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Table of contents
Executive summary ...................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Solution components ................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Rack and power ......................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Network ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Servers ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Storage ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Windows Server 2012 ............................................................................................................................................................ 24
Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V ........................................................................................................................................... 27
Management systems ........................................................................................................................................................... 40
Capacity and sizing ...................................................................................................................................................................... 44
Bill of materials ............................................................................................................................................................................ 45
Summary ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 48
Implementing a proof-of-concept .......................................................................................................................................... 48
For more information ................................................................................................................................................................. 49
Sizer resources ........................................................................................................................................................................ 49
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Executive summary
In traditional data centers where each server is deployed for the sole purpose of running a single workload, you often
encounter hardware sprawl, higher energy consumption for power and cooling, and more complex management.
Virtualization decouples virtual and physical resources, thereby enabling the sharing of resources previously dedicated to
individual applications, driving less provisioning complexity, and greater flexibility. This leads to a transformation of not only
the data center, but also the businesses that those data centers fuel as a result of delivering greater consolidation,
administrative efficiency, and cost savings. HP and Microsoft are positioned to help you deploy a stable and flexible
virtualization infrastructure with their next generation of products to serve as a base for your applications. Together with
Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, our HP Converged Infrastructure solutions including HP Converged Storage is a powerful
virtualized compute platform that helps you reduce both capital and operational expenses while simultaneously increasing
the overall flexibility of your data center. The foundation for this virtualized platform is based on the following:
HP ProLiant BL460c and DL380p Generation 8 servers provide more capability for your blade or rack mount servers
HP 3PAR StoreServ 7000 series storage arrays with advanced features built-in
HP Networking solutions for your data center and branch office Ethernet and Storage needs
Microsoft Windows Server 2012
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V
Microsoft System Center 2012 suite of products for deployment, management and maintenance
With HP Converged Infrastructure and Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012, you can transform your data center into a cloud
computing environment to provide IT services on demand. As even newer components are made available or as additional
functionality is required, it can be seamlessly added to the existing virtualization infrastructure.
Target audience: This white paper is intended to assist IT decision makers, storage administrators, Windows and Hyper-V
architects and engineers involved in the planning, deployment and management of a Hyper-V Infrastructure using the HP
3PAR StoreServ 7x00 and HP ProLiant Gen8 servers.
This white paper describes testing performed in January 2013.
Introduction
Business requirements for technology solutions change quickly and contain complex features. HP helps IT departments to
provide the flexibility to rapidly implement new solutions, redesign and modify solutions as workloads and business
requirements evolve over time and reallocate resources that are freed up when new solutions are implemented.
For more than 30 years, HP and Microsoft have worked together to accelerate time-to-application value, improve
performance, and reduce the complexity and cost of deploying and running mission-critical data management applications.
Only HP and Microsoft integrate the hardware, software, and services you need, on the scale you need, with industrystandard solutions that extend the power of information to everyone. As new technology is released in HP hardware such as
network devices, servers and storage, Microsoft operating systems and applications evolve to make use of these new
features.
HPs release of new products includes:
HP ProLiant BL460c and DL380p Generation 8 servers provide more processing power with 8 and 12 core processors and
memory capacities up to 768 GB along with LAN on motherboard cards to allow tailoring to your needs
HP 3PAR StoreServ 7000 series storage arrays with advanced features like thin provisioning and Adaptive Optimization
built-in and support of SMI-S Providers for Microsoft System Center 2012.
HP Networking solutions for your data center and branch office Ethernet and Storage needs
Microsoft has added functionality that makes use of new features across many of HPs product lines and this allows the IT
engineer to align their design closely to the customers requirements and goals both on initial design and as the needs
evolve over time.
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
The solution configuration presented in this paper is an example configuration to demonstrate the functional components
used to build the solution. It is critical for any virtual infrastructure to incorporate flexibility into the initial design in order to
meet changing business needs. Meeting business requirements and service levels requires that every infrastructure be as
simple as possible for ease of troubleshooting, ease of updating during maintenance windows and recoverability in the
event of unexpected failures.
Hewlett-Packard continues to provide the best designed and easiest to use server products on the market with world class
service and supportability. When it counts, you can depend on HP to provide you with the best infrastructure to deploy your
IT needs.
Solution components
HP offers a full range of solution components to provide a single vendor solution from design and procurement through
installation and support. The solutions contained in this design are focused on flexibility and manageability so that its
simple to change a component to meet new needs or to monitor a subsystem. The products in this solution range from
rack, power, server and storage components to the operating system and software solutions.
Management
42
ACT
LINK
HP A5800 Series
Switch JG225A
HP 5800
Series Switch
JG225A
Console
Unit
PWR1
FAN1
42
42
41
41
Mode
Green = Simplex
Yellow = Duplex
53
SYS
54
42
PWR2
FAN2
10/100/1000Base-T
LSWM1FANSC
LSWM1FANSC
10
11
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10/100/1000Base-T
52
SFP+
Green=10Gbps, Yellow=1Gbps
HP 5920
Series Switch
JG296A
FAN1
FAN2
PWR1
HP 5920
Series Switch
41
Management
LINK
Console
SYS
LSVM124SFAN
LSVM124SFAN
10
11
12
13
SFP+
Green=10Gbps, Yellow=1Gbps
14
15
16
17
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20
21
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24
10/100/1000Base-T
SFP+
Green=10Gbps, Yellow=1Gbps
HP 5920
Series Switch
JG296A
FAN1
FAN2
40
PWR1
HP 5920
Series Switch
40
41
ACT
PWR2
Management
40
LINK
Console
40
ACT
SYS
PWR2
LSVM124SFAN
LSVM124SFAN
10
11
12
13
SFP+
Green=10Gbps, Yellow=1Gbps
14
15
16
17
18
Green=10Gbps, Yellow=1Gbps
19
20
21
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24
10/100/1000Base-T
SFP+
12
13
10
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11
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12
13
10
14
11
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10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
NIC
PS1
POWER
CAP
PS2
OVER
TEMP
26
26
25
25
PLC B
1
26
750W
PS1
AMP
STATUS
94%
UID
DIMMS
2
PROCS
10 12
10 12
5
PS2
FANS
25
11
11
94%
4
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
NIC
PS1
POWER
CAP
PS2
OVER
TEMP
24
24
23
23
TOP
25
TOP
23
1
ACT LINK
24
PLC B
750W
ProLiant
DL380p
Gen8
P2
P1
LINK ACT
iLO
UID
iLO
UID
PLC B
1
HP ProLiant DL380p
Gen8
24
750W
PS1
AMP
STATUS
94%
UID
DIMMS
2
PROCS
10 12
10 12
5
PS2
FANS
23
11
11
94%
4
1
ACT LINK
22
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
NIC
PS1
POWER
CAP
PS2
OVER
TEMP
PLC B
750W
ProLiant
DL380p
Gen8
22
22
21
21
P2
P1
LINK ACT
PLC B
1
22
750W
PS1
AMP
STATUS
94%
UID
DIMMS
2
PROCS
10 12
10 12
5
PS2
FANS
Two-node Controller
21
11
11
PLC B
750W
94%
ProLiant
DL380p
Gen8
4
P2
P1
LINK ACT
20
20
20
19
19
15
16
LAN 1
20
A
B
To remove power completely, both AC line cords must be disconnected.
