HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for ... ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400...

Technical white paper

HP ProLiant Gen8 and StoreServ 7400 Hyper-V solution for Windows Server 2012 Solution recommended architecture

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

2

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 industry-standard 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.

HP’s 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’s release of new products includes:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with many new storage and networking features

• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V with expanded support for virtual servers with up to 64 virtual processors, 1 TB of memory, and expansion in networking and storage capabilities

• System Center 2012 suite of products for deployment, management and maintenance

Microsoft has added functionality that makes use of new features across many of HP’s product lines and this allows the IT engineer to align their design closely to the customer’s requirements and goals both on initial design and as the needs evolve over time.


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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 it’s 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.

Rack and power

This solution incorporates HP Intelligent rack and power components allowing for remote management and monitoring of power. When mounting devices into the rack, the server and storage components were mounted facing the front of the rack while all Ethernet and storage networking devices were mounted facing the rear of the rack as shown in Figure 1. Mounting the network devices in this manner allows for optimal cable configuration.

Figure 1. Solution diagram of physical components (front and rear view)

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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

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.

HP Managed Extension Bar

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Figure 3. HP Intelligent Modular PDU: Overview

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.


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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).


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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 device’s 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.


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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.


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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

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.

Ethernet Network: Logical

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Note

The 5920AF switches do not currently provide a web interface and must be configured using the CLI.

Server network connectivity A wide selection of network interface cards is available for ProLiant servers to provide a variety of capabilities and the ability to change the cards as requirements evolve. LAN on Motherboard (LOM) cards, shown below are used to change the personality of the built-in networking ports in the server. The LOM cards shown in Figure 8 are replaceable without the use of tools.

Figure 8. ProLiant server: LAN on Motherboard (LOM) 554 card (Blade server on left and DL server on right)

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

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.



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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.

Fibre Channel Storage Area Network (SAN)

The Fibre Channel Storage Area Network (SAN) configuration used in this design contains two specific sets of components:

• B-series 8Gb Fibre Channel (FC) switches

• BladeSystem Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) connections over FlexFabric interconnect modules

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 non-disruptive 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 trunk capable of up to 64 Gbit/sec of throughput

Two HP 8Gb B-Series Fibre Channel switches support redundant connections to the management servers, the BladeSystem enclosure FlexFabric interconnect modules and the StoreServ 7400 array as shown in Figure 10.


12

Figure 10. Storage Network: Logical

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

Storage Network: Logical

Management Servers

Hyper-V Hosts

StoreServ 7400

Fibre Channel: Protocols

NC554FLRB-Series Switch

BladeSystem Interconnect

ModuleB-Series Switch NC554FLB

DL380p Gen 8

BL460c Gen 8

Fibre Channel

Fibre Channel Fibre Channel over Ethernet


13

Virtual Connect server profiles

Virtual Connect server profiles are created for each blade server in the solution to define the connections that the server has the ability to access. In this design, each of the BladeSystem servers is configured to allow access to a distinct set of network and SAN devices.

Clustered and stand-alone Hyper-V server profiles for Ethernet The server profiles used for testing resulted in four Ethernet networks that were defined as follows:

• Production Network (3GbE) – Used for client connectivity and server to server communication

• Cluster Shared Volume Network (2GbE) – Used for Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV)

• Live Migration Network (2GbE) – Used for live migration traffic

• Management Network (1GbE) – Used for cluster heartbeat and communication with System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 SP1

Network reconfiguration is possible by shutting down a blade server, editing the assigned server profile and restarting the server.

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.


14

Figure 12. ProLiant Servers: Functional Roles

HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8

HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8 servers are rack mount servers used for management in the solution. HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8 servers provide flexibility in memory, processor and network to host virtual machines with the following roles.

