Drive Config for Virtualized Server 10.5

[danbecker]

• 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.

[BillFox · Accepted solution]

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.

[danbecker]

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

[BillFox]

Can ArcGIS Server be installed on a domain controller?

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

[danbecker]

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