Intr 0
Mfg
UID
PCI-HBA
Intr 1
FC-2
DP-1
DP-2
MGMT
FC-1
RC-1
7400
18
PULL
23
10K 450GB
SAS
10K 450GB
SAS
SAS
17
16
17
16
3PAR
StorServ
7400
10K 450GB
SAS
10K 450GB
CAUTION
12
SAS
764W PCM
10K 450GB
SAS
PULL
10K 450GB
SAS
CAUTION
1
DP-2
DP-1
580W PCM
11
10K 450GB
SAS
SAS
10K 450GB
SAS
12
23
10K 450GB
SAS
10K 450GB
SAS
10K 450GB
SAS
15
15
14
14
Drive
Shelf
M6710
10K 450GB
SAS
CAUTION
10K 450GB
15
CAUTION
SAS
580W PCM
10K 450GB
SAS
DP-2
14
Mfg
3
7.2K
7.2K
2 TB
2 TB
INSERT PSU
BLANK IN
SLOTS 2 OR 3
23
DP-1
580W PCM
SAS
Mfg
7.2K
2 TB
CAUTION
7.2K
2 TB
SAS
14
ATTENTION
SAS
13
7.2K
7.2K
7.2K
2 TB
2 TB
2 TB
SAS
13
13
12
12
SAS
13
580W PCM
SAS
SAS
CAUTION
580W PCM
Mfg
Mfg
SAS
DP-2
7.2K
2 TB
SAS
DP-1
7.2K
2 TB
CAUTION
7.2K
2 TB
SAS
12
7.2K
7.2K
2 TB
2 TB
7.2K
7.2K
7.2K
SAS
3
SAS
2 TB
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
2 TB
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
11
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
11
10
10
09
09
10
FAN
1
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
09
08
08
08
07
07
FAN
5
09
08
SHARED: UPLINK or X-LINK
X1
X2
X3
X4
X5
X6
X7
X8
X1
UID
X2
X3
X4
X5
X6
X7
X8
UID
1
HP VC FlexFabric 10Gb/24-Port Module
07
UID
UID
UID
UID
UID
UID
UID
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
06
06
05
05
06
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
7
05
Enclosure Interlink
OA1
UID
OA2
UID
iLO
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
Reset
iLO
Active
Enclosure
UID
Reset
05
Active
04
04
04
03
03
03
04
FAN
6
UID
UID
UID
UID
UID
UID
02
UID
HP BladeSystem
Onboard Administrators
5
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
07
UID
06
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HP BladeSystem
interconnect modules
CAUTION
SAS
2 TB
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
11
Drive
Shelf
M6720
580W PCM
SAS
12
11
10
INSERT PSU
BLANK IN
SLOTS 2 OR 3
SAS
ATTENTION
7.2K
2 TB
SAS
HP BL460c Gen 8
Hyper-V Hosts
HP StoreServ 7400
2-node
580W PCM
10K 450GB
SAS
10K 450GB
SAS
10K 450GB
SAS
DP-1
10K 450GB
SAS
Mfg
10K 450GB
SAS
10K 450GB
SAS
10K 450GB
SAS
DP-2
10K 450GB
Mfg
15
16
Mfg
Mfg
CAUTION
580W PCM
17
CAUTION
10K 450GB
MGMT
SAS
RC-1
10K 450GB
FC-2
SAS
DP-2
10K 450GB
SAS
FC-1
10K 450GB
UID
SAS
7400
10K 450GB
Intr 1
SAS
Intr 0
10K 450GB
SAS
DP-1
10K 450GB
SAS
10K 450GB
SAS
10K 450GB
SAS
Mfg
10K 450GB
PCI-HBA
11
17
16
18
764W PCM
18
CAUTION
764W PCM
18
HP KVM Switch/Monitor
19
CAUTION
764W PCM
21
UID
iLO
SETUP
19
TOP
1
ACT LINK
FAN
10
03
HP BladeSystem c7000
Platinum enclosure
UID
02
02
01
01
02
OK
01
PS
6
PS
5
PS
4
PS
3
PS
2
PS
1
01
REAR VIEW
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Power devices included in the solution fall into two broad categories, HP intelligent power devices and standard power
devices. The heart of the HP Intelligent power solution is the Intelligent Power Distribution Unit (PDU) which provides the
ability to connect to the Intelligent PDU over the Ethernet network and to manage and monitor the power in your racks.
Intelligent devices include special power components with blue connectors that contain connections for data
communication of power state and integration with intelligent power supplies in the ProLiant servers and in the
BladeSystem enclosure. Standard devices can be plugged into the Intelligent PDUs but do not contain the data connection.
Both intelligent and standard types of devices can be controlled from the Intelligent PDU management console.
Figure 2. HP Power: Physical HP Intelligent PDU components
HP Intelligent Cable
HP Intelligent PDU
The HP Intelligent PDU components shown in Figure 2 include the Intelligent PDU which plugs into data center power and
provides connections to either the HP Managed Extension Bars or to the BladeSystem. The HP Intelligent PDU is connected
to the HP Intelligent PDU Display so that you can monitor the rack locally from that display mounted in the rack door.
Remote monitoring and management of the HP Intelligent PDU is performed using Ethernet over a connection to the HP
Intelligent PDU. Special HP Intelligent power cables are available for connection to ProLiant servers with Intelligent Power
supplies and to the BladeSystem. HP Intelligent PDUs should be deployed in pairs in the rack and configured to support
redundant communication, SNMP trap generation and email alerts to notify administrators of power events.
The remote Intelligent PDU management console is accessible over Ethernet and can be configured for either http or https
connectivity and contains multiple functional areas.
The overview page of the remote HP Intelligent PDU Management Console is shown in Figure 3.
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
As shown above, the interface reports the total load in the vertical bar with alarm thresholds defined in yellow and red as
well as the current total load identified by the white pointer. The horizontal bars to the right of the total load show
information specific to each of the six load segments with the same threshold and current load indicators.
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Within the HP Intelligent Modular PDU interface, you can identify the type of devices that are plugged into the outlets of the
PDU such as extension bars (Load Segment 1, 2 and 3: Managed Extension Bar) or BladeSystem power supplies (Load
Segment 4, 5 and 6: HP AC Module, Single Phase, Insight) in the Identification portion of the menu as shown in Figure 4. The
load segments are the physical ports 1 through 6 on the HP Intelligent PDU that are connected to the Managed Extension
Bar or BladeSystem power supplies.
Figure 4. HP Intelligent Modular PDU: Identification
In the figure above, load segments 1, 2 and 3 contain managed extension bars and load segments 4, 5 and 6 contain
BladeSystem power supplies (HP AC Module, Single Phase, Intlgnt).
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
In the device assignment section of the HP Intelligent Modular PDU interface, you can describe the type of devices that are
plugged into the outlets and PDU extension bars as shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5. HP Intelligent Modular PDU: Device Assignment
In the figure above, the device type dropdown box identifies the device that is plugged into each outlet on the PDU. In the
case of a managed extension bar, the fields to the right show the five outlets and allow the entry of description information
if the device is not automatically recognized. In the figure, the device labeled APS-KS-MGT01-iLO which is shown plugged
into Load Segment 1: Outlet 4 was automatically discovered through the data connection in the power cable that connects
the server to the PDU. The automatic discovery process populates the server name, model, Integrated Lights-Out (iLO 4) IP
address (and hyperlink) as well as the GUID for the device. The U Position, U Height and U Location fields are not
automatically populated but can be entered to fully describe each devices location within the rack. HP Location Discovery
Services products can be installed into the rack to provide automatic discovery of ProLiant Gen8 server location within the
rack.
For the load segments that are connected to a Blade Enclosure; the Onboard Administrator (OA) name, enclosure type
(c7000), OA IP address (including hyperlink) and GUID for the device are automatically discovered. Double-clicking on any of
the hyperlinks will open a new browser window with the information in the hyperlink.
