Tag: Hardware

Is your server hardware capable of running vSphere?

With VI3 you could run on either 32-bit or 64-bit server hardware but vSphere requires 64-bit hardware because the VMkernel and Service Console are now 64-bit. I did a tip a while ago for searchvmware.com that talks about this in detail and shows how you can test your hardware to see if the CPU supports 64-bit and has some of the other CPU features that vSphere needs for certain features. To briefly summarize that tip:

  • Long mode is required to be able to install vSphere, it will not install without it.
  • To be able to run 64-bit VM’s on vSphere either the AMD-V or Intel-VT feature is required. Without it you can still run vSphere but are limited to using 32-bit VM’s.
  • For the Fault Tolerance feature to work you need specific processors that support Lockstep technology, you can read this KB article to find out which ones have this feature.

Here are some links to various information that can help you better understand all this:

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Hardware Links

General

VMware vSphere: Got 64-bit hardware? (SearchVMware)
Hardware Virtualization: the Nuts and Bolts (Anandtech)
ESX Monitor Modes (VMware)
Ensuring Virtualization Technology is enabled on your VMware host (KB Article)
Determining if Intel Virtualization Technology or AMD Virtualization is enabled in the BIOS without rebooting (KB Article)

CPU

The Intel processor roadmap for industry-standard servers, 11th edition (HP white paper)
The AMD processor roadmap for industry-standard servers, 7th edition (HP white paper)
AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon x86 processors in industry-standard servers (HP white paper)
Inside the Intel Sandy Bridge Microarchitecture (Hardware Secrets)
Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) Explained (Hardware Secrets)
Intel Virtualization Technology FlexMigration Enablement (Intel)

I/O

HP local I/O technology for ProLiant servers (HP white paper)
Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (Intel)

Memory

DDR3 memory technology (HP white paper)
Memory technology evolution: an overview of system memory technologies (HP white paper)
Everything You Need To Know About DDR, DDR2 and DDR3 Memories (Hardware Secrets)
DIMMs And The Intel Nehalem Memory Architecture Connection (Deinos Cloud)

Network

Virtual Machine Device Queues (Intel)
Simplify VMware vSphere 4 Networking with Intel Ethernet 10 Gigabit Server Adapters (Intel)
Virtual Switches Demand Rethinking Connectivity for Servers (Intel)

Power

Power Regulator for ProLiant servers (HP white paper)
HP Power Capping and HP Dynamic Power Capping for ProLiant servers (HP white paper)
Everything You Need to Know About the CPU C-States Power Saving Modes (Hardware Secrets)
C-states and P-states are very different (Intel)
C-states, C-states and even more C-states (Intel)

SSD

SSDs In RAID: A Performance Scaling Analysis (Tom’s Hardware)
SSD Performance: TRIM And Firmware Updates Tested (Tom’s Hardware)
How Do SSDs Redefine Storage Performance? (Tom’s Hardware)
SSD 102: The Ins And Outs Of Solid State Storage (Tom’s Hardware)
Q&A: Tom’s Hardware And Kingston On SSD Technology (Tom’s Hardware)
What is the TRIM function for solid state disks (SSDs) and why is it important? (Windows IT Pro)
I heard solid state disks (SSDs) suffer from a decline in write performance as they’re used. Why? (Windows IT Pro)
SSD security: the worst of all worlds (ZDNet)
How do you make an SSD even faster? (ZDNet)

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Hardware Links

IBM Insights in Sizing Hardware for Virtualization
Hardware recommendations to build a cheap ESX server
Community supported hardware/software for Vmware Infrastructure
HP ProLiant server sizer for VMware ESX Server
Improving Economics of Blades with VMware
ESX Load Generator scripts
Memtest86+ Download
Hardware for Virtualization: How to get more from servers, HBA’s and more
New Technology Directions in the Virtual Hardware Platform (VMworld 2007)
Memory Parity Errors – Causes and Suggestions
Building a $500 VMware ESXi Host
USB Device Support within VMware ESX
Blades and Virtualization Aren’t Mutually Exclusive: Part One, HP Power Sizing
Blades and Virtualization Aren’t Mutually Exclusive: Part Two, IBM Power Sizing
Blades and Virtualization Aren’t Mutually Exclusive: Part Three, IBM Traditional Expansion Options
Blades and Virtualization Aren’t Mutually Exclusive: Part Four, HP Traditional Expansion Options
Understanding Hardware-Assisted Virtualization
Bricks or Blades?
Blades vs. rack servers: Basic purchasing principles still apply (Pt.1)
Selecting CPU, processors and memory for virtualized environments (Pt. 2)

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