We are looking into incorporating a SAN and virtualizing our servers as much as possible.
Can anyone verify if you can virtualize a Domino Server with the databases and server image located on a SAN?
Without virtualization, can the databases operate from a SAN?
We use Windows 2003 and 2008 Servers
Domino 8.5.1 Enterprise Servers
450 Users/140 active max at any given time.
Thanks
Matt
Subject: google search?
There are plenty of docs our there. Like:
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27002613&aid=1
http://searchdomino.techtarget.com/generic/0,295582,sid4_gci1357766,00.html
Subject: Good starting point
Thanks for the links. That is a good starting point.
How does this act in the real world? Anyone have any experience implementing either? What troubles did you have?
Subject: Works well at my end
Hi Matt,
I work for a small company with around 100 Notes users (and some clients who use web stuff) and we run all our Domino servers on VMWare with the storage on a SAN. Works really well, and I’m yet to come across an issue that could be traced to the hardware platform or VMWare.
I think it’s a really good fit, especially if you have growth in stuff like mail files and archives.
The virtualisation thing is a good idea no matter what you’re putting on it, so Domino is a good option there.
I’d expect that the majority of large shops would be running at least some of their domino servers in virtualised environments and most would have the data on a SAN.
The only disadvantage I can think of is that it could be a little more costly for a smaller shop to maintain the hardware (particularly the SAN), but there are some benefits to be had.
Anyway, just a quick real world example for you.
-Brendan
Subject: Virtualize Domino
If you have a Lotus/IBM business partner that you work with, you probably want to engage them to look at your infrastructure as it is now and offer suggestions. You may benifit greatly from thier experience and expertise.
In moving to VM you might face sizing issues if you support large numbers of users.
With SAN storage, you’ll want to configure your LUNs to limit the possiblity of disk contention.
There are also questions about Fiber Channel versus iSCSI connectivity.
Below is a link to a best practices doc from IBM regarding SAN storage.
http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27002613&aid=1
Besides this site, you may also find useful information on http://www.planetlotus.org. It’s a link to the blogs of various IBMers, IBM/Lotus Business Partners and other Lotus professionals.