This section details the functions provided by Resource Coordinator VE.
Function | Description | Benefits | Target resource | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Physical OS | VM host (*1) | VM guest (*1) | |||
Monitoring | Monitors resources, such as servers, and displays their status (normal, error, etc.) on the RC console. | Helps identify the cause of a failure and determine its impact on servers, thereby streamlining hardware maintenance. | Yes (*2) | Yes (*2) | Yes |
Power Control | Powers on and off managed servers. | Enables remote control of a managed server's power state without having direct access to it. This simplifies periodic maintenance tasks that involve power control operations. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Backup and restore (*3) | Creates system image backups of servers that can be easily restored when needed. System images are centrally stored on a disk on the admin server. | Creating backups before any configuration change, software installation or patch application can drastically reduce the time to restore a server to its original state when hardware or software problems occur. | Yes | Yes (*4) | No |
Hardware Maintenance | Simplifies the re-configuration tasks required after replacement of a hardware part. | Lightens the work load associated with hardware replacement and reduces the risk of operational errors. | Yes | Yes | - |
Server Switchover | Recover applications upon hardware failure by switching over primary servers with pre-assigned spare servers. | Shortens and simplifies the recovery procedure in the event of server failure. | Yes | Yes (*5) | No |
Cloning (*3) | Creates a cloning image of a reference server and distributes it to other managed servers. Cloning images are centrally stored on a disk on the admin server. | Simplifies OS and software installation when servers are added. Allows servers with identical OS and software configurations to share common backups. | Yes | No | No |
Yes: Supported
No: Not supported
-: Not applicable
*1: The level of functionality may differ depending on the server virtualization software used for VM hosts and VM guests. Refer to "A.1 Supported Functions" for details.
*2: Depending on the hardware being used, this feature may or may not be available. For details, refer to the corresponding "Note" in "1.2 Hardware Environment" of the "ServerView Resource Coordinator VE Installation Guide".
*3: Not necessary when ServerView Deployment Manager shares the same subnet (admin LAN).
*4: When backing up a VM host containing VM guests on its own boot disk, behavior differs according to the server virtualization product used. Refer to "A.3 Functional Differences between Products" for details.
*5: Only HBA address rename-based or VIOM-based switchovers are supported for VM hosts.
Function | OS | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Windows | Linux | VMware | Solaris | Xen | ||||||
Windows (*1) | Hyper-V (*2, *3) | Red Hat/Oracle | SUSE (*4) | vSphere 4 (*5, *6, *7) | Infrastructure 3 | Solaris 10 | Citrix | Red Hat | ||
Monitoring | Yes | Yes | Yes (*8) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Power Control | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Backup and Restore | Yes (*9) | Yes (*9) | Yes | Yes (*10) | No | Yes | No | Yes (*10, *11) | Yes (*12) | |
Server Switchover | Backup and restore method | Yes (*9) | Yes (*9) | Yes | Yes (*13) | No | Yes | No | No (*14) | Yes |
HBA address rename method | Yes (*9) | Yes (*9) | Yes | Yes (*13) | Yes | Yes | No | No (*14) | Yes | |
VIOM profile exchange method | Yes (*9) | Yes (*9) | Yes | Yes (*13) | Yes | Yes | No | No (*14) | Yes | |
Cloning | Yes (*1) | No | Yes | Yes (*10, *16) | No | No | No | No | No | |
VLAN settings (*15) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | |
Pre-configuration | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Yes: Supported.
No: Not supported.
*1: When using restore after server replacement, or when a server has been replaced in a SAN boot environment, a volume license is required for the copy of Windows that is installed on managed servers.
*2: Only supported when the manager is running on Windows.
*3: VM guest migrations and VM maintenance mode settings require Microsoft(R) System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2. Moreover, PowerShell 2.0 should be installed on the Manager. Moreover, PowerShell 2.0 should be installed on the manager.
*4: Please disable the use of persistent network device names.
*5: With BIOS time settings, it is only possible to set UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) for VMware ESX 4 servers and local time for Windows servers. Therefore, as the same settings cannot be made, operation with spare servers being shared between VMware ESX servers and Windows servers is not possible.
