High School Server Sydney Region IT School

SupportTerm 3 2009

Traditional Approaches

Smaller Servers available on Contract

Windows 2003 R2◦ 64 / 32 bit

Services◦ AD DS◦ WINS◦ DNS◦ DHCP◦ Web ?◦ TS

Previous Server Setups Storage:

◦ < 500 GB storage RAM

◦ 1GB

+ Single Server + All services running on one server

Previous Single Server Setup

- One service can bring down all others.

- Time Consuming to recover

Multiple Servers Each server providing single

Primary service. + Each service is

independent + Replica of AD - Expensive solution

◦ Power requirements◦ Infrastructure◦ Physical Space◦ Cooling

Previous Multiple Server Setup

What has changed?

Dell T610 / R710 2 x Quad-Core Intel(R) Xeon(R) E5410, 64-bit

(32-bit compatible), 2 x 6MB Cache 2.33GHz, 667MHz FSB,80W.

16 GB RAM (support for 96 GB) 5 x 300 GB SAS Drives - 4 in Raid 5, 1 Hot

Swap.◦ Provides 900 GB Storage◦ Support for 8 Drives

Current Server Hardware

Hardware◦ Has vastly exceeded software requirements◦ Cost reduced◦ CPU/BIOS level support for virtualisation◦ Dual Quad Core CPU’s◦ RAM – 16 GB +◦ HDD – 900 GB +

Software◦ Server 2008 R2 64 Bit◦ Hyper V Server

Usage/Demands◦ More Data storage required◦ Demand for more services (especially Web2.0)

What has changed

Multiple Core processors More RAM than required by OS. 64 Bit OS able to address over 4Gb RAM, CPU/BIOS support for Virtualisation. Virtualisation provides rationalisation of

physical server requirements. Virtualisation offers opportunities to reduce

running costs. Bare Metal Hypervisors enable virtual

machines without the OS overheads.

Industry Factors and Trends

New ApproachesUsing Current / Future Servers on Contract

Very Large Server, 1 VM

Physical Disk

Volume

Virtual HD

+ Single Server + Single Backup + VM to support Printing - Single service can bring down server - To restart single services, often require

restart of server.

Very Large Server, 1 VM

Hyper Visor + VMs

+ Single Physical Server + Single Backup + VM’s for each service so that no one service

can bring down all others. + Quick restart of services + Quick to provision + Reduction in Power Costs + Reduction in supporting infrastructure - Requires a Management Station (for Hyper V

Server.◦ - Can not be managed from Server.

Hyper Visor + VMs

Reduce Hardware Costs◦ Less servers required.

Reduce running costs◦ Power◦ Cooling

Reduced Infrastructure◦ Networking requirements◦ Space requirements

Why Virtualisation?

Backup Options

Need to cater for at least 3 x possible data storage. 1. External Hard drives

◦ 3 x 1TB USB External Drives◦ Eg Seagate Freeagent 1TB Silver 3.5" External HDD $170

(ex GST)

2. Network Attached Storage (NAS)◦ 2-4 TB NAS located somewhere else in school on Gb Link◦ Buffalo TeraStation Pro II TS-RH4.0TGL/R5 - NAS - 4 TB -

rack-mountable - Serial ATA-15 - $1,601.82 (ex)

◦ Prices from Harris Technology

Backup Options

UPS

SMART - UPS 750VA TOWER -$290.59

SMART - UPS 1500VA TOWER - $370.59

SMART - UPS 1500VA RM (2U) -$467.06

SMART - UPS 2200VA RM (2U) - $1,156.47

SMART - UPS 3000VA RM (2U) - $903.53◦ 15 Amp Circuit required (Est ~ $400)

APC UPS from Dell (OEM prices)(When Purchased with a server)

Future Directions?

Server + Direct Attached Storage

+ Easy to expand storage as required.◦ MD1000 supports up to 15 TB◦ MD3000 supports up to 45 TB

+ Can be connected to up to 2 servers ◦ Redundancy◦ Storage shared between Servers

MD1000 with 4 TB Storage ~ $4399 (ex gst)

Server + Direct Attached Storage

How much Useable Storage is required?

Move to 400GB SAS Drives?◦ How many, configuration?

Is DAS more suitable than internal Drives?

Move to 32 GB RAM?

Backup???◦ How do you backup Multi Terabyte storage

Future Directions - Hardware

What services are required?◦ AD DS, DHCP, DNS, FS, PS – required◦ Web?

IIS or Apache Moodle, CMS, Web2.0?

◦ Windows Deployment Services◦ DFS◦ NAP

Virtualisation... DAS / NAS / SANS

Future Directions - Software