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Manage your Hypervisor

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Managing your hypervisor includes managing your vSphere hosts, ESXi hosts, hardware, networking, and storage.

In most cases, you must open a Rackspace Technology ticket and request that we complete a task for you. For tasks that you cannot complete, the following documentation provides a list of what you should include in the Rackspace Technology ticket so we can expedite your request.

This chapter includes the following sections:

Manage vSphere clusters

Members of a vSphere cluster, a collection of ESXi hypervisors, pool their resources with a single VM drawing resources from one hypervisor at a time. All cluster members have either identical, or in some cases similar, configurations.

This chapter includes the following topics:

View vSphere Clusters

You can use the Rackspace Technology Customer Portal to see the ESXi hosts that form a part of a vSphere cluster. If you have multiple vSphere clusters, you can see all of the clusters. Understanding the ESXi hosts that comprise a vSphere cluster is useful when you ask us to make changes to multiple ESXi hosts. Instead of providing us with he names of all hosts in the cluster, you can simply give us the vSphere cluster name.

To see vSphere clusters and members:

  1. Log in to the Rackspace Technology Customer Portal.
  2. In the Products drop-down menu, select VMware Server Virtualization.
  3. Click the Clusters tab.
  4. Click the cluster name to see the details.

The number of cluster members (hypervisors) displays in the Details section. Cluster members are listed by name in CPU allocation and Memory sections.

Configure the Distributed Resource Scheduler

Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) monitors the workload between hypervisors and you can configure them to automatically move VMs between ESXi hosts to address any imbalance.

For more information about DRS, refer to Understanding VMware vSphere clusters.

To configure or modify DRS, open a Rackspace Technology ticket and specify the DRS action you want us to take, including:

  • Enable or disable DRS.
  • Configure the DRS mode.
  • Configure the DRS threshold.
  • Configure DRS rules and groups.
  • Configure VM overrides for DRS.

Configure high availability

VMware vSphere® High Availability monitors the ESXi host status, and when a host fails, the vSphere HA feature automatically restarts the VMs on remaining hosts.

To configure or modify high availability, open a Rackspace Technology ticket and specify the HA action you want us to take, including:

  • Enable or disable HA and include the cluster name.
  • Set up VM overrides for HA

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Provide us with the VM name and the HA override setting you want to apply to the VM.

Distributed power management

Rackspace Server Virtualization does not support distributed power management.

Add a resource pool

Use a resource pool to more granularly define how a VM uses CPU and RAM resources. For example, we can define shares and limits for a resource pool. VMs placed in a resource pool are then jointly subject to these shares and limits.

Resource pools can sometimes produce undesired results. For example, if you define a high-performance resource pool and then add many VMs to that pool, the resources required by the VMs are higher than the proportion of shares or limits available to the pool. Despite your intention to create a high-performance pool, the VMs in that pool might perform worse than VMs outside the pool.

If you want to set up a resource pool, open a Rackspace Technology ticket and request a consultation.

Upgrade ESXi version

We offer major ESXi version upgrades for your ESXi hosts and minor patches, such as bug fixes and security updates. Depending on your configuration, upgrading your ESXi host might require downtime for some VMs. The upgrade might also negatively impact VM performance. Because system performance can be negatively impacted, we usually upgrade ESXi hosts during a planned maintenance window.

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Because we test ESXi releases internally and make updates to our automation and infrastructure, we might not offer the latest major ESXi release until we complete testing with our infrastructure.

To upgrade your ESXi version, open a Rackspace Technology ticket and request an upgrade. If your environment is eligible for an automated upgrade, we contact you via a ticket and proceed with the upgrade.

If your ESXi version is close to or beyond the end-of-support date, we open a ticket and notify you that you should upgrade. If you do not respond to that ticket, and if your environment is eligible to be updated without shutting down VMs, we inform you of our plan and perform the upgrade.