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
In the control section of the HP Intelligent Modular PDU interface, you can perform operations against devices that are
plugged into the outlets and PDU extension bars as shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6. HP Intelligent Modular PDU: Control
In the figure above, there are two types of control options, which depend on the Redundancy Status. If the redundancy
status shows a green checkmark (APS-KS-MGT01-iLO), then when you choose to turn off or cycle the power this Intelligent
PDU will communicate with its partner Intelligent PDU and shut off both power outlets that feed the server causing the
server to be entirely disconnected from power. If the redundancy status is a blue information icon (APS-KS-KVM01), then
when you choose to turn off or cycle the power only the outlet connected to this PDU is disconnected from power. If a
standard device with two power supplies is plugged into two different PDUs in a rack and you wish to completely disconnect
it from power, you must navigate to the other Intelligent PDU and shut down the corresponding device from its interface.
Note
It is important to update the firmware on the HP Intelligent Modular PDU devices to ensure that all current features are
available and that the firmware matches on all Intelligent PDUs.
Network
This solution incorporates HP Networking components to provide an integrated solution. The networking devices in this
solution include both Ethernet and Fibre Channel devices.
The network devices are selected based on the type (10GbE and 1GbE) and quantity or ports as well as airflow models so
that a back to front airflow pattern could be used to match with the hot and cold zones in the data center. When mounting
devices into the rack, the Ethernet and storage networking devices were mounted facing the rear of the rack, as shown
previously in Figure 1. The networking devices are then configured with the proper fan flow direction within their
management consoles. Proper cooling is important to ensure that processors are able to run at maximum performance.
The HP FlexFabric components used in this configuration provide a flexible architecture for converged Ethernet and Fibre
Channel connections. When using FlexFabric, the environment is cabled once and can then be configured or changed as
needed to meet new requirements without the need to change hardware.
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Ethernet
The Ethernet configuration used in this design contains both 10GbE and 1GbE segments. For this specific lab configuration,
there are data center networks (LabNet) that are internal to the data center and a corporate network (CorpNet) that houses
the client and administrator workstations, as well as management interfaces for servers, storage and network devices. The
LabNet and CorpNet networks are connected using a Microsoft Windows Server 2012 server that has the Routing and
Remote Access server and the Microsoft Remote Desktop Gateway server roles installed.
The logical layout of the lab networks is shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7. Ethernet Network: Logical
Management Servers
RD Gateway
StoreServ 7400
Admin
Hyper-V Hosts
Note
Every server, the intelligent PDUs and network switches all have their management ports on the CorpNet network so that in
the event the RD Gateway server is unavailable, access to manage the lab is still possible.
HP Networking switches
CorpNet contains a single HP Networking 5800AF-48G switch and provides 48 RJ45 ports with 1GbE connectivity to the
administrative workstations, the server (RD Gateway) containing Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with the Remote Desktop
Gateway role, the administrative ports on the network and storage switches, the Onboard Administrator (OA) and the
Integrated Lights-Out (iLO 4) connections in the BladeSystem and the iLO 4 connections in the rack mount servers.
LabNet contains two HP 5920AF-24XG 10GbE switches that are configured as a redundant pair to provide service in the
event of failure of either switch through the use of Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) which combines multiple
physical ports into a single logical port. The 5920AF switches provide 24 - 10GbE ports each. The HP 5920AF-24XG 10GbE
switches have the ability to use multiple connection types including: DAC Cables with built-in transceivers, SFP+ transceivers
with LC-LC Fibre cables and HP X120 1G SFP RJ45 T transceivers. The 5920AF switches provide connection to the RD
Gateway server, management servers, the BladeSystem interconnect modules and the StoreServ 7400.
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Note
The 5920AF switches do not currently provide a web interface and must be configured using the CLI.
The 554 LOM NICs are shown in Figure 8. The HP FlexFabric 10Gb 2-port 554FLB FlexibleLOM shown on the left is used in
ProLiant blade servers and the HP FlexFabric 10Gb 2-port 554FLR-SFP+ FIO Adapter shown on the right is used in ProLiant
rack mount servers. Fibre Channel SAN connections (FCoE) are made through the 554 LOM NICs on the blade servers while
separate 8Gb Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters (HBA) are used for the DL380p rack mount servers.
BladeSystem interconnect modules
The BladeSystem enclosure allows the use of a variety of interconnect modules to match the design requirements of many
solutions. The Virtual Connect FlexFabric 10Gb/24-Port Module is shown in Figure 9. Two modules are used in this design to
provide converged Ethernet and Fibre Channel storage area networks into a single set of connections and a single point of
management.
Figure 9. BladeSystem interconnect module: Virtual Connect FlexFabric 10Gb/24-Port
X1
X2
X3
X4
X5
X6
X7
X8
UID
There are eight external SFP+ ports (shown above) and 16 internal ports in each of the two FlexFabric interconnect
modules. The eight SFP+ connections are used to provide Ethernet or Fibre Channel access outside of the enclosure. The
first four connections (x1 through x4) are capable of providing Ethernet or FC support while the remainder of the ports (x5
through x8) are Ethernet only.
10
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Note
Ports x7 and x8 in FlexFabric modules are shared uplink or cross-link ports that connect with interconnect modules in the
same or other BladeSystem enclosures.
The HP 8/24 SAN Switch delivers affordable and flexible 8 Gbit/sec connectivity and can be incorporated into an extensive
core fabric or placed as an edge switch for SAN environments. It delivers sixteen high performance auto-sensing 1, 2, 4, and
8 Gbit/sec Fibre Channel ports. With powerful yet flexible capabilities such as Ports On Demand scalability to 24 ports in an
8-port increment, the 8/24 SAN Switch enables organizations to start small and grow their storage networks in a nondisruptive manner. A fully populated 8/24 SAN Switch with 24 enabled ports provides 384 Gbit/sec switching capacity for
un-congested sustained, 8 Gbit/sec full duplex throughput.
Product Highlights
Features Ports on Demand capability for fast, easy, and cost-effective scalability from 16 to 24 ports in an 8-port
increment
The 8/24 SAN Switch with 24 enabled ports may be deployed as a full-fabric switch or in Access Gateway mode, which
provides connectivity into any SAN (the default mode setting is a switch). Attaching through NPIV-enabled switches and
directors, the 8/24 SAN Switch with 24 enabled ports in Access Gateway mode can connect to other SAN fabrics.
Optional enhanced ISL Trunking combines up to eight ISLs between a pair of switches into a single, logical high-speed
11
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Management Servers
StoreServ 7400
Hyper-V Hosts
The Fibre Channel connections differ between the rack mount servers and blade servers. The rack mount servers use Fibre
Channel HBAs which are connected using optical cables and 8Gb SFP+ transceivers to two B-Series SAN switches. The blade
servers connect using Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) from the 554FLB LOM modules to the FlexFabric interconnect
modules, and Fibre Channel is used for the connection from the FlexFabric interconnect module to the B-series switches.
The differences in connection methods are shown in Figure 11.
Figure 11. Fibre Channel connections: Protocols used for connection
DL380p Gen 8
B-Series Switch
NC554FLR
Fibre Channel
Fibre Channel
12
BL460c Gen 8
BladeSystem
Interconnect
Module
B-Series Switch
NC554FLB
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Servers
The physical servers in this solution are categorized into two broad categories. Management servers that provide the
platform to service, deploy, monitor and manage the solution and Hyper-V host servers which contain the Hyper-V guests
that will be deployed with your applications. Both the management and application servers are configured as Hyper-V hosts
and VMs are deployed with the individual server roles. The functional roles and their location on the servers in this solution
are shown in Figure 12.