Remote Desktop Gateway The Windows Server 2012 Remote Desktop Gateway (RD Gateway) server is the bridge between CorpNet and LabNet. The RD Gateway server is configured with the following roles:

• Microsoft File Server role

• Microsoft Storage Services role

• Microsoft Network Policy Server role

• Microsoft DirectAccess and VPN (RAS) role

• Microsoft Routing role

• Microsoft Remote Desktop Gateway role

OK


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ProLiant

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10K

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MGT

RDGate

DC/GC

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SCVMM

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HV-L

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Windows Failover Cluster

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IPAM Server

SCVMM/SCOM Server

WDS Server

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Hyper-V Host (LoMem)

File Server (SMB3)

DC/GC

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SCVMM

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WDS

WDS


15

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)

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V host (HiMem) clustered Clustered Hyper-V host servers provide a failover cluster for deployment of Highly Available (HA) Hyper-V virtual machines.

The components in each BL460c Gen8 are:

• Processor: (two) E5-2665 processors

• Memory: (192GB) 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 Trusted Platform Module (TPM) Kit

Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V hosts (HiMem and LoMem) stand-alone The Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V host servers are deployed with two memory configurations:

• HiMem configuration contains 192GB of RAM

• LoMem configuration contains 96GB of RAM


16



• Memory: (192GB – HiMem or 96GB – LoMem) HP 16GB 2Rx4 PC3-12800R-11 Kit



• HP TPM Module Kit

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.



• Memory: (96GB) HP 16GB 2Rx4 PC3-12800R-11 Kit



• HP TPM Module Kit

HP BladeSystem c7000 Platinum enclosure The BladeSystem enclosure holds the power, network and management modules that support the BL460c servers in this solution.

The components in the HP BladeSystem c7000 Platinum enclosure are:

• Power Distribution: HP BLc 1PH Intelligent Power Mod FIO Opt

• Power Supplies: HP 6X 2400W Plat Ht Plg FIO Pwr Sply Kit

• Fan: HP BLc 6X Active Cool 200 FIO Fan Opt

• Onboard Administration: HP BLc7000 DDR2 Encl Mgmt Option

• Network: (two) HP BLc VC FlexFabric 10Gb/24-port Opt

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.


17

HP 3PAR StoreServ 7000 controller components

The HP 3PAR StoreServ 7400 two-node array used in this configuration is expandable into a four-node version if additional array resources are needed due to increasing business needs or to support an increase in the number of connected hosts.

HP 3PAR StoreServ 7400 two-node controller components are shown in Figure 13.

Figure 13. Storage: StoreServ 7400 two-node controller components

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

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FC Host Connections

FC or iSCSI Host Connections

Serial Console Connection

Inter-Controller Link Connections (4-node)

Disk Shelf Connections

Remote Copy Connection

Management Connection


18

Table 1. Specifications for the StoreServ 7400 and 7200 arrays

Feature 7400 Two-node (Four-node) 7200 Two-node

Controller Nodes Two (Four) Two

Processors Two (Four) – six-core Two – quad-core

3PAR ASIC Two (Four) Two

Cache 32 GB (64 GB) 24 GB

Host Ports

– Fibre Channel 4 to 12 (4 to 24) 4 to 12

– iSCSI 0 to 4 (0 to 8) 0 to 4

Number of initiators supported 512 (1024) 512

Hard Disk Drives (HDD) 8 to 240 (16 to 480) 8 to 144

Solid State Drives (SSD) 8 to 120 (16 to 240) 8 to 120

RAID Levels RAID 0, 1, 5 and 6 RAID 0, 1, 5 and 6

Additional Drive Shelves 0 to 9 (0 to 18) 0 to 5

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)

First Step: Physical Cabling Physical cabling for storage is split into two areas: Fibre Channel cabling for StoreServ connectivity to hosts and SAS cabling for StoreServ connectivity to the disk shelves.

The physical Fibre Channel cabling connections are made between the BladeSystem FlexFabric interconnect modules, the B-series SAN switches and the StoreServ 7400. The 8Gb physical Fibre Channel connections provide the flexibility for multiple paths to be configured from the servers to the StoreServ array.


