VM Migration (95% utilization)
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My VM Host machine is incapable of allocating enough resources to create a new VM (CPU). However, I need to migrate a file server and a domain controller. I can't delete any of the current VM's. Upgrading the server would yield the best results, but this thing IS my company. Do you hire a company to perform the hardware upgrades? I've actually never run into this problem before. I just always make sure I have enough resources before it ever gets to this point.
My idea is: I make the 2008 domain the dhcp server and then delete the 2003 domain. then use those resources to migrate the file server, then create the 2012 domain as a secondary. Thoughts?
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@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
My VM Host machine is incapable of allocating enough resources to create a new VM (CPU). However, I need to migrate a file server and a domain controller. I can't delete any of the current VM's. Upgrading the server would yield the best results, but this thing IS my company. Do you hire a company to perform the hardware upgrades? I've actually never run into this problem before. I just always make sure I have enough resources before it ever gets to this point.
My idea is: I make the 2008 domain the dhcp server and then delete the 2003 domain. then use those resources to migrate the file server, then create the 2012 domain as a secondary. Thoughts?
Your server can't do a live migration? Can you shut down the VM that you want to migrate and do it that way? (I am assuming you mean moving a VM from one server to another).
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@dafyre said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
My VM Host machine is incapable of allocating enough resources to create a new VM (CPU). However, I need to migrate a file server and a domain controller. I can't delete any of the current VM's. Upgrading the server would yield the best results, but this thing IS my company. Do you hire a company to perform the hardware upgrades? I've actually never run into this problem before. I just always make sure I have enough resources before it ever gets to this point.
My idea is: I make the 2008 domain the dhcp server and then delete the 2003 domain. then use those resources to migrate the file server, then create the 2012 domain as a secondary. Thoughts?
Your server can't do a live migration? Can you shut down the VM that you want to migrate and do it that way? (I am assuming you mean moving a VM from one server to another).
The same machine. All of this stuff is in production though and I don't have the resources to create a new VM.
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@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
My VM Host machine is incapable of allocating enough resources to create a new VM (CPU).
Have you tested that? Just because it is at 95% doesn't mean that it can't give more, only that you are going to start slowing things down. If there is enough RAM and storage, you might be fine. Especially if it is a low volume VM like an AD DC.
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@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@dafyre said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
My VM Host machine is incapable of allocating enough resources to create a new VM (CPU). However, I need to migrate a file server and a domain controller. I can't delete any of the current VM's. Upgrading the server would yield the best results, but this thing IS my company. Do you hire a company to perform the hardware upgrades? I've actually never run into this problem before. I just always make sure I have enough resources before it ever gets to this point.
My idea is: I make the 2008 domain the dhcp server and then delete the 2003 domain. then use those resources to migrate the file server, then create the 2012 domain as a secondary. Thoughts?
Your server can't do a live migration? Can you shut down the VM that you want to migrate and do it that way? (I am assuming you mean moving a VM from one server to another).
The same machine. All of this stuff is in production though and I don't have the resources to create a new VM.
Does it actually error out?
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What are you lacking to build a new VM? CPU power, RAM, or Hard Drive space... or E) All of the above?
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@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
Do you hire a company to perform the hardware upgrades?
You can. Sometimes you have the vendor do it (Dell, HPE, whoever.) But what are you talking about, just bigger CPUs? Memory or disks are trivial to add. CPU can be a pain but if you have a weekend to do it, no big deal at all.
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@scottalanmiller said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
Do you hire a company to perform the hardware upgrades?
You can. Sometimes you have the vendor do it (Dell, HPE, whoever.) But what are you talking about, just bigger CPUs? Memory or disks are trivial to add. CPU can be a pain but if you have a weekend to do it, no big deal at all.
The problem is they are in production. My entire facility would shut down.
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@dafyre said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
What are you lacking to build a new VM? CPU power, RAM, or Hard Drive space... or E) All of the above?
CPU
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@scottalanmiller said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@dafyre said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
My VM Host machine is incapable of allocating enough resources to create a new VM (CPU). However, I need to migrate a file server and a domain controller. I can't delete any of the current VM's. Upgrading the server would yield the best results, but this thing IS my company. Do you hire a company to perform the hardware upgrades? I've actually never run into this problem before. I just always make sure I have enough resources before it ever gets to this point.
