Virtualizing Microsoft Business Critical Applications on VMware vSphere

by Liebowitz, Matt; Fontana, Alexander

• ISBN13: 9780321912039
• ISBN10: 0321912039
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-08-07
• Publisher: VMware Press

Summary

Best practices, guidance, and tips for virtualizing  Microsoft® business critical applications on  the VMware vSphere® platform

 

By virtualizing Microsoft’s enterprise applications on vSphere, you can drive down costs while migrating toward flexible, low-cost private cloud architectures. This unique guidebook bridges the gap between the Microsoft and VMware worlds, bringing together the deep knowledge, cutting-edge best practices, and practical techniques you need to succeed.

 

Leading experts Matt Liebowitz and Alex Fontana present end-to-end coverage of virtualizing Windows Server 2012 AD domain controllers and failover clusters, Exchange Server 2013, SQL Server 2012, and SharePoint Server 2013. They offer indispensable advice on sizing, architecture, performance, availability, monitoring, and metrics.

 

Throughout, the authors share valuable tips, tricks, and insights from their own experiences. For each Microsoft application, they provide "proof of concept" sample configurations and clearly explain how  new features impact virtualization. You’ll also find authoritative, up-to-date guidance on licensing  and other issues related to ensuring full support from both Microsoft and VMware.

 

Coverage includes

    •    Evaluating the benefits, risks, and challenges of virtualizing Microsoft business critical applications

    •    Identifying strategies for success associated with people, processes, and technology

    •    Reviewing VMware vSphere features most important to virtualizing business-critical applications

    •    Taking advantage of new virtualization-aware features built in to Windows Server 2012 domain controllers

    •    Designing and configuring vSphere High Availability (vSphere HA) clusters to run Windows enterprise applications

    •    Reflecting Exchange Server 2013’s new architecture to maximize its performance in virtualized environments

    •    Leveraging new SQL Server 2012 features to simplify the delivery of high availability on virtual servers

    •    Reducing SQL Server 2012 licensing costs through virtualization

    •    Planning, designing, and deploying virtualized SharePoint Server 2013 environments

 

Author Biography

Matt Liebowitz is currently an advisory solution architect at EMC Consulting with a focus on virtualizing business critical applications. He has been working as a consultant and architect for more than 12 years and has been working with VMware’s virtualization technology since 2002. Matt has written virtualization articles in several industry publications, has presented on virtualization at conferences and at his local VMware user group, and has been a blogger on the topic since 2009. Matt also worked with VMware to create content for their Virtualizing Business Critical Applications competency for VMware’s partners and customers.

 

Matt is very honored to have been named a VMware vExpert each year since 2010, as well as an EMC Elect in 2013. He also holds numerous industry certifications from VMware and Microsoft. Matt maintains a VMware virtualization-focused blog at http://www.thelowercasew.com, is a frequent contributor to the VMware Technology Network (VMTN), and is active on Twitter at @mattliebowitz.

 

When Matt is not out trying to save the world through virtualization, he’s happily playing with his two young kids, Tyler (3) and Kaitlyn (1), and spending time with his wife, Joann.

 

Alex Fontana is currently a solutions architect in VMware’s Global Center of Excellence. During his eight years at VMware, Alex has focused on the virtualization of business critical Microsoft applications for both VMware IT and external customers. In his current role, Alex helps VMware customers to be successful in virtualizing Microsoft applications by conducting technical workshops and authoring technical documentation and blogs. Alex has been a recurring speaker at VMworld since 2008 and VMware Partner Exchange since 2010, and is a frequent contributor to the VMware Technology Network (VMTN).

 

When Alex is not busy writing, working with a customer, or trying to break something in the lab, he can be found at the nearest golf course, on a snow-covered mountain, at a San Francisco Giants game, or in the backyard smoking various cuts of meat. Alex lives in the San Francisco bay area with his wife, Laura, and three kids, Joseph, Sissy, and Sergio.

Table of Contents

Foreword xiii

Chapter 1 Introduction to Virtualizing Business Critical Applications 1

What Are Business Critical Applications? 2

Why Virtualize Business Critical Applications? 3

    Benefits 3

Risks, Challenges, and Common Objections of Virtualizing Business Critical Applications 11