19

Figure 14. Storage Networking: StoreServ 7400 Fibre Channel cabling

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



X3 X4X1 X2 X5 X6 X7 X8

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HP 8/24 SAN Switches

HP StoreServ 7400 Controller


20

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

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 shelf’s interface module (port DP-1) is denoted by two arrows pointing into the port:

1

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Node 0Node 1HP StoreServ 7400

Controller pair

HP StoreServ M6710 SFF Drive Enclosure

HP StoreServ M6720 LFF Drive Enclosure


21

Second Step: Alias Assignment The Fibre Channel connections made into each B-series SAN switch are defined by physical port number from within the Zone Admin portion of the HP B-series Switch Explorer interface. An alias name (Number 1 in the figure below) is created [alias7400_N0_P1] and associated with a physical switch port (Number 2 in the figure below) [1,4(port4,U-Port,PID: 010400)]. The assignment of an alias is similar to how IP addresses are matched with host names in DNS.

Figure 17. Storage Networking: B-series switch alias assignment

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.


22

Third Step: SAN Zone Creation SAN Zones are created in Virtual Connect Manager as shown in the following figure by creating a zone name (number 1 in the figure below) [zone_c7000_M1_X3_7400_N0_P1] that contains the aliases (number 2 in the figure below) for the c7000 interconnect module 1, port X3 and the StoreServ 7400 Node 0, port 1.

Figure 18. Storage Networking: StoreServ 7400 and c7000 storage zoning on B-Series switches

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

FC02 SAN Switch

• zone_c7000_M2_X3_7400_N0_P2

• zone_c7000_M2_X3_7400_N1_P2

• zone_c7000_M2_X4_7400_N0_P2

• zone_c7000_M2_X4_7400_N1_P2


23

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

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

73625140 15111410139128 2319221821172016


73625140 15111410139128 2319221821172016




X3 X4X1 X2 X5 X6 X7 X8

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4

Intr

1

Intr

0

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FC

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C-2

PULL

0123

74

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CAUTION

764W PCM


CAUTION

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CAUTION

764W PCM


CAUTION

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X3 X4X1 X2 X5 X6 X7 X8

UID

SAN ZoneD2

SAN ZoneD1

SAN ZoneC2

SAN ZoneC1

SAN ZoneA1

SAN ZoneA2

SAN ZoneB1

SAN ZoneB2

FC0

2

FC0

1

BladeSystem Interconnect modules

HP 8/24 SAN Switches

HP StoreServ 7400 Controller

http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01702940/c01702940.pdf


24

Forth Step: Virtual Connect server profiles The Virtual Connect server profiles that are created for each blade server in the configuration allow access to storage resources.

Server profiles for storage are configured differently for blade servers in odd numbered bays and in even numbered bays as follows:

• SAN A and C Network (4Gb FCoE) – Used for storage connectivity to StoreServ 7400 for odd numbered servers

• SAN B and D Network (4Gb FCoE) – Used for storage connectivity to StoreServ 7400 for even numbered servers

Figure 20. Storage Networking: Virtual Connect Server Profile

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.

Windows Server 2012

Windows Server 2012 is Microsoft’s newest generation of server operating system and provides many significant enhancements and features. The section below provides coverage of significant features and links to additional information. Windows Server 2012 has a large focus on virtualization and technologies that support and improve virtualization, leading to a change in the licensing for Windows Server 2012.


25

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

Virtualization Instances Windows Features

Foundation One No Virtual OS Instances

Limited features

Essentials Up to Two

per license

No Virtual OS Instances

Limited features

Standard Up to Two

per license

Two Virtual OS Instances

All features

Datacenter Up to Two

per license

Unlimited Virtual OS Instances

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

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/about-licensing/briefs/virtual-licensing.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh831769.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj200226.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj200224.aspx


http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/B/E/ABE02B78-BEC7-42B0-8504-C880A1144EE1/WS%202012%20White%20Paper_Storage.pdf


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Windows Server 2012 BitLocker

BitLocker has been updated in Windows Server 2012 to provide:

