[mdlug] Virtual Server Time

[Robert Adkins II]

Hey All,
 
    I'm in the process of building a test system that I will be using to
test a few elements of virtual servers to eventually replace the two servers
that I'm running here. This email and subsequent chain, is something that I
want to use to document a little about what I have found/already done and to
seek some pointers that could streamline or minimize the complexity of this
process.
 
    I am aware that I can operate all of the services that I need on one
piece of hardware without virtualization, but part of this whole process is
geared towards making it easier to seamlessly perform server software
updates and full OS upgrades/replacements as well as making it possible to
quickly bring up a replacement server with as little configuration needed as
possible, assuming a mainboard or similar catastrophic failure happens on
the host server.

    I've done some reading on the subject and found that KVM is essentially
the closest to "Raw Hardware" than all of the other Virtual Machine systems.
Part of my concern is maintaining the best performance with the hardware
that I will be using for this system.
 
    Goals Include:
 
    Being able to pull data drives out of the Host Server and move those to
the back-up hardware, boot and pull up the virtual machines and be back up
and running in roughly a half-hour or less.
 
    Test server configuration/software updates with the ability to toss out
a broken system and go back to a still safe and fully functioning server
image.
 
    Setup instructions so that an otherwise unskilled office worker can be
expected to move hard drives into the backup server so that myself or a
contract source can ssh into the backup host and effect final corrections to
bring the virtual servers back up, no matter where I am in the world.
 
    Things that I believe will be of help:
 
    Multiple NICs in the host server. 
 
    Running the Host OS on a mirrored SSD drive, Virtual Machines might
benefit from being on their own Hard Drives with the data each would be
sharing also be on separate drivers???
 
    First Hurdle:
 
    I have a test server loaded up and connected via a bridge on the test
Host to the network. My intention is for this to be a Samba server and the
Host has a separate bare hard drive already formatted to act as the file
system to be shared via the Virtual Samba Server. I will be working on this
element tomorrow morning.
 
    If there are any pointers for what I should look at for the host server
hardware, etc., etc., I would greatly appreciate it.
 
    



-- 

Regards, 
Robert Adkins II
IT Manager/Buyer 
Impel Industries, Inc. 
586-254-5800