My idea is: I make the 2008 domain the dhcp server and then delete the 2003 domain. then use those resources to migrate the file server, then create the 2012 domain as a secondary. Thoughts?
Your server can't do a live migration? Can you shut down the VM that you want to migrate and do it that way? (I am assuming you mean moving a VM from one server to another).
The same machine. All of this stuff is in production though and I don't have the resources to create a new VM.
Does it actually error out?
I will try right now.
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@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@scottalanmiller said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
Do you hire a company to perform the hardware upgrades?
You can. Sometimes you have the vendor do it (Dell, HPE, whoever.) But what are you talking about, just bigger CPUs? Memory or disks are trivial to add. CPU can be a pain but if you have a weekend to do it, no big deal at all.
The problem is they are in production. My entire facility would shut down.
That's how updates work
Even a vendor will need downtime. Do you have any greenzone on the weekends or anything? -
@scottalanmiller said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@scottalanmiller said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
Do you hire a company to perform the hardware upgrades?
You can. Sometimes you have the vendor do it (Dell, HPE, whoever.) But what are you talking about, just bigger CPUs? Memory or disks are trivial to add. CPU can be a pain but if you have a weekend to do it, no big deal at all.
The problem is they are in production. My entire facility would shut down.
That's how updates work
Even a vendor will need downtime. Do you have any greenzone on the weekends or anything?We're a 24/7 healthcare facility. I guess I'll have to ask someone higher up.
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@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@dafyre said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
What are you lacking to build a new VM? CPU power, RAM, or Hard Drive space... or E) All of the above?
CPU
CPU can be overloaded. It's not like memory or storage where you just fail, it just slows down. But as one VM picks up load from another (as you are replacing one) it shifts the CPU load over so you aren't really looking at adding much load. And it is only temporary. You will likely use a bit during the VM creation process, but not once it is up and running. Or nearly anything that it does use will come out of the one that it is replacing, so it will just rebalance.
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@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@scottalanmiller said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@scottalanmiller said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
@wirestyle22 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
Do you hire a company to perform the hardware upgrades?
You can. Sometimes you have the vendor do it (Dell, HPE, whoever.) But what are you talking about, just bigger CPUs? Memory or disks are trivial to add. CPU can be a pain but if you have a weekend to do it, no big deal at all.
The problem is they are in production. My entire facility would shut down.
That's how updates work
Even a vendor will need downtime. Do you have any greenzone on the weekends or anything?We're a 24/7 healthcare facility. I guess I'll have to ask someone higher up.
You aren't really a 24/7 healthcare facility if you only have one server
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Do you have any greenzone on the weekends or anything?
Haha... Friday night from 9pm till 6am saturday... lol
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This is for planned maintenance, what is the process for unplanned? And running a server at 95% CPU is great for capacity planning, but that means you are "against the wall" all of the time. You must have people waiting on stuff all of the time unnecessarily.
Instead of more CPU in that box, adding another server is likely a way better use of funds. Upgrading CPUs means "throwing out" the perfectly good once that you have for what is generally very little gain in performance since you are just getting more cores or faster clock on the same socket. It's a horrible use of money. If you buy a $500 CPU to replace a $300 CPU, you are really only getting a $200 upgrade. That's not good money. And it is an old server, not a current one. So you can't rarely good that great of a CPU anyway, and you are typically held back by the platform. So the value just gets lower and lower.
But a "new" server will likely cost very little more, but provide WAY more additional CPU, plus more memory and more storage and the ability to failover and more. With rare exception, drastically better spend.
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@DustinB3403 said in VM Migration (95% utilization):
Do you have any greenzone on the weekends or anything?
Haha... Friday night from 9pm till 6am saturday... lol
That's normally plenty. CPU replacement should be two hours, tops. And that is extreme.
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When deploying that new server, consider carefully going with a Server Core installation. It's a lot harder to manage if you are not used to it, but it uses less memory and less CPU. You might end up with lower CPU utilization when all is said and done just from doing the update alone!
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I agree with Scott here... I think you'll be fine for building a new VM if your CPU is running at 95%. Can you tell which VM(s) are causing it to run that hard?
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Well Scott. Like every other day, you are a godsend.