• Option of full volume encryption (slow) or used space encryption (quick)

• Ability to encrypt Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV)

Additional information on BitLocker is available from: BitLocker Overview

Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX)

Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX) works with Windows Server 2012 hosts and HP 3PAR StoreServ 7400 to shift storage processing from the server to the storage array for files of 256 KB or larger. This allows the SAN to handle the bulk of the storage operations with the server initiating the operation. The server initiates the operation such as a file copy and asks the StoreServ array to complete the file copy and report back to the server that the operation has completed. This enables a significant increase in the file copy throughput since the StoreServ is handling the operation. The ASICs in the StoreServ array have a feature called zero-detect which speeds file transfers by only copying data blocks which actually contain data.

Figure 21. Windows: Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX) data flow

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. Server sends read request to the StoreServ over Fibre Channel

2. StoreServ sends 10GB of data to the server over Fibre Channel

3. Server sends 10GB of data to the StoreServ over Fibre Channel

The above process results in 20GB of data traversing the Fibre Channel connections between the server and the StoreServ array.

Windows: Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX)

without ODX with ODX

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Copying a 10GB file with ODX:

1. Server sends the offload data read request to the StoreServ over Fibre Channel

2. StoreServ sends a token representing the request to the server over Fibre Channel

3. Server sends the write request to the StoreServ over Fibre Channel using the token

4. StoreServ copies the 10GB of data internally

5. 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

Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V

Microsoft released Hyper-V virtualization technology in Windows Server 2008 R2 and has improved it substantially in the Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V release. Microsoft has made new and expanded features available that allow for effective use of the extensive resources available from ProLiant Gen8 servers, storage and networking. With Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V virtualization capability, the large amounts of memory, processor power and network capacity that HP has incorporated into the ProLiant Gen8 servers can be effectively used as the foundation for your virtualization strategy.

New and expanded Hyper-V features for Hyper-V 2012 include:

• Increase in the quantity of virtual processors supported in each virtual machine

• Dynamic memory to allow for expanded memory configuration options

• Hyper-V Replica to allow asynchronous replication to an additional Hyper-V server for disaster recovery

• Live migration is expanded to enable migration to and from stand-alone (non-clustered) servers

• Storage migration allows for the movement of virtual hard disks while the virtual machine continues to run

• File servers with Server Message Block (SMB) 3.0 can be used to host virtual machine storage

• Virtual Fibre Channel provides direct Fibre Channel connectivity into a virtual machine

• Virtual SAN Switch allows for the creation of virtual storage switches that work with Virtual Fibre Channel interfaces

• Virtual Hard Disk (VHDX) format has been improved to allow expanded capabilities

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 Hyper-V (Windows 2012) Hyper-V (Windows 2008 R2)

Virtual Machine features

Virtual Processors 64 4

Memory 1 TB 64 GB

Virtual Hard Disk Capacity 64 TB (VHDX) 2 TB (VHD)

Virtual IDE Disks 4 4

Virtual SCSI Controller devices 4 4

Virtual SCSI Disks 256 256

Virtual Fibre Channel adapters 4 NA

Physical disk size presented to VM directly OS Limit OS Limit

Snapshots 50 50

Virtual network adapters 12 12

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/hardware/hh833784


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Feature Hyper-V (Windows 2012) Hyper-V (Windows 2008 R2)

Floppy drive 1 1

Serial ports (COM) 2 2

Host Machine features

Logical Processors 320 64

Virtual to Logical Processer ratio No Hyper-V limit 8:1

Running Virtual Machines per server 1024 384

Virtual processors per server 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

Virtual network switches No Hyper-V limit No Hyper-V limit

Virtual network switch ports per server No Hyper-V limit No Hyper-V limit

NA = Not Available in this version of Hyper-V

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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Microsoft Windows 2012 Licensing Windows Server 2012 Datacenter edition license is used for each of the Hyper-V host servers deployed. A single Datacenter edition license is used since each BL460c Gen8 and DL380p Gen8 server contains two physical processors. The Datacenter edition license provides for an unlimited number of virtual machine instances on the Hyper-V host server without the complexity of calculating the multiple licensing options. Server Client Access Licenses (CALs) are still required for users and devices that will access the servers.