*6: When upgrading from VMware Infrastructure 3, system images of VM hosts that were collected prior to the upgrade will be available after the upgrade is complete. However, even if system images from before the upgrade are used for server switchover (using the backup and restore method), the VM hosts will not operate properly. Please be sure to release spare server settings for server switchover using the backup and restore method before performing upgrades. It is recommended to delete all system images collected before change, unless those images are specifically needed.
*7: Management of VM guests with VMware Fault Tolerance enabled is not supported by Resource Coordinator VE.
*8: Oracle Enterprise Linux is reported as Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
*9: You must have a volume license for the version of Windows to be installed on managed servers by Resource Coordinator VE.
*10: When using the backup and restore functions, ensure that the file system is an ext3 file system.
*11: When performing restoration using Resource Coordinator VE, do so using hardware with the same NIC configuration as when the backup was made. When performing restoration after NIC's have been replaced, added, or removed, reinstall XenServer referring to the manual for Citrix XenServer.
*12: VM maintenance mode is not supported by this server virtualization product. As a result, system images can be backed up and restored without having to set or release the target VM hosts from maintenance mode.
*13: When using the backup and restore method of Resource Coordinator VE for server switchover, configure the same SCSI WWID for the source and target.
*14: After a server switchover, applications should be switched back to exactly the same hardware as before switchover. If this is not possible, please re-install Citrix XenServer following the instructions given in the Citrix XenServer manual.
*15: Only supported for blade models.
*16: Auto-configuration of network parameters cannot be used.
Function | Description | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
Power Control | Powers on and off blade chassis. | Enables remote control of a chassis's power state without needing to connect to its management blade. This simplifies periodic maintenance tasks that involve power control operations. |
Function | Description | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
Pre-configuration | Systems made up of multiple servers can be easily configured or modified using the pre-configuration function to import a pre-defined system configuration file. | Prevents setup mistakes by performing numerous setup operations in a single action. |
Backup and Restore | Backs up or restores a Resource Coordinator VE installation. | Performing backups after configuration changes are made in Resource Coordinator VE enables prompt recovery of the admin server in case its internal data is damaged due to administration mistakes or other problems. |
Function | Description | Benefits | LAN Switch Blades (*1) | LAN Switch | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Switch Mode | IBP Mode | ||||
Monitoring | Monitors LAN switches and displays their statuses (normal or error) graphically. | Simplifies identification of the cause and impact of LAN switch failure on servers and speeds up hardware maintenance. | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Network Map | Helps visualize and relate physical networks (between servers and LAN switch blades) together with virtualized networks (from VLANs or virtual switches used in server virtualization software). | Automatically detects and displays network connections (topology) and link statuses for different kinds of resources (network equipment or server virtualization software). | Yes | Yes | Yes |
VLAN settings | Automates VLAN settings (port VLAN or tagged VLAN) on LAN switches adjacent to servers. | Simplifies the VLAN configuration of LAN switches when adding new servers. During automatic recovery of a failed server, VLANs are automatically reconfigured to preserve connectivity and avoid manual network re-configurations. | Yes | No | No |
Port group setting | Automates server group settings on LAN switch blades in IBP mode during server switchover. | Reduces the number of steps necessary to recover the network configuration of a failed server. | No | Yes | No |
Restore | Restores a LAN switch to its most recent VLAN configuration. | Restores the VLAN configuration on a replaced LAN switch to the configuration that was active before replacement. | Yes | No | No |
Yes: Supported
No: Not supported
*1: For PRIMERGY BX600 LAN switches please refer to the "switch mode" column.
Function | Description | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
Power consumption monitoring | Monitors power consumption trends for resources equipped with power monitoring capabilities, or resources connected to power monitoring devices (PDU or UPS). Collects and outputs power consumption data over a given period of time. | This function can be used to measure the effectiveness of environmental policies and cost-saving initiatives on power consumption. |
Function (*1) | Description | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
Migration of VM guests between servers | Migrates a VM guest from one physical server to another. | Facilitates optimization of VM guest deployments according to server load or planned maintenance. |
VM maintenance mode control | Sets (or releases) VM hosts to (or from) a specific state that allows safe server maintenance. | VM hosts can be easily set out of and back into operation. |
*1: Available functions may vary according to the server virtualization software used. Refer to "A.1 Supported Functions" for details.