13
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
NIC
PS1
POWER
CAP
PS2
RDGate
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
DC/GC
10K
SAS
900 GB
10K
SAS
900 GB
FANS
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HV-L
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HV-H
HV-H
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HV-H
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HV-H
10 12
11
OVER
TEMP
10 12
AMP
STATUS
11
NIC
POWER
CAP
10 12
11
10 12
11
HV-H
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
FS
UID
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HV-L
FS
UID
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HV-L
IPAM
IPAM Server
SCVMM/SCOM Server
HV-H
WDS Server
HV-H
HV-L
HV-L
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
WDS
UID
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HV-L
Domain Controller
SCVMM
UID
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HV-L
DC/GC
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
UID
Management Server
11
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
UID
RD Gateway Server
10 12
ProLiant
DL380p
Gen8
HV-H
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
10K
SAS
450 GB
UID
MGT
AMP
STATUS
UID
RDGate
OVER
TEMP
PROCS
HP ProLiant
BL460c Gen8
HV-H
UID
SCVMM
3
PROCS
8
PS1
DIMMS
10K
SAS
900 GB
ProLiant
DL380p
Gen8
10K
SAS
900 GB
NIC
PS2
MGT
POWER
CAP
FANS
IPAM
11
UID
WDS
10K
SAS
900 GB
PS1
3
AMP
STATUS
ProLiant
DL380p
Gen8
DIMMS
10K
SAS
900 GB
10 12
PS2
DC/GC
OVER
TEMP
PROCS
FANS
MGT
UID
DIMMS
FS
UID
UID
UID
UID
UID
UID
UID
UID
OK
14
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
The RD Gateway server is a domain-joined server that provides the connection point for Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)
connections to servers in the data center network. This server hosts the following tools used for management of the
infrastructure:
MobaXterm terminal software for connection to a 48-port HP serial port concentrator used with HP 3PAR StoreServ 7400
VMware Workstation 9.0 to host the virtualized 3PAR Service Processor
HP 3PAR Management Console (MC) and Command Line (CLI) tools
HP B-series SAN management tools (browser-based)
FTP/TFTP Server for distributing and updating firmware on network switches
Web server (IIS) to host installation distributions like ISO images used to provision servers
Note
The HP 3PAR StoreServ virtual Service Processor (vSP) is only provided as a VMware virtual machine. The availability of a
Hyper-V virtual machine-based vSP may be available in a future release. A physical HP 3PAR StoreServ Service Processor
(SP) can be ordered for environments that do not support VMware.
Management servers
The two Windows Server 2012 management servers are configured as Hyper-V host servers and have virtual machines
configured with the following roles:
Domain Controller (DC), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server and Domain Name Service (DNS)
IP Address Management (IPAM) server
Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) and Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2012 SP1
Microsoft Windows Deployment Server (WDS)
The management servers are located outside of the BladeSystem and provide a platform to control the configuration,
deployment, management and alerting for the Hyper-V hosts in the BladeSystem that run the application hosts. The
Hyper-V management server hosts are not clustered or domain-joined.
ProLiant BL460c Gen8 servers and HP BladeSystem c7000 Platinum enclosure
ProLiant BL460c Gen8 servers are BladeSystem servers used to host the application virtual machines and Scale Out File
Servers in the solution.
BL460c Gen8 servers are designed to support virtualization and provide power and flexibility in memory, processor and
network features.
The ProLiant BL460c Gen8 servers are configured to serve the following roles:
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V host (HiMem) clustered
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V host (HiMem and LoMem) stand-alone
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Scaleout File Server Cluster (SMB 3.0)
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Scaleout File Server Cluster (SMB 3.0)
The Windows Scale Out File Server (SOFS) cluster provides a two-node failover cluster to host Server Message Block 3.0
(SMB 3.0) file shares to store virtual hard disks (VHDX) that hold Guest OS and application data disk volumes.
The components in each BL460c Gen8 are:
Processor: (two) E5-2665 processors
Memory: (96GB) HP 16GB 2Rx4 PC3-12800R-11 Kit
Disk: (two) HP 450GB 6G SAS 10K 2.5in SC ENT HDD RAID 1
Network: HP FlexFabric 10Gb 2P 554FLB FIO Adptr
HP TPM Module Kit
Storage
The storage in this solution is provided by HP 3PAR StoreServ 7400 Storage System. The HP 3PAR StoreServ 7400 provides
support for two- or four-controller node configurations, wide-striping of data, support for Windows Server 2012 Offloaded
Data Transfer (ODX), support for Windows Standards-based Storage Management and flexibility in storage provisioning. The
array can be ordered in pre-configured starter packages or specifically configured to meet your design goals. The HP 3PAR
StoreServ 7400 array deployed in this configuration provides storage to HP ProLiant servers hosting Hyper-V guest virtual
machine startup and data disks. The HP 3PAR StoreServ 7400 array is connected with the rack mount and blade servers
using the HP B-series 8Gb Fibre Channel SAN switches and BladeSystem FlexFabric modules.
16
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
FC Host
Connections
FC or iSCSI Host
Connections
Serial Console
Connection
Mfg
Intr 0
Intr 1
FC-2
RC-1
DP-1
UID
CAUTION
764W PCM
RC-1
HP
3PAR
7400
1
FC-2
DP-2
DP-1
Intr 1
Mfg
Intr 0
UID
CAUTION
FC-1
PCI-HBA
MGMT
FC-1
HP
3PAR
7400
PCI-HBA
764W PCM
MGMT
DP-2
764W PCM
Disconnect all power
for complete isolation
764W PCM
CAUTION
Node 1
CAUTION
Node 0
Management Connection
Disk Shelf Connections
Inter-Controller Link
Connections (4-node)
In the figure above, the rear of a two-node HP 3PAR StoreServ 7400 controller pair is shown.
Note
Node 0 and node 1 are oriented 180 from each other when locating the ports on each controller.
The ports are the same on controller node 0 and controller node 1 and consist of the following ports:
FC-1 and FC-2 8Gb Fibre Channel host connections from each node
PCI-HBA 8Gb Fibre Channel (4-port) or 10GbE iSCSI (2-port) host connections from each node
MFG Serial Console connection to connect to a computer or serial concentrator switch for node management
DP-1 and DP-2 6Gb SAS connections for external M6710 (SFF) or M6720 (LFF) hard drive shelves
Intr 0 and Intr 1- Controller interlink connections to provide full mesh backplane links to an additional controller pair
MGMT 1GbE Ethernet management connection for access to the HP 3PAR Management Console functionality
RC-1 1 GbE Remote Copy connection for replication traffic
17
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
7200 Two-node
Controller Nodes
Two (Four)
Two
Processors
Two quad-core
3PAR ASIC
Two (Four)
Two
Cache
32 GB (64 GB)
24 GB
Fibre Channel
4 to 12 (4 to 24)
4 to 12
iSCSI
0 to 4 (0 to 8)
0 to 4
512 (1024)
512
8 to 144
8 to 120
RAID Levels
RAID 0, 1, 5 and 6
RAID 0, 1, 5 and 6
0 to 9 (0 to 18)
0 to 5
Host Ports
Storage networking
Storage networking provides connectivity from the servers to the storage and for this design consists of Fibre Channel and
Fibre Channel over Ethernet connection types.
The process for providing storage connectivity for the server infrastructure incorporates several phases:
First Step: design a physical cabling diagram and make the connections between the B-series Fibre Channel switches,
BladeSystem FlexFabric interconnect modules, the management servers and StoreServ 7400
Second Step: configure the B-series Fibre Channel switches by assigning an alias to each physical connection from every
server, each connected port on the FlexFabric interconnect modules and each of the host connection ports on the
StoreServ.
Third Step: configure the B-series Fibre Channel switches by assigning the aliases to zones. The zones provide a logical
connection path from a server through the B-series switches to the StoreServ.