    Performance 11

    Supportability 14

    Management 15

    Reliability 16

    Security Risks 17

    Complacency 19

Chapter 2 Strategies for Success 23

Understanding People, Process, and Technology 24

    People 24

    Process 25

    Technology 27

Capacity Planning Assessments 30

    VMware Capacity Planner 30

    Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit 44

Strategies for Success 60

    Capacity Planning 60

    Develop a Virtualization-First Policy 61

    Understand Licensing Requirements 61

    Application Silos 62

    Virtualizing “Like for Like” 64

    Timing Is Key 65

Enterprise Management and Monitoring 66

    vCenter Operations Management Suite 66

Chapter 3 Overview of VMware vSphere 73

Why vSphere for Business Critical Applications 74

    Proven Performance 74

    Efficiency and Scalability 75

    Availability 76

vSphere Considerations for Business Critical Applications 77

    Processor Virtualization 78

    Memory 84

    Storage 87

    Networking 93

Chapter 4 Virtualizing Windows Server 2012 Domain Controllers 99

Introduction to Active Directory 100

    What’s New in Windows Server 2012 Active Directory Domain Services 101

Benefits of Virtualizing Domain Controllers 104

    Why Virtualize Domain Controllers? 104

Virtualizing Windows Server 2012 Domain Controllers 108

    Virtualized Domain Controller Sizing 108

    Time Synchronization 116

    Verifying Functionality 124

    vSphere Configuration 128

    Virtualizing All Domain Controllers 131

Windows Server 2012 Virtualization-Aware Safeguards 132

    A Brief History of Virtualized Domain Controller Risks 132

    VM-GenerationID 134

    Domain Controller Cloning 137

    Virtualized Domain Controller Backup 143

Virtualized Domain Controller Deployment 144

    Prepare the Virtual Machine 144

    Install AD DS 146

    Promote to a Domain Controller 148

Chapter 5 Virtualizing Windows Failover Clusters 155

Background 155

Defining High-Availability Requirements 157

    What Does High Availability Mean to You? 157

    Determining Availability Requirements 159

High-Availability Capabilities 161

    VMware vSphere High Availability 162

    vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduling 163

    vSphere Fault Tolerance 164

    Going All-In with vSphere High Availability 165

Windows Failover Clustering on vSphere 167

    Cluster Configuration Overview 167

    Requirements for Windows Failover Clustering 170

    Deploying a Windows Failover Cluster on a vSphere Cluster 172

Setting Up a Windows Failover Cluster on vSphere 172

    Building the Cluster Nodes 172

    Configuring the Virtual Machines 174

Chapter 6 Virtualizing Exchange Server 2013 193

What’s New in Exchange 2013 194

    Consolidated Server Roles 194

    Additional Features of Exchange 2013 200

Support for Virtualizing Exchange 2013 205

    Understanding Support Requirements 206

Exchange 2013 Sizing on vSphere 208

    Exchange Design Elements 209

    Virtual Machine Design 211

    Application of the Compute Requirements to the Virtual Platform 219

Virtualizing Database Availability Groups 222

    The Evolution of Exchange Clustering 222

    Exchange DAG Versus Traditional Clustering on vSphere 222

    Considerations for Virtualizing Exchange DAG 223

Backup and Recovery of Virtualized Exchange Servers 232

Exchange 2013 Deployment 234

    Configure vSphere Network 235

    Build the Virtual Machines 248

    Create DRS Groups and Rules 260

    Configure DAG Heartbeat Threshold 267

Chapter 7 Virtualizing Microsoft SQL Server 2012 273

What’s New in SQL Server 2012? 274

    Availability 274

    Editions 275

    Scalability 276

    Performance 277

Why Virtualize SQL Server 2012? 278

    Consolidation 279

    High Availability with Less Complexity 281

    Scalability on Demand 282

    Faster Provisioning 282

Preparing for Virtualizing SQL Server 2012 283

    SQL Server Capacity Planning 283

    SQL Licensing 290

    SQL Upgrade Advisor 298

Virtualize Microsoft SQL Server 2012 301

    High Availability 302

    Allocating CPU to SQL Server Workloads 309

    Allocating Memory to SQL Server Workloads 311

    Allocating Storage to SQL Server Workloads 317

    Allocating Network to SQL Server Workloads 322

    Balancing SQL Server Workloads 323

    SQL Server Best Practices Analyzer 324

    Enforcing SQL Server Licensing with vSphere DRS Rules 325

    Performance Testing 328

    Backing Up SQL Server Virtual Machines 329

    Adjusting Cluster Heartbeat Settings 330

    SQL as a Service 332

Deploying SQL Server 2012 337

    Deploy Virtual Machines 338

    Configure Failover Clustering 340

    Install SQL Server 2012 342

    Create AlwaysOn Availability Group 344

    AlwaysOn Availability Group Dashboard 349

    Monitoring SQL Server Virtual Machines 351

Chapter 8 Virtualizing Microsoft SharePoint Server 2013 355

What’s New in SharePoint 2013 356

    Deployment Flexibility 357

    Distributed Cache 357

    Disk I/O Improvements 358

    SharePoint Database Improvements 359

    Improved Reliability 359

Why Virtualize SharePoint 2013 360

    Increased Efficiency 360

    Rapid Provisioning 361

    Fast and Dynamic Scaling 361

    Increased Availability 362

    Co-Location of Test and Development Environments 363

    Simplified Disaster Recovery 364

Preparing for Virtualizing SharePoint Server 2013 365

    Server Roles 366

    High Availability for SharePoint Server 370

    SharePoint Server Load Testing 372

Virtualizing SharePoint Server 2013 375

    Allocating CPU to SharePoint Server Workloads 376

    Allocating Memory to SharePoint Server Workloads 377

    Allocating Storage to SharePoint Server Workloads 379

    Allocating Network to SharePoint Server Workloads 380

    Ongoing Performance Monitoring 381

Deploying SharePoint Server 2013 384

    SharePoint Server Prerequisites 386

    Installing SharePoint Server 2013 389

    Configuring SharePoint Server 2013 390

    Protecting SharePoint Server Databases with AlwaysOn Availability Groups 393

 

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