Hello Everybody,
I am uncertain as to whether I am in the right forum or not, if there is a better place for me to ask please let me know.
I am the networks manager for a managed services IT company and we are currently using Microsoft's Hyper-V R2 operating system as our hypervisor platform for all customers.
We currently run approximately 40-50 Hyper-V R2 servers across 30+ customers and run a mixture of physical and guest servers at around the 200 mark.
What I am trying to do is determine other avenues (if any) that can be potentially suited to our situation and needs.
Consider the following:
- Most Hyper-V R2 servers run (on average) 2 or 3 guest machines - for small to medium sized businesses (5 - 50 employees)
- Some (less than 10) deployments are Hyper-V R2 clusters with 2 or 3 nodes running 5 - 20 guest machines (anywhere between 50 to 300 employees)
- We remotely manage 100% of our infrastructure using 3rd party RMM, PSA and DR tools, software and utilities.
Please forgive me as my knowledge of vmware technology is quite limited, however it is my understanding that <insert any VMWware hypervisor server techology here> is installed as a hardened appliance? That being said then I am lead to also believe that you cannot install software onto said installation?
If that is true, I am interested to know how others achieve the following administrative tasks (just a few examples):
RAID:
If there is no software to connect to, run, or remotely manage:
- How do you change Write Modes on a RAID Controller (say from WT to WB) while the system is online (without rebooting to hardware bios)
- How do you monitor RAID performance, statistics (failed disks, prefailed disk warnings, BBU status) while the system is online
- How do you manipulate RAID config (bringing disks online, rebuilding)
Teaming:
If there is no ability to install software on the base platform:
- How do you team NICs
- How do you change parameters such as TCP offload
UPS:
This one is different. Yes I know you can install UPS software on each guest to shut down them in the event of a power outage - but you must admit it is easier to install on the host and shut down the host, and have the host do all the shutting down.
- How do you install UPS showdown software on the host
Those types of things are primarily my main concern, just a few examples off the top of my head. Additionally - the RMM software we utilise looks at event logs and creates events and ticketing information into our PSA about things such as RAID failures, BBU failures and almost all system configuration errors - but again - you would need to have the ability to install software onto the system.
All that being said - perhaps I am wrong?
Any information would be appreciated.
Thanks
Tawney