Forth Step: define Virtual Connect server profiles, assign them to servers and install MPIO
Fifth Step: provision the StoreServ with each host and VMs World Wide Names (WWNs)
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
SAN Fabric
B
SAN Fabric
C
SAN Fabric
A
BladeSystem Interconnect
modules
X1
X2
X3
X4
X5
X6
X7
X8
X1
UID
X2
X3
X4
X5
X6
X7
X8
UID
12
10
13
11
14
15
20
17
21
18
22
19
23
10
13
12
11
15
16
20
17
21
18
22
19
23
Mfg
Intr 0
PULL
PCI-HBA
764W PCM
Disconnect all power
for complete isolation
Intr 1
DP-1
7400
FC-2
DP-2
MGMT
FC-1
RC-1
14
CAUTION
UID
PULL
FC-1
RC-1
7400
FC-2
MGMT
DP-2
Intr 1
DP-1
Mfg
Intr 0
UID
764W PCM
PCI-HBA
764W PCM
CAUTION
764W PCM
Disconnect all power
for complete isolation
HP StoreServ 7400
Controller
CAUTION
FC02
16
FC01
HP 8/24 SAN
Switches
SAN Fabric
D
CAUTION
BladeSystem Fibre Channel connections are defined in Virtual Connect Manager as SAN Fabrics: A, B, C and D as shown in
Figure 15. The logical SAN Fabrics are used in conjunction with Virtual Connect Server Profiles to define how each server
connects to the StoreServ array.
Figure 15. Storage Networking: Virtual Connect SAN Fabric configuration
19
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Disk shelf cabling consists of SAS connections made from two ports on each controller to the interface card in each disk
shelf. Figure 16 shows the Disk Ports (DP-1 and DP-2) on the controllers and the connections that need to be made on each
disk shelf interface module.
Figure 16. Storage Networking: StoreServ 7400 Disk Shelf cabling
Mfg
Intr 0
Intr 1
FC-2
RC-1
DP-1
UID
CAUTION
764W PCM
Node 0
HP
3PAR
7400
FC-1
PCI-HBA
MGMT
FC-1
HP
3PAR
7400
PCI-HBA
RC-1
FC-2
DP-2
DP-1
Intr 1
Mfg
Intr 0
CAUTION
764W PCM
UID
764W PCM
MGMT
Node 1
DP-2
764W PCM
Disconnect all power
for complete isolation
HP StoreServ 7400
Controller pair
CAUTION
DP-1
DP-2
CAUTION
DP-2
DP-1
DP-1
CAUTION
580W PCM
DP-2
Mfg
Mfg
DP-1
CAUTION
580W PCM
Mfg
Mfg
HP StoreServ M6710
SFF Drive Enclosure
DP-1
580W PCM
DP-2
580W PCM
CAUTION
CAUTION
DP-1
DP-1
3
DP-2
Mfg
Mfg
ATTENTION
INSERT PSU
BLANK IN
SLOTS 2 OR 3
DP-1
580W PCM
CAUTION
HP StoreServ M6720
LFF Drive Enclosure
580W PCM
CAUTION
DP-2
580W PCM
Disconnect all power
for complete isolation
Mfg
Mfg
DP-1
CAUTION
1
ATTENTION
DP-1
INSERT PSU
BLANK IN
SLOTS 2 OR 3
Disconnect all power
for complete isolation
580W PCM
CAUTION
Note
The M6710 (SFF) disk shelves with either controller nodes or interface modules 0 and 1 are oriented 180 from each other
when locating the disk shelf ports and the M6720 (LFF) disk shelf interface modules are oriented in the same direction which
can cause confusion when cabling the controller nodes and disk shelves
The input to each disk shelfs interface module (port DP-1) is denoted by two arrows pointing into the port:
20
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Once each of the physically connected ports is assigned an alias, SAN Zones are created to link the aliases together and
permit Fibre Channel traffic to flow between the defined ports in the zone.
21
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Multiple SAN Zones are created in each of the B-series SAN switches to provide redundant physical and logical connections
from each server to the StoreServ array with the B-series SAN switch having the following zones:
FC01 SAN Switch
zone_c7000_M1_X3_7400_N0_P1
zone_c7000_M1_X3_7400_N1_P1
zone_c7000_M1_X4_7400_N0_P1
zone_c7000_M1_X4_7400_N1_P1
22
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
As shown in the following figure, each port on the BladeSystem FlexFabric interconnect module has connections defined in
the B-series switch to connect with the StoreServ controller node 0 and node 1.
Figure 19. Storage Networking: StoreServ 7400 and c7000 storage zoning on B-Series switches
SAN Zone
C1
SAN Zone
B2
SAN Zone
B1
SAN Zone
C2
SAN Zone
A2
SAN Zone
D1
SAN Zone
A1
BladeSystem Interconnect
modules
X1
X2
X3
X4
X5
X6
X7
X8
X1
UID
X2
X3
X4
X5
X6
X7
X8
UID
10
13
11
14
15
20
17
21
18
22
19
23
13
10
11
14
Mfg
Intr 0
PCI-HBA
Intr 1
DP-1
21
18
22
19
23
764W PCM
Disconnect all power
for complete isolation
PULL
PULL
RC-1
FC-1
7400
MGMT
FC-2
DP-2
Intr 1
DP-1
Mfg
Intr 0
UID
764W PCM
PCI-HBA
17
CAUTION
7400
FC-2
DP-2
MGMT
FC-1
RC-1
20
764W PCM
CAUTION
16
15
12
UID
CAUTION
FC02
16
764W PCM
HP StoreServ 7400
Controller
12
FC01
HP 8/24 SAN
Switches
SAN Zone
D2
CAUTION
Example of connections for BladeSystem Interconnect module 1 (module on left side), port X3 (SAN Zones A1 and A2)
BladeSystem Interconnect module 1, port X3 is physically connected to B-series switch FC01: port 0
B-series switch FC01:port 0 is logically connected to FC01:port 4 (SAN Zone A1) and FC01:port 12 (SAN Zone A2)
B-series switch FC01:port 4 is physically connected to StoreServ controller node 0:FC-1 (SAN Zone A1)
B-series switch FC01:port 12 is physically connected to StoreServ controller node 1:FC-1 (SAN Zone A2)
The same pattern is repeated for each of the ports (X3 and X4) on both interconnect modules.
By combining the physical Fibre Channel cabling and logical SAN switch zoning, each server in the BladeSystem is able to
maintain connection in the event of loss of any of the following physical components:
Port on the 554FLB LOM NIC card in each server
BladeSystem FlexFabric Interconnect module
B-Series Fibre Channel SAN switch
StoreServ 7400 Array controller node
At this point in the configuration, we have ensured that there are physical and logical paths from the StoreServ array
controllers to the FlexFabric interconnect modules in the BladeSystem.
The four connections from the FlexFabric interconnect module ports to the Fibre Channel switches are running at 8Gb Fibre
Channel and the connection from the FlexFabric interconnect modules to each of the physical Hyper-V hosts consists of two
4Gb FCoE connections as discussed in the next sections. Additional FlexFabric interconnect modules and mezzanine NICs
can be used to expand the Ethernet and FCoE connectivity available to the servers and Hyper-V VMs.
A white paper covering HP Virtual Connect Fibre Channel Networking Scenarios is available from:
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01702940/c01702940.pdf
23
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
The server FCoE HBA connections alternate between pairs of SAN networks to balance the access to SAN resources.
Fifth Step: StoreServ provisioning for each host
Use the HP 3PAR Management Console (MC) to associate the host World Wide Names (WWNs) with the hosts in preparation
to provisioning each server with its storage.
