my main VMs Oh - read it completely wrong. I don't reboot my server very often, but it doesn't take long. I'll reboot at some point and time it. I don't like the idea of booting off a USB flash drive - just doesn't seem right to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted April 1, 2014 MVC Share Posted April 1, 2014 I think his comment to to why on the SSD vs say the USB port.. While that does work - usb ports on the older microservers is only 2, and very slow ;) Boot takes long enough off the actual HDD it comes with. Doing so off a USB would be painful.. I will have to look to see how long it takes or time it next time I reboot. Curious how fast yours is off of SSD since I have been toying with adding that for my main VMs Why does the boot up time matter? On my ESXi hosts I either boot off of USB or SD depending on what the server supports. The USB booting server is using a USB 2 port on a slow USB thumb drive... I could probably cut the boot time by 30 seconds or so moving it to something faster, but how often do you reboot your ESXi box? I reboot mine only for maintenance and that is maybe once or twice a quarter at most. They are the only drives I had laying around. I currently have 1 VM, I want to make that 7 - I am assuming that I can't just divide by 7 :rofl: I would start with whatever the vender is recommending and then right size in what you actually see. Dividing by 7 probably won't work, but you can look at what the load is on the existing box to get a good idea. For instance, if the existing "mega vm" is only using 1GB of RAM on average you can clearly see that you won't need 4GB per VM (assuming the various venders are recommending this level of RAM). The tricky part of right sizing is getting the VM tailored to your actual load on it. We can't do that for you as we're not running that VM under your conditions... You can always do a setup locally using VMWare Workstation to get an idea and move that to the ESXi host once ready... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Fahim S. MVC Posted April 1, 2014 Author MVC Share Posted April 1, 2014 Why does the boot up time matter? On my ESXi hosts I either boot off of USB or SD depending on what the server supports. The USB booting server is using a USB 2 port on a slow USB thumb drive... I could probably cut the boot time by 30 seconds or so moving it to something faster, but how often do you reboot your ESXi box? I reboot mine only for maintenance and that is maybe once or twice a quarter at most. I would start with whatever the vender is recommending and then right size in what you actually see. Dividing by 7 probably won't work, but you can look at what the load is on the existing box to get a good idea. For instance, if the existing "mega vm" is only using 1GB of RAM on average you can clearly see that you won't need 4GB per VM (assuming the various venders are recommending this level of RAM). The tricky part of right sizing is getting the VM tailored to your actual load on it. We can't do that for you as we're not running that VM under your conditions... You can always do a setup locally using VMWare Workstation to get an idea and move that to the ESXi host once ready... My current 'mega VM' is provisioned with 1 vCPU, 2GB RAM and 20GB Storage. The minimum specs for Ubuntu Server are (apparently) 300MHz, 128MB RAM and 1GB Storage. If I provision 6 of these and a desktop VM with 1GHz, 2GB and 20GB storage, would this work? I have no idea about minimum specs for Linux Server VMs and how honest they are... hence my questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted April 1, 2014 MVC Share Posted April 1, 2014 My current 'mega VM' is provisioned with 1 vCPU, 2GB RAM and 20GB Storage. The minimum specs for Ubuntu Server are (apparently) 300MHz, 128MB RAM and 1GB Storage. If I provision 6 of these and a desktop VM with 1GHz, 2GB and 20GB storage, would this work? I have no idea about minimum specs for Linux Server VMs and how honest they are... hence my questions. I would try it... If you notice you're running out of space, RAM, or hitting CPU utilization thresholds you find unacceptable I would up the resources. It is the only way to get the the right size point... If you can get information online about your specific software that may give you hints as to a floor that might help... My OwnCloud VM is set to 512MB of RAM and is only using 6% of that. So it might easily fit into a VM with 128MB of RAM... Of course, this all depends on your load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Fahim S. MVC Posted April 1, 2014 Author MVC Share Posted April 1, 2014 I would try it... If you notice you're running out of space, RAM, or hitting CPU utilization thresholds you find unacceptable I would up the resources. It is the only way to get the the right size point... If you can get information online about your specific software that may give you hints as to a floor that might help... My OwnCloud VM is set to 512MB of RAM and is only using 6% of that. So it might easily fit into a VM with 128MB of RAM... Of course, this all depends on your load. What are the full specs of your OwnCloud VM? What os is it running on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+LogicalApex MVC Posted April 1, 2014 MVC Share Posted April 1, 2014 What are the full specs of your OwnCloud VM? What os is it running on? It is running on openSUSE 13.1. The ESXi spec sheet is below. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+BudMan MVC Posted April 2, 2014 MVC Share Posted April 2, 2014 The boot up time doesn't really matter all that much - sorry if I gave that impression. But for 1GB of space - just easier, atleast for me to install the HDD that I use for datastore. I too saw no need of booting off a usb when I have plenty of space on the disk using for datastore. If was really really sort on space - maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Fahim S. MVC Posted May 5, 2014 Author MVC Share Posted May 5, 2014 It is running on openSUSE 13.1. The ESXi spec sheet is below. OwnCloud VM Specs.PNG Sorry for the late response. These specs helped. I went for 1GB RAM, 5GB Storage, 1 vCPU. I might try reducing memory down to 512MB at some point to see how things run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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