eEVOS Plus Guide

Installation is easy and simple – after you have created an Installation-CD or Installation-USB-Stick (for creation follow separate instructions from our knowledge database) you can boot from it and start the installation

Select the option Begin Installation

Select the installation language (it can be changed later in administration inteface)

Select the installation drive (at least 4 GB Size – perferably SSD drive)

Installation will begin (it takes usually 5-10 Minutes)

After installation is done – reboot the server and make sure that your installation-CD is not inserte.

After reboot you will be shown this window. In here you can change the IP Address(Network Settings) or immediately access the server via web browser of your choice (IE, Firefox, Chrome etc.) by entering the IP Address that is shown – in this example that is:

http://192.168.178.122 or
http://192.168.178.106

When you open the administration interface in your browser you can enter the user name and password. Default user name and password is :

username: admin
password: euronas

When you enter the administration interface you can start configuring your server

With eEVOS Plus you can build a cluster of 2 nodes using the advanced technologies that synchronize the VMs between 2 servers in real time.

This benefit is not only for the failures and crashes that inevitably happen in the computer world, but also for planned maintenance. A server in the cluster may be taken offline for maintenance and brought back online without interrupting your users or customers eEVOS Cluster uses automated tools that helps you configure it in few easy steps.

Before cluster is created it is important to configure network settings and to initialize drive / RAID.
Make sure that all NICs are configured prior creating cluster (later this IPs should not be changed)
You need at least 2 NICs – one for internal communication (replication network) and one for communication with network clients (corporate network).

When ready click on “Create New Configuration”

If you already have existing eEVOS single node server, you can connect this one and build the cluster by clicking “Join existing server”

Now you can select the name for the cluster, network cards that you wish to use and provide admin password of the other server. Here you should also set “Network Test IP” – this IP is used by cluster to find out if it can reach the clients (it will ping them regularly
and know this way If it can reach the network). Ideally it should be more than one (not more than 3-4) and should be devices that are running 24/7 – for example your router, printer, other servers.

Both servers will now build and optimize for cluster. This can take several minutes…
After the successful creation you can see the overview and that both servers can see and communicate with each other

After cluster creation you can now create a cluster drive

There are 2 supported types of Cluster Drive

Mirror

Local disks are mirrored between the servers (nodes)

Shared

Both servers are accessing shared external disk/RAID connected via iSCSI, SAS or Fibre Channel

In this article we will show you the mirror – this drive will be mirrored between both nodes and make sure that your VM images remain in sync between the nodes.
Internally this drive will be running in Active/Active mode – this means that both nodes can access this drive and use it for the VMs simultaneously. Cluster drive can be reached as via CIFS/SMB protocol by using its assigned IP. Under “Security” you can define who will be allowed to access the share.

In order to create cluster drive click on “Create Drive” in VM Management

After the creation you can see the drive in the overview

eEVOS allows you to create multiple virtual networks for your virtual machines.

There are 2 types of virtual network

– NAT (internal network between the VMs within eEVOS)
– Bridge – bridged network used for communication with the outside world

In order to create bridge you need to follow 2 steps

First create host bridge – this one will bridge your phyical network ports with the virtual network. For this click the option “ADD HOST BRIDGE”

Select the network ports of both nodes (select one port on eEVOS VMM). Ports used for replication cannot be used. Network ports must be set to static IP.

Next step is to create a virtual network – this can be done under “ADD VIRTUAL NETWORK”

Select the type “NAT” or “Bridge” and assign it a name

After the creation in the overview you can see this virtual network listed and which VMs are using it.

For the installation of the guest OS or later use it is nessesary to connect the ISO image of the operating system.

There are 2 ways for doing this

Copy ISO image directly to the cluster drive via SMB/CIFS.

Every cluster drive is accessible through its IP address – if you copy the ISO image directly to the cluster driver you can attach it on to your virtual machine.

ISO Repository

You can connect directly on to a SMB/CIFS network share on your network and attach those ISOs directly.

