topic Drive Config for Virtualized Server 10.5 in ArcGIS Enterprise Questions

Drive Config for Virtualized Server 10.5

danbecker — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 16:29:35 GMT

currently approx. 5-10 simustaneous field data collectors
current SQL Server Express instance with all SDE gdbs is ~5GB
current ArcGIS for Server 10.3.1 Standard Workgroup; 2-core license
current Win Server 2008 x64 8GB RAM box functions as:
- 5TB RAID5 array that stores all SQL db data/logs, and also file data that's shared via SMB
- runs ArcGIS for Server
- runs IIS7 web adaptor
current published feat. services as added as peroxided items in AGOL
current box is always running at 97%+ physical memory, we need more memory and I also want SQL server to utilize more then 1GB of memory, hence the upgrade to Standard.

New box. 6-core, 32GB RAM

old GIS box will continue to be file server
new box will run Hyper-V Core as host OS, with 2 guest VM's, each will be Server 2012 Std:
- VM-1
  - Active Directory Domain Controller
  - SQL Server 2012 Std
- VM-2
  - ArcGIS for Server 10.5 Standard Workgroup; 2-core
  - ArcGIS Web Adapter on IIS7
  - Active Directory Domain Controller

How should I configure the physical drives in the new box; how about his?

Single physical 60GB SSD 7.2K RPM drive for host OS, Hyper-V Core (I don't want to go down the thumb drive route)
One Big Raid10 array with 4x500GB SSD 10k RPM physical drives = 1000GB of space.
- VM-1_OS.vhd -- OS (120GB)
- VM-1_SQLdata.vhd -- SQL Server Data (500GB)
- VM-1_SQLlog.vhd -- SQL Server Logs (200GB)
- VM-2_OS.vhd -- OS and ArcGIS Server and AD DC (120GB)

Edit: looks like DC's are incompotible with both SQL server and ArcGIS Server. I'll find a different solution for it. Too bad MS Server 2012 R2 Std didn't come with more then 2 VM licenses...We just cannot justify the datacenter edition price.

Re: Drive Config for Virtualized Server 10.5

BillFox — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 17:35:26 GMT

Microsoft calls out some warnings here about installing SQL Server on a domain controller:

Hardware and Software Requirements for Installing SQL Server 2014

Installing SQL Server on a Domain Controller - Limitations

For security reasons, we recommend that you do not install SQL Server 2014 on a domain controller. SQL Server Setup will not block installation on a computer that is a domain controller, but the following limitations apply:

You cannot run SQL Server services on a domain controller under a local service account.
After SQL Server is installed on a computer, you cannot change the computer from a domain member to a domain controller. You must uninstall SQL Server before you change the host computer to a domain controller.
After SQL Server is installed on a computer, you cannot change the computer from a domain controller to a domain member. You must uninstall SQL Server before you change the host computer to a domain member.
SQL Server failover cluster instances are not supported where cluster nodes are domain controllers.
SQL Server Setup cannot create security groups or provision SQL Server service accounts on a read-only domain controller. In this scenario, Setup will fail.

Re: Drive Config for Virtualized Server 10.5

danbecker — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 17:51:22 GMT

Great catch, thank you. I edited the post, moved DC to VM-2 alongside ArcGIS Server.

Re: Drive Config for Virtualized Server 10.5

BillFox — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 17:57:23 GMT

Can ArcGIS Server be installed on a domain controller?

FAQ: Can ArcGIS Server be installed on a domain controller?

Re: Drive Config for Virtualized Server 10.5

danbecker — Thu, 09 Mar 2017 18:04:25 GMT

I got rid of the DC. thanks again for the tip.