Contact your Microsoft Licensing Specialist for the most cost-effective solution for your situation: microsoft.com/licensing/default.aspx

Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V guest configuration

The infrastructure for this project used generic Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V guest virtual machines that were deployed to perform testing of Windows Server 2012 and Hyper-V 2012 features to ensure that the configuration worked with the StoreServ 7400. The Hyper-V guest servers consist of the following configuration:

• Virtual Machine OS: Windows Server 2012

• Virtual Processors: two

• Virtual Memory: 4096MB

• OS Disk: Dynamically Expanding VHDX

• Data Disk: Dynamically Expanding VHDX

• Networks: Production, Management, Cluster Shared Volume and Live Migration

Hyper-V failover cluster configuration The use of a Windows Server 2012 failover cluster permits high availability for the VMs that are located on the cluster. Live migration can be used to move VMs into and out of the failover cluster since all of the Hyper-V servers have been configured to support live migrations. The same network configuration is deployed on all servers in the BladeSystem with Virtual Connect server profiles to permit the movement of servers into and out of the failover cluster.

The flexibility of this design allows reconfiguration of Hyper-V hosts and VMs as business needs change, while the servers remain online servicing client requests.

Failover cluster quorum configuration For the 4-node Windows failover cluster, the quorum mechanism used is: Node and Disk Quorum. This quorum configuration provides a quorum vote for each of the four cluster nodes and for the disk. This design allows for the failure of two nodes while the failover cluster maintains quorum with the two remaining nodes and the quorum disk resource.

Hyper-V network configuration

Networking is critical for connecting servers in any environment and virtual environments are no exception. As the number and type of servers being virtualized increase, there is an expanding need for network capabilities in virtual infrastructures. HP BladeSystem components like Virtual Connect FlexFabric work seamlessly in conjunction with Hyper-V network virtualization to provide the functions necessary for virtualized workloads. FlexFabric and Hyper-V provide the flexibility to implement network environments that range from simple single network configurations to complex networks that integrate Ethernet and Fibre Channel. The configuration implemented in this design makes use of multiple Ethernet networks to support production connections. Management, Cluster Shared Volume and live migration networks separate traffic created during live migration operations.

Servers participating in live migration are required to have a consistent network configuration to allow for the live migration traffic. Naming of the networks and consistency in their creation is critical to implementing a functional design.

http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/default.aspx


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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

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.

ProdVirtual Switch

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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.

http://aka.ms/gakmzi

http://aka.ms/gakmzi


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Figure 23. Hyper-V Storage: Virtual Fibre Channel Address Sets

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


http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30450

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30450


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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

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj134187




http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2796995/EN-US


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Hyper-V storage connection

Storage connections for each Hyper-V host are made using FCoE HBA ports on the 554FLB LOM cards that are configured with Virtual Connect Manager. Windows Multi-Path IO (MPIO) is used to provide redundant paths to the StoreServ array from each Hyper-V host. The Hyper-V host connects directly to the FCoE Ports (554FLB) and does not use the Virtual SANs.

Two Virtual SANs are configured in the Hyper-V Virtual SAN Manager and each Virtual SAN is connected to an FCoE port on the 554FLB. A Virtual Fibre Channel adapter is connected to each Virtual SAN in the VM’s settings. Two Fibre Channel paths are presented to each VM and Windows MPIO is used to provide redundant connections to the StoreServ array.

Figure 25. Hyper-V Hosts: Odd numbered servers

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.

Storage: HOST01 & Odd numbered Hosts

vGST03

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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

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.