Click on “Add repository”

Enter the path to the share – you can also use full path incl. subdirectory. (empty spaces are not allowed)

Click on “Create VM”

VM Creation window contains several tabs. The mandatory settings for the VM creation are listed in “General Tab”. The settings in all other tabs are optional. For settings adjustments you can use mouse or for fine tuning the “arrow keys”

Select following

– OS that you wish to install
– ISO file for the installation (either copy it on the disk via SMB or mount it via “ISO Repository”)
– CPU and Sockets
– RAM
– VM Image Type (RAW or Thin Provisioned)
– Size of the VM Disk

After the creation you can reach the new VM using Console or VNC Viewer

Under drive tab you can add additional disks

Per default eEVOS is assigning one virtual NIC to the VM – optionally you can add additional NICs

After successful creation you can see the VM in the overview

The most modern Linux Distributions have already embedded paravirtual drivers. Those are ensuring the best possible performance and communication with the host OS. For Microsoft Windows Systems this drivers must be added during the installation. This article describes the installation within Windows Server 2012, other versions are very similar. Following drivers must be installed – Memory driver – Disk driver – Network driver – VSS Communication port (important for the live snapshots)

1. After creation of the Windows VM the installation will begin. Initially no installation drives will be listed before you install the driver manually.

Select the Option “Load Driver”

2. Select “browse”

3. Select CD Drive “Virtual Drivers”

4. Select the folder “Disk Driver” and the subfolder for your windows version. For example 2k8 = Windows 2008

5. Your virtual disk will be now shown properly and you can continue with the installation. After the installation of the OS you can install the other drivers within the device manager.(check #6)

6. After the successful installation please go to “Device Manager” and install the remaining drivers.
Ethernet=Network Driver PCI Device=Memory Driver PCI Simple Communications Controller = VSS Communication driver Click with the right mouse button and select “Update Driver Software …”

7. Select “Browse my computer for driver software”.

Select the folder that contains the driver (here for example network driver) and your windows version. For example 2k8 = Windows 2008

9. Select “install”

10. Repeat the procedure for all remaining devices

With eEVOS you can migrate running virtual machines from one server to another one without downtime.

Virtual machine will not be shut down, RAM and all settings will be moved. Whole migration takes just several seconds.

It is very useful functionality if you wish to shut down or reboot one of the nodes for maintenance or upgrade.

First click on “Migrate VM(s)”

Select the VM(s) that you wish to migrate – in this example we will be moving 2 VMs from Node2 to Node1

After successful migration you can see that the VMs have moved to node1

eEVOS integrates a powerful backup and restore functionality that enables you to quick and fast recovery

Secure and reliable backups are essential in order to fulfill the business requirements for disaster recovery scenarios. A fast and reliable recovery of VMs is also very important in order to keep the downtimes as small as possible.

Most important features

• Easy setup and management
• Backup target can be any NAS Server
• Maximum space savings thanks to deduplication
• Support for Microsoft VSS (Volume Shadow Copy Service)
• Easy backup job scheduling (hourly or on certain days)
• Retention time (decide how long your backup should be kept on backup server)
• Independent from your eEVOS installation – restore your VMs on any eEVOS installation
• Restore whole VMs or individual disks from your VM
• Restore to new VM, Clone or Snapshot
• Automated Email reporting (daily, weekly, monthly)
• Email notifications in case of failed backups

Creating a VM-Backup job

You can start individual backups or create a schedule for single or multiple VMs under “VM Management” – “VM Backup” – “Schedule a Backup”

You can select the following options

• Select VMs that you wish to backup
• Define the schedule (hourly / daily)
• Define the network share that you wish to use as target for your backup
• Set the maximum number of deduplicates before full backup is performed again
• Define retention time – how long you wish to keep your backups before they automatically get deleted
• Select Verify Backup if you wish your backup to be verified when done

Restore Backup

You can restore VMs via different ways

VM with identical name does not exist on the server

New VM will be created

There is already VM with this name

Several options are offered

• Snapshot – when restoring to a snapshot, the restored VM will be shown in the snapshot management of the VM. You can then use the option “recover from snapshot” to set this VM online and replace existing running VM
• Replace – the existing VM is restored from the backup and completely replaced
• Create new VM with new name

eEVOS supports enterprise class snapshots of the virtual machines

• It will preserve VM state incl. RAM
• VSS API communication ensures highest data integrity
• You can create, revert or create new VMs out of the snapshots. They can even run on a different node from the original

For the Snapshot Management click on the button snapshot next to the virtual machine

Provide a name for the snapshot with short description

Snapshot Management will show you the list of the created snapshots. You can create, revert or create new VM out of the existing snapshot.
Snapshots don’t depend on each other – you can delete parents and there is no need to consolidate them.