Manage Hypervisor Hardware

If required, we can add RAM and CPU resources to your hypervisor based on your business requirements. As your business grows and you add applications, your hypervisor might require additional RAM and CPU. In addition, we can perform routine maintenance on the hypervisor chassis.

This section includes the following topics:

Add RAM to a hypervisor

You can add RAM to your hypervisor, which can enhance system performance. Adding RAM results in increased cost for each hypervisor. When you add RAM to a hypervisor, you must also add RAM to all hypervisors in the cluster, if applicable.

To add RAM to your hypervisor, contact your Rackspace Technology account team. We undertake this work in a planned maintenance window.

Upgrade CPU in a hypervisor

You can swap out the processor on your hypervisor to add more CPU resources, which can enhance system performance. Adding CPU resources results in increased costs for each hypervisor and Guest OS licensing. When you add CPU resources to a hypervisor, you must also add CPU resources to all hypervisors in the cluster, if applicable.

To add CPU resources to your hypervisor, contact your Rackspace Technology account team. We undertake this work in a planned maintenance window.

Migrate to a new hypervisor chassis

Subject to compatibility, terms, and cost, we can migrate your environment to a different Hypervisor chassis. You might need to migrate to a new chassis to run the latest version of ESXi, support the most recent driver, or when the current chassis has reached end-of-support.

Depending on the impact to your environment, we can migrate your chassis during a planned maintenance window or as an emergency change. If your hypervisor belongs to a cluster, you must migrate all hypervisors in the cluster to a new chassis.

To migrate your hypervisor to a new chassis, contact your Rackspace Technology account team.

Request hypervisor hardware maintenance

Subject to compatibility, terms, and cost, we can perform routine hardware maintenance tasks on your hypervisor chassis, including upgrading firmware, managing the local RAID array, and replacing the battery.

To request maintenance, contact your Rackspace Technology account team. We complete chassis-related work during a planned maintenance window.

Manage Hypervisor Networking

The amount and type of network capability you require on a hypervisor can change over time based on your needs. To accommodate changes to your applications, you can expand or remove vSwitches, port groups, and uplinks.

This section includes the following topics:

Add or remove a vSwitch

A vSwitch, a virtual switch that provides a link between uplinks and port groups, can use multiple uplinks and manage multiple port groups. Refer to Understanding vSwitches for more information about vSwitches.

To add or remove a vSwitch, open a Rackspace Technology ticket and request a consultation.

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We cannot remove switches that we have pre-configured for you.

Manage Port Groups

A port group is a logical construct on the vSwitch to which vNICs can connect. Refer to Understanding port groups for more information about port groups.

We manage port groups for you, including:

  • Adding port groups
  • Removing port groups
  • Editing a VLAN ID
  • Renaming a port group

If you require us to take any of the preceding actions, open a Rackspace Technology ticket and indicate what action you want us to perform.

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Some port group tasks might require a maintenance window.

Manage Uplinks

An uplink is the physical interface between the hypervisor and the physical switch. Refer to Understanding uplinks for more information about uplinks.

We manage your uplinks for you, including:

  • Adding an uplink to a vSwitch
  • Removing an uplink from a vSwitch
  • Editing the priority of an uplink
  • Moving a cable to a different port on the hypervisor
  • Moving a cable to a different port on the physical switch, or to a different physical switch

If you require us to take any of the preceding actions, open a Rackspace Technology ticket and indicate what action you want us to perform.

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Some uplink tasks might require a maintenance window.

Manage hypervisor storage

The amount and type of storage you require on a hypervisor can change over time based on your storage needs. To accommodate additional applications and data, you can expand LUNs, local storage, and a VMFS datastore.

While we cannot automatically shrink storage resources, we do provide a workaround for situations where you need to reduce storage capacity.

This section includes the following topics:

Expand LUNs

If you have requested that we expand your vDisk Understanding storage or you have added VMs,we might recommend or require that you expand your shared storage. Expanding a LUN Understanding storage comes with an additional cost.