Storage: HOST02 & Even numbered Hosts

vGST04

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Method one: Startup and Data CSVs presented to Hyper-V host 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 27. The virtual machine startup (OS) disks created as VHDX1, VHDX2 and VHDX3 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 Hyper-V host failover cluster nodes – HOST05, HOST06, HOST07 and HOST08 – as a Cluster Shared Volume (CSV) so that it is accessible from each node in the cluster. The VHDX files are created with a file size of 64 GB for the guest operating system disks and are presented to the IDE Controller device in the virtual machine.

The storage that holds additional data for vGST01, vGST02 and vGST03 is shown in blue in Figure 27. The virtual machine data disks are created as VHDX1d, VHDX2d and VHDX3d and are located on a LUN provisioned from the StoreServ 7400 array. The CSV LUN is created from a thick or thinly provisioned LUN and is presented to the Hyper-V host failover cluster nodes: HOST05, HOST06, HOST07 and HOST08. The VHDX files are created with a file size of 200 GB for the guest data disks and are presented to the SCSI Controller devices (supports UNMAP) in each virtual machine.

Figure 27. Hyper-V Storage: Startup and Data CSVs presented to Hyper-V host

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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

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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

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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 VM’s 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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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 VM’s 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 company’s Service Level Agreement (SLA). Management systems are available to assist with all phases of an application’s 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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HP Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) and Onboard Administrator (OA)

HP Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) for rack mount (DL) servers and Onboard Administrator (OA) for BladeSystem (BL) servers provide insight into the server configuration and the ability to remotely manage and diagnose a server without leaving your desk. The iLO functionality allows for remote management from any server or workstation in your environment as well as from IOS and Android devices.

Figure 32 shows the overview of information that is available in the iLO interface. The left pane shows the types of information and features that are available to gather information or remotely access the server.

Figure 32. Server Management: iLO 4 and OA

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.

http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA4-5167ENW

http://www.hp.com/go/ilo


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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.

Additional information on HP Intelligent Provisioning (IP) is available from: HP Intelligent Provisioning

HP Service Pack for ProLiant

The Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP) replaces the ProLiant Support Pack (PSP) and provides an integrated set of software and firmware to support the ProLiant server model and operating system version you deploy. The use of the Service Pack for ProLiant ensures that compatible versions of software and firmware are deployed together.

The HP SPP is deployed using the HP Software Update Manager (SUM) which is run to update the local server where HP SUM is running, a single remote server or a set of remote servers simultaneously. Each time a new HP Service Pack for ProLiant is released it can be deployed throughout the environment with SUM to ensure protection against any vulnerabilities and availability of new features.

Additional information on HP Service Pack for ProLiant (SPP) is available from: HP Service Pack for ProLiant

http://www.hp.com/go/intelligentprovisioning

http://www.hp.com/go/spp


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Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)

Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) with Service Pack 1 (SP1) provides a single point of management for servers, devices, operating systems, services and applications to ensure that the data center infrastructure is running and to notify administrators in the event that a monitored component fails.

The basic functionality of SCOM is expandable using Management Packs which are available from Microsoft or other vendors including HP. Management Packs provide application or device awareness that integrates into the SCOM product and allows the same single point of management to provide increased value for your organization to ensure that applications remain available and are running at the agreed upon service levels.

Figure 34. Management: Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM)

Additional information on Microsoft System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) is available from: Microsoft System Center Operations Manager




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Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM)

Microsoft System Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) with Service Pack 1 (SP1) provides a single point of management for your virtualized infrastructure including Hyper-V host and guest servers, network and storage devices, operating systems, services and applications to assist in deploying and managing the virtual infrastructure. SCVMM integrates with SCOM to ensure that your virtual infrastructure is running properly and to notify administrators in the event that a monitored virtual component fails.

