VMware
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VMware Ready certification
Verba Technologies is a VMware Technology Alliance Partner, and has tested and approved all system components, including the Recording Server and the Media Repository roles, to run on VMware solutions.
 The Verba Recording System is VMware Ready certified: https://solutionexchange.vmware.com/store/products/6756Â
VMware instance examples for Verba servers
These are very simple examples for the configuration of VMware instances where your Verba servers are installed:
| Verba Media Repository (MR) | Verba Recording Server (RS) | Verba Express Server (MR+RS combo) |
|---|---|---|
4 vCPU, 8 GB vRAM | 2 vCPU, 4 GB vRAM | 4 vCPU, 8 GB vRAM Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 >40 GB system disk >100 GB media disk |
For more detailed requirements and dimensioning information please consult Select your server.
You can also open a ticket at http://support.verba.com and our support team can validate your planned configuration.
The passive recording solutions uses a monitored network traffic to record the calls. In default, the vmware virtual interface drops the frames which are not sent to the virtual interface. To prevent this, you need to enable the promiscuous mode on virtual interface which is conneced to the Verba Recording Server. How to configure promiscuous mode on a virtual switch or portgroup in vSphere.
Recommendations for VMware environments
When configuring the VMware platform, the following recommendations apply:
- For Recording Servers using the passive recording technology, an extra dedicated physical network interface is required on the host machine and needs to be allocated specifically to the virtual machine in order to capture the mirrored network traffic.
- For the Recording Server components, the minimum CPU and memory resources must be permanently dedicated.
- The requirements regarding the hard disk performance must be carefully handled, especially for the write intensive Recording Server components.
- For the Media Repository component, the memory has to be permanently dedicated; the CPU resources can be shared with other virtual machines.
- It is recommended to use Intel based Nehalem processors (e.g. E5540) to enjoy the hardware assist benefits.
- It is recommended to enable hyperthreading for optimum CPU performance.
- It is recommended to use VMware vmxnet3 paravirtualized adapter for optimum network IO.
- It is recommended to implement storage best practices to reduce the latency such as disk partition alignment, proper RAID configuration, eager zeroed disk, adequate number of spindles etc.
Additional VMware guidelines and best practices
This topic provides external resources and links to additional guidelines and best practices for VMware environments. Please always use the latest, updated documents from the vendor.
| Name | Description and Link |
|---|---|
| VMware vSphere 4 Documentation | Learn about vSphere 4 |
| Introduction to VMware vSphere | Introduction to VMware vSphere provides information about the features and functionality of VMware vSphere. Introduction to VMware vSphere describes ESX, ESXi, and vCenter Server. |
| Resource Management Guide | The vSphere Resource Management Guide describes resource management for VMwareESX, ESXi, andvCenter Server environments. http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_resource_mgmt.pdf |
| Availability Guide | The vSphere Availability Guide describes solutions that provide business continuity, including how to establish VMware High Availability (HA) and VMware Fault Tolerance. http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_availability.pdf |
| Fibre Channel SAN Configuration Guide | This manual, the Fibre Channel SAN Configuration Guide, explains how to use VMware ESX and VMwareESXi systems with a Fibre Channel storage area network (SAN). |
| iSCSI SAN Configuration Guide | The iSCSI SAN Configuration Guide explains how to use VMware ESX and VMware ESXi systems with aniSCSI storage area network (SAN). The manual includes conceptual background information and installationrequirements for ESX, ESXi, and VMware vCenter Server. http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_iscsi_san_cfg.pdf |
| Guest Operating SystemInstallation Guide | The Guest Operating System Installation Guide provides users of VMware ESX Server, VMware ACE, VMware Workstation, and VMware Fusion information about installing guest operating systems in VMware virtual machines. |
| Tips for configuring Microsoft SQL Server in a virtual machine | This article provides a quick list of points to consider when configuring Microsoft SQL Server in a virtual machine. |
| VMware Virtual Networking Concepts. | VMware Infrastructure provides a rich set of networking capabilities that integrate well with sophisticated enterprise networks. These networking capabilities are provided by VMware ESX Server and managed by VMware VirtualCenter. http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/virtual_networking_concepts.pdf |
| VMware Virtual Machine File System: Technical Overview and Best Practices | The VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) is a high performance cluster file system that allows virtualization to scale beyond the boundaries of a single system. Designed, constructed, and optimized for the virtual server environment, VMFS increases resource utilization by providing multiple virtual machines with shared access to a consolidated pool of clustered storage. And VMFS provides the foundation for virtualization spanning multiple servers, enabling services such as VMware Vmotion, Distributed Resource Scheduler, and VMware High Availability. |