[Xen-users] Please comment on proposed configuration

[John S Little <JSLittl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hello all,

Having built 1 test Xen machine and followed this list now for several 
weeks I hope that I have some understanding of  what I can/can't 
should/shouldn't do.

Hardware configuration:
I have a hardware configuration consisting of a Sun Fire V20z, dual proc 
AMD 272 and 4gb of ram.  The dom0 is SuSE 9.3, patched with the "in the 
box" version of Xen 2.0.5.  The machine has two Broadcom Gb nics, an added 
Intel dual port Gb nic card, connected to Gb switches.  Storage consists 
of a single Qlogic QLA2342-E-SP dual port connected to a McData switch 
using an EMC CX600 for storage.  The Qlogic card will be hidden from dom0.

An overview of what I want to do:
Provide  domU Samba file servers for various departments.  Each file 
server would carry about 50 users.  Heavier use departments would be 
paired with lighter use departments.  Each domU would be configured to use 
512Mb of memory (dom0 is configured with 128Mb).   This would allow me to 
have 7 domU and about 350 users.  The domUs are configured with SLES9 sp1.

A future consideration would be to add heartbeat into the mix and create a 
failover server using the shared storage.

1.  Is this to much of a load for Xen file serving? Conversely could more 
users be added than this?  I realize that this is somewhat subjective and 
would depend on utilization rates but I need to start somewhere :-)
2.  Are the two extra nic ports provided by the Intel card going to be 
useful?  I read just today that the domU machines are only going to see 
one NIC?
3.  Would the Intel slot be better served by using a 2nd Qogic hba?
4. Since each domU is running the same server (SLES 9) do (can?) I use the 
same kernel?  My guess is that the best solution is to use separate 
kernels for each domU else if one crashes they all crash..
5.  Since this is a production server in a hospital, when servers don't 
work (even file servers) things get critical in a hurry.  This is one of 
the reasons I am hesitant to consider Xen 3.  Would Xen 3 be better suited 
for this environment? If so should I wait on it or could I deploy it now?

One last question-When I compile a kernel for use with domU do I compile 
it inside domU or inside dom0?

Thanks for your comments, considerations, and pointing out things that 
I've missed or ovelooked or just don't understand.

Regards,

John Little
Hendricks Regional Health IS Department
317-718-4752
jslittl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.hendrickshospital.org

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