Sunn server specs for LMS 3.x install?

[philip.r.hayes]

I need some advice about specs for a beefy Sunn box to house LMS 3.x (RME and Campus Mgr on the same box). For example, model numbers, amount of RAM, HDrive, number of CPU's, etc. We will be using Solaris. We will have about 8,000-9,000 devices.

I'm interested in hearing about what you may have, what's good about it, bad, what you would do if you could start over, etc.

Thanks,

Flip

[Joe Clarke]

First, for this sized network, you will not be able to do it all with one server. At the very least, you'll need two UltraSPARC VI servers each with at least two CPUs. The servers will need a minimum of 8 GB of RAM, 16 GB of swap, and 35 GB of disk space (for LMS alone).

This assumes just Campus and RME. If you are going with all applications, you will need at least four servers.

Some server models that will work are SunFire V490, V890, E2900, E4900, E6900, E20K, E25K, and the Sun Netra 1290.

As for additional recommendations (what I like), I would go for LMS 3.1 on Solaris 10, and install it on ZFS. ZFS gives you great scalability and integrity when it comes to storage. It also allows you to create snapshots of your file system for easy rollback. I have used this in my lab to snapshot LMS before a major change (like a patch application). If something goes wrong, I can easily rollback the entire file system to the last known good state. ZFS also makes it very easy to add new storage if you're running out of space, say in /var/adm/CSCOpx.

[philip.r.hayes]

Very good info. Thanks.

We are looking at possibly four licenses/servers; like you said. One issue is having a CM box in each data center (we have four). In theory, we don't need to have CM in each data center but we have some interesting architecture issues which I can't go into here.

One thing that would help is if LMS 3.x can use more than one NIC on the server. 2.6 can't. What about 3.x?

CS, RME, CM are the main apps we use. IPM & DFM is not used.

[Joe Clarke]

All versions of LMS can use more than one NIC on a multi-homed machine. However, you can only access Topology Services from one IP address. This is no longer an issue in LMS 3.1.

[philip.r.hayes]

With costs going up and our current economy, we are doing everything we can to conserve.

Our network has about 9,000 devices spread across 4 RME servers. Each one is a Sunfire V240 w/4GB ram. I know that to go to 3.1, we would need 8-16GB ram but can the V240 handle 3.1? Each server would only be running LMS/RME.

[Joe Clarke]

With just RME, a SunFire V240 with 4 GB of RAM (assuming you have the dual 1.5 GHz CPU kit) will be fine.

[philip.r.hayes]

How well would CM run on these? with 3.1 licenses can be split across servers. We could upgrade two of our CM boxes. We are also discussing going up to 8GB ram.

Thanks!

[Joe Clarke]

CM would also work for the device count you have. Campus Manager really benefits from added CPU, though, and 1.5 GHz is the fastest the V240 can go. I don't have any benchmarks to share, but I will say you're bordering on the low end of the supported CPU graph, so you may find performance sluggish at times. Going to 8 GB of RAM is a good idea as that will help alleviate swapping issues.

[Joe Clarke]

I will say that if you have Campus 5.0 now on this hardware, and you're happy with performance, the 5.1 performance will be about the same.

[philip.r.hayes]

Thanks for the speedy responses.

I have one last question.

We have two boxes in our lab, Sunn 280R's.

Do you know if these could handle a small lab of about 100 devices?

[Joe Clarke · Accepted solution]

We don't have official specs for a 100 device network on Solaris. However, if you're going to be considering these production servers, they are not supported. Unofficially, they will, work fine for managing 100 devices in a lab environment.

[philip.r.hayes]

Well, there's one possible wrinkle to this. We currently have a 280R/4GBram/2-CPUs running LMS 2.5.1 and it's only running CS/CM. What's the chance of it being able to handle LMS 3.1 with only CS/CM running? This would be the 10k license or 5k per CM box.

[Joe Clarke]

Zero chance officially since this server is not supported with LMS 3.1. However, other than minimum CPU, it meets the memory requirements. It's going to be slow, though, and you're not going to be able to get TAC support.

[akemp]

In my experience, 4 V240's with dual procs and 8gb physical, 16gb swap is on the low end and I only have 7500 devices in my inventory. It will work, but you wont call it a speed demon.

V240's are also reaching the end of their shelf life so longevity would be a concern.

[philip.r.hayes]

But are you running RME and CM on the same box? We don't.