Hi everybody. This is my first post here and i'm wondering if people can help me design a good branch office solution.
Just to do a quick overview of what's the site before diving in the subject, i have an HP ProLiant ML350 G5 server hosting every single role he can. (DC, DHCP, DNS, File Server, Print Server, Antivirus, etc). The situation is that people are complaining about speed issues and latency while accessing the FS.
I'm wondering about deploying VMware Essential Plus package to have the benefits of vMotion and HA features. There are a lot of features actually with VMware and i'm a bit lost in all those. So if you guys find something that best suits the deal here, please feel free to tell.
My prospect configuration is going like this (hardware):
HP ProLiant DL385 G7's (twice like this)
AMD Opteron 6134 (2.3GHz/8-core/80W/12MB)
4x4Gb of RAM PC10600R-9
2x 500Gb 6Gb SAS 7.2k rpm
Redundant PSU 460W
I'm planning to install both servers in cluster for redundancy and fault tolerance.
ESX-1 VMs: Print Server, Secondary DC and Main File Server (Huge A-CAD files and plans, etc)
ESX-2 VMs: WSUS, Antivirus, Primary DC (dhcp) and 2nd File Server (Also a big one but not like Main)
The primary concern here is about a good SAN solution I believe. I'm not expecting to take the internal HDs (maybe for ISOs or for some testing / not important files). Those are gonna be used only in Raid1 like for internal redundandy if anyone fails i'm still fine.
I need some advices on selecting the right SAN. There are a bunch of ways to plug it to the server and i'm wondering what is, not only the best one, but the one that suits my needs. I know FC would be good (overkill?) so iSCSI could also be. Some others prefer NFS? I don't know which one to look at. I had a look at QNAPs TS-879U-RP which does 10GbE (seems important for throughput right?). Some buddy suggests the IBM DS3512 or 3400.
Anyone experienced good thing with one of those solutions? Also, as an SMB, cost effective is a primary concern also. Let's say i'd pay 4 500$ for a server (9 000$ for 2), VMware's licence is 5000$, licences for Win2008 are 800$ (planning 7 servers: 5 600$). I'm at 24 000$ more or less. Let's say I don't want to pay 10 000$ for a complete NAS (HDs included). I don't include the training which would be 3 days, a plane and hotel, etc... I can read whitepapers lol or assist webinares Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Thanks for the help!
