ESXI 5.5 - Recommend UPS Setup

R

rosco

Gawd
Joined
Jun 22, 2000
Messages
722
I am going to be putting a ESXI server into production. Right now, it will have two guest installs: Windows Server 2012 and Ubuntu Server LTS.

I need to make sure I have a good UPS setup that will allow for graceful shutdowns in the case of a power outages.

What would you recommend for this? The hardware is a Dell Poweredge T320 with redundant power supplies.

Thanks!
 
My main question is a recommended setup for shutting everything down gracefully. I'm not looking at 1hr uptime after outage etc.

I'm thinking more like 10 to 15 minutes so that things don't have to get shutdown in the case of a minor outage.
 
Depends on the UPS to some degree. I use apc brand mostly, and use apcupsd for monitoring and shutdown. Your main 2 options:

1) run a client in each guest (1 would have the usb/serial connection, the other would read status from the first machine) and just shut them down at the appropriate time, and leave the hardware running. If vsphere is idle (the vm's being shut down), then a hard shutdown when the power runs out probably doesn't hurt it.

2) run the client in a guest, and have it ssh into the esxi host itself, and run "/sbin/shutdown.sh && /sbin/poweroff". If you have tools installed on both vm's, and have them set to auto bootup and shutdown, then this command will shutdown cleanly each guest, then when that is done, shut down the host itself.


#2 is the option I use for my clients.
 
Get yourself 2 of any decent (Eaton/Powerware, Emerson/Liebert, APC SmartUPS) UPS, maybe 1000va or something, and you'll be fine. I've listed those 3 brands in basically the order I prefer.

If you don't care about being able to do UPS maintenance (such as replace batteries) separately from the server and don't mind a UPS failure potentially taking the server down, you could potentially just go with one. But I recommend 2.
 
raspberry pi running nut connecting to the ups then shutting everything down and bringing it back up after the power is up.
 
get redundant upses from known vendor who has vmware integration

update not only hypervisor itself but also your guest vms

basically follow guides below

http://www.virtualtothecore.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/wp_en_vSphere_shutdown_PCNS.pdf

http://www.designervisuals.com/Shutdown_ESXi_and_VMs_During_a_Power_Failure.html

check batteries and simulate outage every 6 months

ps we run similar setup on many-many cell phone retransmission towers for years

rosco said:
I am going to be putting a ESXI server into production. Right now, it will have two guest installs: Windows Server 2012 and Ubuntu Server LTS.

I need to make sure I have a good UPS setup that will allow for graceful shutdowns in the case of a power outages.

What would you recommend for this? The hardware is a Dell Poweredge T320 with redundant power supplies.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top