Stephan Seitz
2007-May-02 09:42 UTC
[Xen-users] Best Practise for Xen in "clustered" Environment
Hi listmembers, we''re currently using Xen (3.0.4) on some dedicated Machines. The DomU''s root-fs as well as the swapspace are located on the particular machines on lvm (single pv on hardware raid). As we are running a lot of dedicated machines which could also get xenified, we assume it''s not the best practise in Installing a Xen "island" on every single machine. One solution we thougth about was, putting the lvm space which is available on every single machine together via gfs, gnbd or similiar and let the domU''s run from a netwide available lv. There are about 10-15 Machines available, each of them with at least 2 GBit NICs, Hardware Raid (3ware and areca) with useable capacity from 400G upto 2T. Architecture is from x86 (P4 HT without VT) upto x64_64 (EMT, Dual Xeon Dualcore with VT), RAM is probably an issue, because some of the older machines doesn''t support more than 4G); there are also some equivalents equipped with AMD Processors (Dual Opteron with VT (the AMD equivalent, i think this is called pacifica)) The DomU''s should only run x86_32 and don''t need to be fully virtualized. Paravirtualization should always be enough (or even better). We''re currently really unsure, if this is in general a good idea, also if it''s practical, how would you get the lvm space together, as there are uncountable different possibilities ? I would like to see, how you would do (or leave) this? A SAN/NAS solution is not possible, as we want to consolidate currently available hardware. Bying new storage space is a no-go. Well, relatively low-prized equipment like additional NIC''s or RAM shouldn''t be a problem. The currently installed "internal" switch is capable of any kind of port truncing, qos and vlan on GBit, so network speed shouldn''t be such a problem. FC isn''t availabe. If you''ve an ideas, I would really like to hear from you. Thanks in advance! -- Stephan Seitz Senior System Administrator *netz-haut* e.K. multimediale kommunikation zweierweg 22 97074 würzburg fon: +49 931 2876247 fax: +49 931 2876248 web: www.netz-haut.de <http://www.netz-haut.de/> registriergericht: amtsgericht würzburg, hra 5054 _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Tijl Van den Broeck
2007-May-02 12:39 UTC
Re: [Xen-users] Best Practise for Xen in "clustered" Environment
On 5/2/07, Stephan Seitz <s.seitz@netz-haut.de> wrote:> Hi listmembers, > > we''re currently using Xen (3.0.4) on some dedicated Machines. The DomU''s root-fs as well as > the swapspace are located on the particular machines on lvm (single pv on hardware raid). > > As we are running a lot of dedicated machines which could also get xenified, we assume it''s > not the best practise in Installing a Xen "island" on every single machine. > > One solution we thougth about was, putting the lvm space which is available on every single > machine together via gfs, gnbd or similiar and let the domU''s run from a netwide available lv. >For a single box for all the servers, the most viable (and supported) options are: - Novell SLES with EVMS + OCFS - Red Hat with CLVM + GFS If you run Debian/Ubuntu/Gentoo/... you can go any direction you want. As for sharing across the machines iSCSI is fully supported by Novell & RH. So no need to use ndb (I doubt that''s supported). That said for one machine.... However, you want it from every node combined? I would not recommend that in any way whatsoever. One could indeed accomplish this by exporting every disk/LVM to everywhere and thus making everything available everywhere. But in that case, you might as well stick with the Island scenario, as "live migration" would mean nothing, if you have to bring down a physical node you''ll bring down the original storage box of a domU as well so it dies anyhow. If only ZFS would be mainstreamed by now in the kernel you''d have a very manageable option there.