After expanding the LUN, we often expand the partition located on top of the LUN. Most commonly, the partition is a VMFS datastore, or in the case of an RDM LUN, a partition in the Guest OS.

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Before you agree to the increased cost, ensure that you require the LUN expansion and not just a vDisk expansion (although sometimes, you need both). If you are unsure of which type of expansion you require, contact your Rackspace Technology account team.

To request that we expand a LUN, contact your Rackspace Technology account team and provide the following information:

  • Datastore name (if the LUN is formatted as a VMFS datastore) or partition letter (if the LUN is presented as an RDM).
  • The gross amount or net usable amount of space you want to add.

Shrink hypervisor storage

We cannot shrink LUNs, datastores, RDMs, local RAID disks, or vDisks. However, we might be able to help you migrate your environment to smaller datastores, LUNs, or vDisks.

If you are underutilizing space and want to downsize (this is an uncommon requirement), contact your Rackspace Technology account team and provide the following information:

  • The smaller size of storage you want.
  • The name of the VM you want us to migrate.

Expand VMFS datastore

When we expand a LUN Expand LUNs, we must also expand the VMFS datastore. You can use the additional space to expand or add vDisks.

If your datastore was previously over-allocated before the expansion, then the amount of useable new space might be less than you expect. For more information about datastore overhead requirements, refer to Datastore overhead requirements Datastore Overhead requirements.

If you want us to expand a VMFS datastore, open a Rackspace Technology ticket and provide the datastore name and the amount by which you want to expand it.

Manage host bus adapters

A host bus adapter (HBA) is hardware that you need for fiber channel storage, such as shared SAN and dedicated SAN.

If you currently only have standalone hypervisors with local storage and want to use SAN, we can install HBAs in each of your hypervisors. Installing HBAs comes at an additional cost, and we install them during a maintenance window.

To add an HBA, contact your Rackspace Technology account team and identify the hypervisors for which you want us to add or remove HBAs. We usually perform this work in a planned maintenance window.

Plan Hypervisor Capacity

As your business grows and you add to or expand your VMs, you might need to add or upgrade your ESXi hypervisors to meet demand.

To plan for ESXi capacity, consider the following questions:

  • Does the environment run well, or do you need additional physical resources to keep up with demand from the VMs?
  • What would happen if a hypervisor went down?
  • What would happen if a hypervisor underwent maintenance?

This section includes the following topics:

Review hypervisor performance metrics

The Rackspace Technology Customer Portal provides a number of useful vCenter metrics that help you understand how your ESXi hypervisors are used. Available metrics include but are not limited to CPU, network, RAM, and storage.

Complete the following steps to view metrics in the Rackspace Technology Customer Portal:

  1. Log in to the Rackspace Technology Customer Portal Cloud Control Panel

  2. In the Products drop-down menu, select VMware Server Virtualization.

  3. Navigate to an ESXi hypervisor or a vSphere cluster for which you want to see the metrics.

  4. Scroll to the Performance section. In this section, you can:

    • Select the metric you want to see.
    • Change the time range you want to see.
    • Observe the graph shown based on your selections.

  5. To export data to .csv format for further analysis, click the Export to .csv link above the graph. You can also look at the Available Resources section on the same page to see what’s available.

  6. To see utilization information for each datastore, scroll down the page and review the contents of the *Storage** section.

View hypervisor configurations

To determine the number of disks, resources, and storage attached to a hypervisor, complete the following steps:

  1. Log in to the Rackspace Technology Customer Portal.
  2. In the Products drop-down menu, select VMware Server Virtualization.
  3. Navigate to an ESXi hypervisor or a vSphere cluster for which you want to see the metrics.

You can see how the hypervisor is configured, including:

  • ESXi version
  • Physical location
  • Processor type
  • RAM quantity
  • Configured networks.
  • Chassis model
  • List of VMs

Updated 12 months ago