24
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Licensing General
Windows Server 2012 changes the Microsoft licensing model, especially around Hyper-V virtualization. The Enterprise
version of Windows licensing no longer exists and you have the following choices depending on your need:
Table 2. Windows Server 2012 licensing
Windows 2012
Edition
Physical
Processors
Foundation
One
Essentials
Standard
Datacenter
Virtualization Instances
Windows Features
No Virtual OS Instances
Limited features
Up to Two
No Virtual OS Instances
per license
Limited features
Up to Two
per license
All features
Up to Two
per license
All features
Additional information on Licensing for Windows Server 2012 is available from: Licensing Brief
Windows Server 2012 Domain Services (AD DS)
The domain controller virtual machines (DC-VM) are Windows Server 2012 and are both configured using Windows 2012
forest and domain functional levels. The Hyper-V virtual machines that contain the Domain Controller role also contain
DHCP and DNS.
Additional information on AD DS is available from: What's New in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS)
DHCP
The DC-VMs run split-scope DHCP which is a new feature that allows two servers to share a DHCP scope for client IP
addressing. The available pool of IP addresses is split between the two servers with DC01 holding 70% of the addresses in
the scope and DC02 holding 30% of the IP addresses in the scope.
Additional information on DHCP is available from: What's New in DHCP
DNS
The DNS role on DC01 and DC02 is configured with forward and reverse lookup zones and uses AD Replication to transfer
zone information. Scavenging is set on all zones.
Additional information on DNS is available from: What's New in DNS
Windows Server 2012 Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU)
Windows Server 2012 has a new feature that provides a managed update process called Cluster-Aware Updating (CAU) for
failover clusters which takes one node offline, updates it and reboots it if needed, places the node back online and repeats
the process for the remainder of the nodes in the failover cluster. This feature ensures that all nodes in the failover cluster
are maintained at a common level to enable the best stability for cluster services.
Additional information on Cluster-Aware Updating is available from: Cluster-Aware Updating Overview
Windows Server 2012 storage features
Windows Server 2012 provides new storage functionality that is used by the Hyper-V hosts and guests to allow better
utilization of resources.
Native Support for Thin Provisioning using UNMAP and TRIM to allow reclamation of unused space on VHDX and PassThru
disks. Disk space that is marked as unused on the VHDX is available and can be re-used without an increase in the size of
the underlying VHDX. Space that is marked as unused is released on restart or shutdown of the server that is using the
VHDX file for storage.
Data deduplication allows for efficient space utilization
Additional information on Windows Server 2012 Storage is available from: Windows Server 2012 Storage White Paper
25
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
with ODX
Hyper-V Host
Hyper-V Host
Control
Data
Control
StoreServ 7400
Control
Data
Control
Control
Data
StoreServ 7400
Figure 21, above shows the file copy process without ODX and with ODX and the numbers in the diagram are detailed below.
Copying a 10GB file without ODX:
1.
2.
3.
The above process results in 20GB of data traversing the Fibre Channel connections between the server and the StoreServ
array.
26
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Server sends the offload data read request to the StoreServ over Fibre Channel
StoreServ sends a token representing the request to the server over Fibre Channel
Server sends the write request to the StoreServ over Fibre Channel using the token
StoreServ copies the 10GB of data internally
StoreServ confirms the data copy completion to the server over Fibre Channel
The above process results in 10GB of data being copied within the StoreServ array and only minimal control data being sent
over the Fibre Channel connections. During the copy process features like zero detect running on the StoreServ are used to
further reduce the amount of data that the StoreServ is actually moving.
Additional information on ODX is available from: Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX) with Intelligent Storage Arrays
Table 3 shows the comparison of features in Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012 and on Windows Server 2008 R2 and the
highlighted values are the changed scalability limits that are available with the Windows Server 2012 version of Hyper-V.
Table 3. Feature comparison for Hyper-V on Windows Server 2012 and Windows Server 2008 R2
Feature
Virtual Processors
64
Memory
1 TB
64 GB
64 TB (VHDX)
2 TB (VHD)
256
256
NA
OS Limit
OS Limit
Snapshots
50
50
12
12
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Feature
Floppy drive
Logical Processors
320
64
No Hyper-V limit
8:1
1024
384
2048
512
Memory
4 TB
1 TB
Storage
OS Limit
OS Limit
Virtual SANs
No Hyper-V limit
NA
Physical NICs
No Hyper-V limit
No Hyper-V limit
NIC Teams
No Hyper-V limit
NA
No Hyper-V limit
No Hyper-V limit
No Hyper-V limit
No Hyper-V limit
Additional information on new and changed Hyper-V features is available from: What's new in Hyper-V
Virtual Hard Disk (VHDX)
The VHDX file format allows for improved support of large disks, increased performance and enables new storage features.
The improvements include:
Support for disks up to 64 TB
Windows can mount and eject VHDX disks
VHDX file corruption prevention through the use of metadata
Optimization of alignment to support 512-byte Emulation ( 512e) and 4K native large sector disks
Performance improvement through support for larger block sizes
Convertible to VHD and back to VHDX
Additional information on VHDX is available from: Hyper-V Virtual Hard Disk Format Overview
Hyper-V host configuration
Deployment of the Hyper-V host servers is done on both the BL460c Gen8 and DL380p Gen8 ProLiant servers. The design
of this infrastructure is intended to permit flexibility in the deployment and ease of reconfiguration of virtual servers and
allows the selection of Highly Available (HA) configurations as well as stand-alone configurations. The BL460c Gen8 servers
have been configured with two memory configurations HiMem with 192GB and LoMem with 96GB.
Consistent configurations have been implemented to make troubleshooting and management simple and straightforward.
The following sections detail specific subsystem configurations including network, storage and failover clustering.
High Availability Hyper-V Hosts
The highly available Hyper-V hosts are deployed across a four-node Windows failover cluster running on ProLiant BL460c
Gen8 servers with the HiMem configuration.
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
A new feature useful for the creation of highly available and redundant networks is Windows Server 2012 Network Teaming.
This feature allows the creation of a single network that is made up of two underlying physical connections. This teamed
network is created at the Windows level and is then used as the base for the creation of each Hyper-V virtual network. In the
following diagram, two - 3Gb NICs (Prod_A) are combined to create the TeamPROD network team and then a Virtual Switch
is created within the Hyper-V interface called Prod. The highly available Prod network is then available for use by the
Hyper-V host and virtual machines. The same method is used to create the Management Virtual Switch. The LiveMigration
and Cluster Shared Volume virtual switches are connected directly to FlexFabric NICs.
Figure 22. Hyper-V host and guest: Network configuration
Prod
Virtual Switch
3GbE
vGST03
FlexNIC
Prod_A
3Gb
vGST01
TeamPROD
Management
Virtual Switch
1GbE
FlexNIC
MGT_A
1Gb
FlexNIC
LiveMig
2Gb
LiveMigration
Virtual Switch
2GbE
FlexFabric
Port
10GbE
TeamMGT
FCoE
HBA AFabric
4Gb
FlexNIC
Prod_A
3Gb
Host01
Cluster Shared
Volume
Virtual Switch
2GbE
FlexNIC
MGT_A
1Gb
FlexNIC
CSV
2Gb
FlexFabric
Port
10GbE
FCoE
HBA CFabric
4Gb
In Figure 22 above, the server on the bottom left (HOST01) is the Hyper-V host server and the two servers shown above it
are two virtual machines (vGST01 and vGST03) located on that host.
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Additional information on Hyper-V Networking is available from: Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V Network Virtualization
Survival Guide
Hyper-V storage features
Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V introduces new functionality and enhancements for storage to provide a broader range of
storage flexibility. This example configuration uses three methods to connect storage for virtual machines: IDE Controller,
SCSI Controller and Virtual Fibre Channel.
IDE Controller
The IDE Controller virtual device is used to connect storage to the VM. Two devices of the IDE Controller type are supported
per VM with up to two disks each. The startup (boot) disk must be attached to an IDE Controller virtual device. The IDE
Controller also supports the virtual CD/DVD device for the VM.