With the eEVOS you can create clones of your VMs. They are fully independent VMs.
If you wish to clone the VM click on the button clone next to the VM

Give a new name for the newly created cloned VM

In the overview new VM will be shown – it has identical settings as the original. MAC addresses of the original VM and VNC port will be changed in order to avoid the conflicts

eEVOS helps you to easy use VM templates or to import foreign VMs.

eEVOS VM-Import analyzes the image of the virtual machine and converts it to eEVOS compatible format.
After the conversion it will automatically create a VM
It will not only automatically convert your existing VM but also create a new highly available virtual machine.

Currently the following formats are supported: vmdk, vhd, ova, qcow

1. Copy the VM files on to the VM

Every Drive is accessible via its IP Address using SMB/CIFS protocol.

Name of the share is name of the cluster disk

Create a folder on this share and copy the files of your VM that you wish to import. In this example we will use Windows 2012 VMWare VMDK image that we have copied into the folder “VMWareImages” on the cluster disk.

Now start the VM Import wizard by clicking “Import VM” and select virtual disk image that you have copied on to the disk. In this example we are importing Windows 2008 vhd template.

Select the image that you have previously copied on to the drive (in this example Hyper-V Windows 2012 vhd image)

Select the basic settings for the VM (later after the import you can fine tune this options and add more sockets, cores, memory etc.).
Most important is the selection of the VM type. Unless you have some special requirements we always recommend using the paravirtual drivers.
The most modern Linux Distributions include embedded paravirtual drivers out-of-the-box. Those are ensuring the best possible performance and communication with the host OS. For Microsoft Windows Systems these drivers must be added during the import (please check the chapter “Installing paravirtual drivers”.

Wizard will now start the conversion / import – you can watch the progress

After the successful import your VM is ready for use. Just go to VM Management and start your VM.
If you have selected the option “Windows Paravirtualized” you will need an additional step.

Go to “VM Management” –> “Virtual Machines” and start your VM

Windows VM is currently running in compatibility mode (IDE disk) so that you can boot into the OS.

When the VM is up you can go to “Device Manager” and install the nessesary paravirtual drivers

When done – shut down the VM and go back to the VM Import screen and click “enable virtio”. This will switch the virtual hardware to start using paravirtual drivers with best possible performance.

VM is now ready for production use

This article will list some recommendations that you should consider when you choose server hardware. Following these guidelines can help remove performance bottlenecks and improve overall experience with eEVOS products.
Disks
For the best performance and reliability we recommend using enterprise grade disks. Those will provide best response time and IO. Especially in clustered environments it is essential that the disks provide best possible response time.
Desktop disks may be cheaper, but they could lead to sync problems in a cluster or slow IO response times.
SAS and SSD disks will provide best performance. Usage of Hardware RAID Controller is also recommended if system performance is important.

IO Tunning of individual VMs
eEVOS will allow you to tune virtual disk performance of the individual virtual machine. This is very useful functionality if you wish to limit the usage of certain, less important VMs or VMs that usually consume too much bandwidth.
You can reach this functionality by editing your VM and clicking on “IO Tuning” tab

It will let you define all important settings. Please be aware that this are max limits that also depend on the actual performance of the disks. If the disk for example cannot deliver more than 100 MB/s – setting the value to 200 MB/s will not improve any performance.

Selection of the virtual disk caching
Virtual disk caching can significantely improve the VM performance. However depending on the type it can lead to data loss. Before changing the default setting please be certain that you are willing to take the risk. In this examples you can see the speed difference on an identical SSD disk and identical VM
eEVOS will provide you 3 types of caching. You can also see the performance difference between caching types. Benchmark has been performed on the identical VM and Hardware – only caching type has been changed

Writeback
It will provide you with the best performance, however the risk of data loss on reset or power failure is much higher than on other types

Writethrough (Default)
It provides good performance and it provides much lower risk of losing data on reset or power failure

None (no caching)
It provides worst performance but minimum risk of losing data on reset or power failure