> There are about 10-15 Machines available, each of them with at least 2 GBit NICs, Hardware Raid > (3ware and areca) with useable capacity from 400G upto 2T. Architecture is from x86 (P4 HT > without VT) upto x64_64 (EMT, Dual Xeon Dualcore with VT), RAM is probably an issue, because some > of the older machines doesn''t support more than 4G); there are also some equivalents equipped > with AMD Processors (Dual Opteron with VT (the AMD equivalent, i think this is called pacifica)) > > The DomU''s should only run x86_32 and don''t need to be fully virtualized. Paravirtualization should > always be enough (or even better). > > We''re currently really unsure, if this is in general a good idea, also if it''s practical, how would > you get the lvm space together, as there are uncountable different possibilities ? > I would like to see, how you would do (or leave) this? > > A SAN/NAS solution is not possible, as we want to consolidate currently available hardware. Bying > new storage space is a no-go. Well, relatively low-prized equipment like additional NIC''s or RAM > shouldn''t be a problem. The currently installed "internal" switch is capable of any kind of port > truncing, qos and vlan on GBit, so network speed shouldn''t be such a problem. FC isn''t availabe. > > If you''ve an ideas, I would really like to hear from you. > > Thanks in advance! > > > -- > Stephan Seitz > Senior System Administrator > > *netz-haut* e.K. > multimediale kommunikation > > zweierweg 22 > 97074 würzburg > > fon: +49 931 2876247 > fax: +49 931 2876248 > > web: www.netz-haut.de <http://www.netz-haut.de/> > > registriergericht: amtsgericht würzburg, hra 5054 > > _______________________________________________ > Xen-users mailing list > Xen-users@lists.xensource.com > http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users > >_______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users
Artur Linhart - Linux communication
2007-Aug-08 14:15 UTC
RE: [Xen-users] Best Practise for Xen in "clustered" Environment
Hello Stephan, Did You solved somehow this issue About You are speaking here? Is there a good solution for a netwide LV which could be used and would be suitable for DomUs? Thank You for any information in advance Artur -----Original Message----- From: xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com [mailto:xen-users-bounces@lists.xensource.com] On Behalf Of Stephan Seitz Sent: Wednesday, May 02, 2007 11:42 AM To: XEN User - listmembers Subject: [Xen-users] Best Practise for Xen in "clustered" Environment Hi listmembers, we''re currently using Xen (3.0.4) on some dedicated Machines. The DomU''s root-fs as well as the swapspace are located on the particular machines on lvm (single pv on hardware raid). As we are running a lot of dedicated machines which could also get xenified, we assume it''s not the best practise in Installing a Xen "island" on every single machine. One solution we thougth about was, putting the lvm space which is available on every single machine together via gfs, gnbd or similiar and let the domU''s run from a netwide available lv. There are about 10-15 Machines available, each of them with at least 2 GBit NICs, Hardware Raid (3ware and areca) with useable capacity from 400G upto 2T. Architecture is from x86 (P4 HT without VT) upto x64_64 (EMT, Dual Xeon Dualcore with VT), RAM is probably an issue, because some of the older machines doesn''t support more than 4G); there are also some equivalents equipped with AMD Processors (Dual Opteron with VT (the AMD equivalent, i think this is called pacifica)) The DomU''s should only run x86_32 and don''t need to be fully virtualized. Paravirtualization should always be enough (or even better). We''re currently really unsure, if this is in general a good idea, also if it''s practical, how would you get the lvm space together, as there are uncountable different possibilities ? I would like to see, how you would do (or leave) this? A SAN/NAS solution is not possible, as we want to consolidate currently available hardware. Bying new storage space is a no-go. Well, relatively low-prized equipment like additional NIC''s or RAM shouldn''t be a problem. The currently installed "internal" switch is capable of any kind of port truncing, qos and vlan on GBit, so network speed shouldn''t be such a problem. FC isn''t availabe. If you''ve an ideas, I would really like to hear from you. Thanks in advance! -- Stephan Seitz Senior System Administrator *netz-haut* e.K. multimediale kommunikation zweierweg 22 97074 würzburg fon: +49 931 2876247 fax: +49 931 2876248 web: www.netz-haut.de <http://www.netz-haut.de/> registriergericht: amtsgericht würzburg, hra 5054 _______________________________________________ Xen-users mailing list Xen-users@lists.xensource.com http://lists.xensource.com/xen-users