SCSI Controller
The SCSI Controller virtual device is used to connect additional storage to the VM. Four SCSI Controller devices are supported
per VM with up to 64 disks each. Using the SCSI Controller to connect to additional disks allows the use of the UNMAP
storage feature which works with the StoreServ 7400 thin provisioning feature to reduce the amount of space required on
the underlying LUN.
Virtual Fibre Channel
The Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel features are comprised of Virtual Fibre Channel Adapters which are configured in the
Hyper-V settings for each virtual machine (VM) and Virtual Storage Area Networks (vSANs).
The Virtual Fibre Channel adapters (vHBA) allow Hyper-V guests to directly connect to physical HBAs in the Hyper-V host
servers using N-port IO Virtualization (NPIV) technology. Up to four Virtual Fibre Channel devices can be configured per VM.
Each Fibre Channel Adapter has two sets of World Wide Names (WWN). Address set A and Address Set B, shown in Figure 23
are used during live migration operations to ensure that storage connectivity is maintained throughout the migration
process.
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Hyper-V automatically alternates between the Address sets on the Hyper-V source and destination hosts to ensure
continuous access to storage resources, For example, Address set A is connected to the VM on the originating host and
Address set B is connected to the destination host during the live migration transition period. At the end of the migration the
destination host remains connected to Address set B.
Additional information on Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel is available from: Hyper-V Virtual Fibre Channel Overview
Microsoft Multi-path IO (MPIO)
Microsoft Multi-path IO drivers (MPIO) are used in conjunction with both physical and virtual Fibre Channel connections to
provide high availability features with redundant connection paths to prevent loss of connectivity to the StoreServ 7400.
Additional information on Microsoft MPIO is available from: Microsoft Multipath I/O (MPIO) Users Guide for Windows Server
2012
Microsoft File Server with Server Message Block 3.0 (SMB 3.0)
Microsoft file servers using Server Message Block 3.0 (SMB 3.0) allow the use of file shares to hold VHDX files for virtual
machines. These file shares are used for startup disks as well as for additional data disks. Stand-alone file servers or
Scale-Out File Servers (SOFS) can be used to provide this service. Scale-Out File Servers provide the advantage of being
highly available and straight forward to manage and use. The Scale-Out File server used in this design uses the
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
StoreServ 7400 array to hold the disk storage that is then provided to the virtual machines through the use of a Uniform
Naming Convention (UNC) path as shown in Figure 24.
Figure 24. Hyper-V Storage: File Server using Server Message Block 3.0
Additional information on using Microsoft file servers with SMB 3.0 to host Hyper-V storage is available from:
Deploy Hyper-V over SMB
Microsoft Hyper-V Storage Live Migration
Microsoft Hyper-V Storage Live Migration allows the relocation of virtual hard disks to another storage location while access
to the disk continues during the migration process. This feature can be used whenever you want to keep a virtual machine
running and need to perform maintenance on the underlying storage devices that the VM is using. The feature operates in a
similar manner to VM Live Migration since disk access continues throughout the storage migration process. This feature can
place a large amount of data on the network during the migration process so proper design of the storage network is
important to ensure that there is no contention for network resources.
Ensure that your application supports the use of this feature before you implement it in your design.
Additional information on Microsoft Hyper-V Storage Live Migration is available from: Virtual Machine Storage Migration
Overview
Additional information on Microsoft Hyper-V live migration is available from: Virtual Machine Live Migration Overview
Note
Microsoft Hotfix KB 2796995 must be applied to enable support of ODX for Storage Live Migration of Cluster Shared
Volumes (CSV) on the same array. The hotfix is available from: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2796995/EN-US
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
vGST03
FlexNIC
Prod_A
3Gb
MPIO
FlexNIC
MGT_A
1Gb
vSANa
Virtual SAN
4Gb
FlexNIC
LiveMig
2Gb
vGST01
FabricA
MPIO
vSANc
Virtual SAN
4Gb
FlexFabric
Port
10GbE
FCoE
HBA AFabric
4Gb
FlexNIC
Prod_A
3Gb
Host01
FlexNIC
MGT_A
1Gb
MPIO
FlexNIC
CSV
2Gb
FabricC
FlexFabric
Port
10GbE
FCoE
HBA CFabric
4Gb
In the figure above, the server on the bottom left (HOST01) is the Hyper-V host server and the two servers shown above it
are two virtual machines (vGST01 and vGST03) located on that host.
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
The configuration above is for the odd numbered Hyper-V hosts and connects the hosts with SAN fabrics A and C (see the
physical cabling section) and the configuration below is for the even numbered Hyper-V hosts and connects the hosts with
SAN fabrics B and D. This configuration balances the Hyper-V host servers across the four available SAN fabrics.
Figure 26. Hyper-V Hosts: Even numbered servers
vGST04
FlexNIC
Prod_A
3Gb
MPIO
FlexNIC
MGT_A
1Gb
vSANb
Virtual SAN
4Gb
FlexNIC
LiveMig
2Gb
vGST02
FabricB
MPIO
vSANd
Virtual SAN
4Gb
FlexFabric
Port
10GbE
FCoE
HBA BFabric
4Gb
FlexNIC
Prod_A
3Gb
Host02
FlexNIC
MGT_A
1Gb
MPIO
FlexNIC
CSV
2Gb
FabricD
FlexFabric
Port
10GbE
FCoE
HBA DFabric
4Gb
In the figure above, the server on the bottom left (HOST02) is the Hyper-V host server and the two servers shown above it
are two virtual machines (vGST02 and vGST04) located on that host.
Hyper-V storage configuration
The storage configuration for support of the Hyper-V host OS disks consists of two local disks installed in each host server.
Guest VMs use VHDX disks that are stored on Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) that are created on the StoreServ 7400. These
VHDX disks are available for access from each Hyper-V host.
There are multiple methods for presenting the disks (VHDX) to the virtual machines, three of which are detailed below.
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
vGST02
Host05
Host08
Host07
CSV1
VHDX1
vGST01
OS Disk
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vGST03
vGST03
Host06
StoreServ 7400
Hyper-V Failover
Cluster
vGST01
VHDX2
vGST02
OS Disk
CSV2
VHDX3
vGST03
OS Disk
VHDX1d
vGST01
Data Disk
VHDX2d
vGST02
Data Disk
VHDX3d
vGST03
Data Disk
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Method two: Startup CSV presented to Hyper-V host and Data LUNs presented directly to Hyper-V guest
The Hyper-V Failover Cluster storage configuration uses disks that hold the operating system for the guest VMs, vGST01,
vGST02 and vGST03 shown in green in Figure 28 is the same as the configuration used in Figure 27.
The storage that holds additional data for vGST01, vGST02 and vGST03 shown in blue below is different from the previous
example. Three separate LUNs are created to hold each of the data disks for vGST01, vGST02 and vGST03. The virtual data
disks are created as VHDX1d, VHDX2d and VHDX3d and are each located on a LUN provisioned from the StoreServ 7400
array. Each LUN is created from a thick or thinly provisioned LUN and is presented to the Hyper-V guests: vGST01, vGST02
and vGST03. The VHDX files are created with a file size of 200 GB for the guest data disks and are presented to each virtual
machine using the virtual Fibre Channel Adapter devices configured for each virtual machine.