Figure 35. Management: Microsoft System Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM)

Additional information on Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) is available from: Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager

Capacity and sizing

Virtual infrastructures are similar to data centers in that they are built to be a framework for the deployment of applications. Sizing a virtual infrastructure is dependent on two methods:

• Aggregation of the requirements for all of the applications that will be hosted in the virtual infrastructure

• Use of a standardized virtualization building block that contains sufficient flexibility to deploy most applications and the 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.

http://technet.microsoft.com/library/gg610610.aspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/library/gg610610.aspx


45

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

1 HP 642 1075mm Shock Intelligent Rack

1 HP BLc7000 10K Rack Ship Brkt Opt Kit

1 HP 42U 1075mm Side Panel Kit

1 HP Air Flow Optimization Kit

1 HP Rack Grounding Kit

2 HP 10pk Carbt 1U Universal Filler Panel

http://www.hp.com/solutions/activeanswers


46

Qty Description

2 HP Intelignt Mod PDU 3ph 40a Na/Jpn Core

3 HP 5xC13 Intlgnt PDU Ext Bars G2 Kit

1 HP TFT7600 KVM Console US Kit

1 HP 2x1Ex16 KVM IP Cnsl G2 VM CAC SW

8 HP KVM Cnsl USB VM CAC ITFC Adptr

1 HP AF102A 48-port Serial Console Server

Ethernet Network

1 HP 5800AF-48G Switch

2 HP A58x0AF 650W AC Power Supply

2 HP 58x0AF Bck(pwr)-Frt(ports) Fan Tray

2 HP 5920AF-24XG Switch

4 HP A58x0AF 650W AC Power Supply

4 HP 5920AF-24XG Bk(pwr)-Frt(prt) Fn Tray

15 HP X240 10G SFP+ SFP+ 1.2m DAC Cable

15 HP X240 10G SFP+ SFP+ 3m DAC Cable

2 HP X120 1G SFP RJ45 T Transceiver

6 HP C13-C14 6ft Sgl Data Special

10 HP Ethernet 4ft CAT5e RJ45 M/M Cable



Storage

1 HP 3PAR StoreServ 7400 2-N Storage Base

2 HP M6710 2.5in 2U SAS Drive Enclosure

32 HP M6710 450GB 6G SAS 10K 2.5in HDD

1 HP M6720 3.5in 4U SAS Drive Enclosure

16 HP M6720 2TB 6G SAS 7.2K 3.5in NL HDD

1 HP 3PAR 7400 OS Suite Base LTU

1 HP 3PAR 7400 OS Suite Base LTU Supp

1 HP 3PAR 7400 Reporting Suite LTU

1 HP 3PAR 7400 Reporting Suite LTU Supp

48 HP 3PAR 7400 OS Suite Drive LTU

1 HP 3PAR 7400 2-node Storage Base Supp

1 HP 3PAR 7000 Service Processor


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Qty Description

1 HP 3PAR 7000 Service Processor Supp

Storage Network

2 HP 8/24 Base 16-ports Enabled SAN Switch

2 HP 8/8 and 8/24 SAN Switch 8-pt Upgr LTU

2 HP B-series 8-24 Port Pwr Pk+ Upgr LTU

18 HP 8Gb Shortwave B-series FC SFP+ 1 Pack

8 HP 5m Multi-mode OM3 LC/LC FC Cable

12 HP 1m Multi-mode OM3 LC/LC FC Cable

BladeSystem

1 HP BladeSystem c7000 Platinum enclosure

1 HP 6X 2400W Plat Ht Plg FIO Pwr Sply Kit

1 HP BLc7000 DDR2 Encl Mgmt Option

1 HP BLc 6X Active Cool 200 FIO Fan Opt

1 HP BLc 1PH Intelligent Power Mod FIO Opt

6 HP 2.0m 250V 16A C19-C20 Sgl IPD Jpr Crd

2 HP BLc VC FlexFabric 10Gb/24-port Opt

4 HP 8Gb Shortwave B-series FC SFP+ 1 Pack

Virtualization Hosts – 192 GB memory configuration

8 HP BL460c Gen8 10Gb FLB CTO Blade

8 HP BL460c Gen8 E5-2665 FIO Kit

8 HP BL460c Gen8 E5-2665 Kit

96 HP 16GB 2Rx4 PC3-12800R-11 Kit

16 HP 450GB 6G SAS 10K 2.5in SC ENT HDD

8 HP FlexFabric 10Gb 2P 554FLB FIO Adptr

8 HP TPM Module Kit

Virtualization Hosts – 96 GB memory configuration

8 HP BL460c Gen8 10Gb FLB CTO Blade