Figure 28. Hyper-V Storage: Startup CSV presented to Hyper-V host and Data LUNs presented directly to Hyper-V guest
vGST02
Host05
VHDX2
vGST02
OS Disk
Host08
Host07
CSV1
VHDX1
vGST01
OS Disk
vGST03
vGST03
Host06
StoreServ 7400
Hyper-V Failover
Cluster
vGST01
VHDX3
vGST03
OS Disk
LUN
LUN
LUN
VHDX1d
vGST01
Data Disk
VHDX2d
vGST02
Data Disk
VHDX3d
vGST03
Data Disk
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Method three: Startup and Data CSVs presented to Scale-Out File Server
This Hyper-V Failover Cluster storage configuration is similar to the first configuration above with a different method of
connecting to the storage. The CSV3 disk that holds the operating system disks for the guest VMs, vGST04, vGST05 and
vGST06 is shown in green in Figure 29. The virtual machine operating system disks created as VHDX4, VHDX5 and VHDX6
are located on a LUN provisioned from the StoreServ 7400 array. The LUN is created from a thick or thinly provisioned LUN
and is presented to the Scale-Out File Server (SOFS) cluster nodes HOST09 and HOST10 as a Cluster Shared Volume
(CSV) so that it is accessible from each node in the SOFS cluster over a Fibre Channel connection. The Scale-Out File Server is
configured with a share called CSV3 that is available to the Hyper-V hosts on a UNC share
(\\ScaleOutFileServer\CSV03) that is accessed using the Server Message Block 3.0 (SMB 3.0) protocol.
The storage that holds additional data for vGST04, vGST05 and vGST06 is shown in blue in Figure 29. The virtual machine
data disks are created as VHDX4d, VHDX5d and VHDX6d and are located on a LUN provisioned from the StoreServ 7400
array. The CSV4 LUN is created from a thick or thinly provisioned LUN and is presented to the Scale-Out File Server (SOFS)
cluster nodes HOST09 and HOST10 as a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) so that it is accessible from each node in the SOFS
cluster over a Fibre Channel connection. The Scale-Out File Server is configured with a share called CSV4 that is available to
the Hyper-V hosts on a UNC share (\\ScaleOutFileServer\CSV04) that is accessed using the Server Message Block
3.0 (SMB 3.0) protocol.
Figure 29. Hyper-V Storage: Startup and Data CSVs presented to Scale-Out File Server
Hyper-V Failover
Cluster
vGST04
vGST05
Host05
vGST06
Host06
vGST06
Host08
Host07
File Server
Failover Cluster
SMB 3.0
Host09
Host10
StoreServ 7400
Fibre Channel
CSV3
VHDX4
vGST04
OS Disk
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VHDX5
vGST05
OS Disk
CSV4
VHDX6
vGST06
OS Disk
VHDX4d
vGST04
Data Disk
VHDX5d
vGST05
Data Disk
VHDX6d
vGST06
Data Disk
Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
The VHDX files are created with a file size of 64 GB for the operating system disks that are presented to each virtual
machine using a UNC path (\\ScaleOutFileServer\csv03\TestVM\Virtual Hard Disks\vhdx4.vhdx)
in the VMs settings on the IDE Controller device as shown in Figure 30.
Figure 30. Hyper-V Storage: Startup VHDX presentation from Scale-Out File Share with SMB 3.0
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
The VHDX files are created with a file size of 200 GB for the data disks that are presented to each virtual machine using a
UNC path (\\ScaleOutFileServer\CSV04\TestVM\vhdx4d.vhdx) in the VMs settings on the SCSI Controller
device.
Figure 31. Hyper-V Storage: Data VHDX presentation from Scale-Out File Share with SMB 3.0
Management systems
Managing a set of servers in a data center or a single rack is important to ensure that stable service is provided and that
applications meet the uptime agreements detailed in a companys Service Level Agreement (SLA). Management systems are
available to assist with all phases of an applications lifecycle from deployment to maintenance and redeployment as
business requirements change.
This configuration makes use of management systems from both Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Microsoft.
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
The features available in the iLO are dependent on the version of the license you purchase and install. The iLO Advanced
license contains the full suite of remote management capabilities.
Additional information on HP Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) including the features available with each license is available from:
HP Integrated Lights-Out white paper or HP Integrated Lights-Out.
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
HP Intelligent Provisioning
HP Intelligent Provisioning (IP) replaces HP SmartStart for Gen8 and newer servers. Intelligent Provisioning integrates the
functionality of SmartStart into flash memory on the ProLiant system board. During the POST process, an administrator can
boot into the Intelligent Provisioning functionality by pressing F10 when prompted. Once the Intelligent Provisioning
process starts, the administrator can choose to configure the hardware and install an operating system or maintain the
server as shown in Figure 33. Installing the operating system (OS) using the Intelligent Provisioning interface ensures that
the appropriate drivers and software are installed along with the operating system to provide an integrated solution.
Figure 33. Server deployment: Intelligent Provisioning
Note
New versions of the Intelligent Provisioning software are installed by booting the server from the downloaded Intelligent
Provisioning ISO image which is mounted into the iLO using the virtual media functionality.
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Additional information on Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) is available from: Microsoft System Center
Operations Manager
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Additional information on Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) is available from: Microsoft System
Center Virtual Machine Manager
ability to seamlessly extend the base by adding additional building blocks which integrate into the overall infrastructure
The second method provides fast speed of implementation and is the basis for the configuration of this design. The use of
standardized HP components used in this design provides for simple extension when scalability is required and ease of
ordering. Using this method still requires that appropriate sizing is performed for each application or portion of application
that you wish to virtualize.
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
HP Sizers
HP makes available sizers for different applications to assist in properly sizing either physical or virtual hosts to run an
application. The sizers provide the option of placing the application on a virtualized platform and calculate the required
virtualization overhead. During the sizing process there is an option to select the server platform to use for virtualization as
shown in the red box in the figure below:
Figure 36. Sizing: HP Sizer application for Lync Server 2010
With each new version of an application like Microsoft Exchange Server, SQL Server or Lync Server, HP updates the sizers to
incorporate the new recommendations for design and sizing for each application.
Additional information on HP Solution Sizers is available from the tools section on: HP ActiveAnswers
Bill of materials
The following bill of materials lists the components included in this configuration.
Table 4. Bill of materials
Qty
Description
Rack and Power
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Qty
Description
HP 5800AF-48G Switch
HP 5920AF-24XG Switch
15
15
10
10
10
46
32
16
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Qty
Description
18
12
96
16
48
16
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Qty
Description
Management Servers 128 GB memory configuration
18
24
Summary
As business requirements for technology solutions change at an ever increasing pace IT departments must provide flexible
solutions and ensure that the designs can change as business requirements evolve over time.
HP and Microsofts partnership ensures solutions that meet todays needs and are expandable for the future. As new
technology is developed by HP and Microsoft, it can be seamlessly integrated into existing solutions to make sure that they
continue to provide value to customers and meet the needs of each business.
The functionality that Microsoft added to Windows Server 2012, Hyper-V and System Center products integrates well with
HPs product lines to provide a well-managed solution.
This example solution configuration demonstrates functional components from Microsoft and HP. Virtual infrastructures
like the one shown in this document allow for a scalable data center implementation to meet business needs today and as
they evolve in the future.
Hewlett-Packard provides best in class products, integrated solutions and ease of supportability to ensure that customers
are provided with the best infrastructure to deploy in your environment.
Implementing a proof-of-concept
As a matter of best practice for all deployments, HP recommends implementing a proof-of-concept using a test
environment that matches as closely as possible the planned production environment. In this way, appropriate performance
and scalability characterizations can be obtained. For help with a proof-of-concept; contact your HP Services representative
(hp.com/large/contact/enterprise/index.html) or your HP partner.
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Technical white paper | HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012
Sizer resources
HP ActiveAnswers sizers, hp.com/solutions/activeanswers/sizers
HP BladeSystem Power Sizer, hp.com/go/bladesystem/powercalculator
HP Power Advisor, hp.com/go/hppoweradvisor
HP Sizer for Microsoft Hyper-V 2008 R2, hp.com/solutions/microsoft/hyper-v/sizer
HP Storage Sizer, hp.com/storage/sizer