8 HP BL460c Gen8 E5-2665 FIO Kit

8 HP BL460c Gen8 E5-2665 Kit

48 HP 16GB 2Rx4 PC3-12800R-11 Kit


8 HP FlexFabric 10Gb 2P 554FLB FIO Adptr

8 HP TPM Module Kit


48

Qty Description

Management Servers – 128 GB memory configuration

3 HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8 8 LFF Configure-to-order Server

3 HP DL380p Gen8 E5-2665 FIO Kit

3 HP DL380p Gen8 E5-2665 Kit

18 HP 16GB 2Rx4 PC3-12800R-11 Kit


3 HP TPM Module Kit

6 HP C13-C14 6ft Sgl Data Special

3 HP FlexFabric 10Gb 554FLR-SFP+ FIO Adptr

6 HP 750W CS Plat PL Ht Plg Pwr Supply Kit

3 HP 512MB FBWC for P-Series Smart Array

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 Microsoft’s partnership ensures solutions that meet today’s 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 HP’s 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.

http://www.hp.com/large/contact/enterprise/index.html


For more information

Microsoft Windows Server 2012, microsoft.com/windowsserver

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V, microsoft.com/hyper-v

Microsoft System Center 2012, microsoft.com/systemcenter

HP and Microsoft, hp.com/go/microsoft

HP ActiveAnswers, hp.com/solutions/activeanswers

HP 3PAR StoreServ 7000 Storage, hp.com/go/StoreServ7000

HP Intelligent Provisioning, hp.com/go/intelligentprovisioning

HP Service Pack for ProLiant, hp.com/go/spp

HP BladeSystem, hp.com/go/bladesystem

HP BladeSystem enclosures, hp.com/go/bladesystem/enclosures

HP BladeSystem interconnects, hp.com/go/bladesystem/interconnects

HP BladeSystem ProLiant server blades, hp.com/servers/cclass

HP Virtual Connect Enterprise Manager, hp.com/go/vcem

HP Virtual Connect Technology, hp.com/go/virtualconnect

HP Onboard Administrator, hp.com/info/onboard

HP ProLiant servers, hp.com/servers/proliant

HP ProLiant Networking, hp.com/go/ProLiantNICs

HP iLO Management Engine, hp.com/servers/ilo

HP Networking, hp.com/go/networking

SPOCK, hp.com/storage/spock

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

To help us improve our documents, please provide feedback at hp.com/solutions/feedback.

Sign up for updates

hp.com/go/getupdated

© Copyright 2013 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for

HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as

constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

4AA4-6158ENW, April 2013

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/

http://www.microsoft.com/hyper-v/

http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/

http://www.hp.com/go/microsoft

http://www.hp.com/solutions/activeanswers

http://www.hp.com/go/StoreServ7000

http://www.hp.com/go/intelligentprovisioning

http://www.hp.com/go/spp

http://www.hp.com/go/bladesystem

http://www.hp.com/go/bladesystem/enclosures

http://www.hp.com/go/bladesystem/interconnects

http://www.hp.com/servers/cclass

http://www.hp.com/go/vcem

http://www.hp.com/go/virtualconnect

http://www.hp.com/info/onboard

http://www.hp.com/servers/proliant

http://www.hp.com/go/ProLiantNICs

http://www.hp.com/servers/ilo

http://www.hp.com/go/networking

http://www.hp.com/storage/spock

http://www.hp.com/solutions/activeanswers/sizers

http://www.hp.com/go/bladesystem/powercalculator

http://www.hp.com/go/hppoweradvisor

http://www.hp.com/solutions/microsoft/hyper-v/sizer

http://www.hp.com/storage/sizer

http://www.hp.com/solutions/feedback

http://www.hp.com/go/getupdated

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