Deploying Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 with the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform Family

Transcription

1 l Deploying Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 with the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform Family Implementation Guide By Ken Ewers and Art LaMountain January 2010

2 Summary Paperless collaboration and content management systems are increasingly popular and indispensible tools that large and enterprise organizations rely on to deal with explosive growth in digital content, increasing needs to facilitate collaboration among employees, and stringent demands by regulators for thorough and quick access to data. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides these much-needed collaboration, business process and content management capabilities. The complexities of a large-scale SharePoint 2007 implementation are simplified with proper storage area network (SAN) storage management and functionality. The solution for SharePoint deployments described in this white paper uses a building block architecture and the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform family. It allows IT administrators to optimize the Universal Storage Platform family to provide a common interface to complex SharePoint deployments. The building block architecture designed around the Universal Storage Platform family is scalable, highly available and easy to manage. This white paper provides calculations on how to size a SharePoint environment, step-by-step instructions for configuring and deploying the Universal Storage Platform family storage system, and guidance on validating a new SharePoint deployment. It is written for IT administrators in large and enterprise organizations who need reference information on how to deploy a SharePoint 2007 enterprise environment using the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform V or Hitachi Universal Storage Platform VM storage system. It assumes a basic level of storage, SAN, SharePoint and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 knowledge.

3 Contributors The information included in this document represents the expertise, feedback and suggestions of a number of skilled practitioners. The author recognizes and sincerely thanks the following contributors and reviewers of this document: Rick Andersen Steven Burns Eduardo Freitas Ron-An Lee Lisa Pampuch Dhiren J. Patel

4 Table of Contents Solution Overview... 1 SharePoint Topology... 2 Planning... 3 Hitachi Universal Storage Platform V and VM Family... 3 Host Considerations... 3 Storage Building Blocks Sizing and Design... 4 Deployment... 6 Configuring Storage... 6 Server Preparation Server Requirements SQL Server 2008 Installation SharePoint Installation Validation SQLIOSim SQLIO Iometer System Center Capacity Planner Visual Studio Team System Test Edition SharePoint 2007 Test Data Population Tool Monitoring the Environment Confirming SharePoint 2007 Functionality Hitatchi Storage Management Software... 21

5 Deploying Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 with the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform Family Implementation Guide Paperless collaboration and content management systems are increasingly popular and indispensible tools that large and enterprise organizations rely on to deal with explosive growth in digital content, increasing needs to facilitate collaboration among employees, and stringent demands by regulators for thorough and quick access to data. Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides these much-needed collaboration, business process and content management capabilities. Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services 3.0, a component of Microsoft Windows Server, provides the framework for easy access to information and people. However, creating a robust SharePoint deployment that is scalable, highly available, and easy to manage can be a complex and costly endeavor. The complexities of a large-scale SharePoint 2007 implementation are simplified with proper storage area network (SAN) storage management and functionality. The solution for SharePoint deployments described in this white paper uses a building block architecture and the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform family. It allows IT administrators to optimize the Universal Storage Platform family to provide a common interface to complex SharePoint deployments. The building block architecture designed around the Universal Storage Platform family is scalable, highly available and easy to manage. This white paper provides calculations on how to size a SharePoint environment, step-by-step instructions for configuring and deploying the Universal Storage Platform family storage system, and guidance on validating a new SharePoint deployment. It is written for IT administrators in large and enterprise organizations who need reference information on how to deploy a SharePoint 2007 enterprise environment using the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform V or Hitachi Universal Storage Platform VM storage system. It assumes a basic level of storage, SAN, SharePoint and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 knowledge. Solution Overview Whether you re implementing a single server or a large farm, proper storage planning and design are critical for a successful SharePoint deployment. Hitachi Data Systems testing used a single SQL Server 2008 host and multiple application servers with multiple front-end Web servers using network load balancing (NLB). The overall environment includes a Windows Domain Controller supplying Active Directory and DNS services and a separate server to manage storage using Hitachi Storage Navigator software. All application and SQL servers connected to the storage system include dual HBAs to allow for multiple paths. Hitachi Universal Storage Platform V and Hitachi Universal Storage Platform VM storage systems bring enterprise-class availability, performance and ease of management to organizations of all sizes for the increasing number of business-critical applications on Windows Server The information in this paper enables storage and database administrators to successfully plan, deploy and monitor SharePoint environments by providing them with a good understanding of the interaction between the many components of SharePoint server, SQL Server and how they utilize Hitachi Universal Storage Platform family storage. 1

6 The Universal Storage Platform V and Universal Storage Platform VM storage systems can be configured to fit your data storage needs. The front-end and back-end directors, cache memory, shared memory and disk drives are installed according to your requirements. SharePoint Topology A standard deployment, whether in a development, staging or a production environment, needs to contain the basic tiers that provide the SharePoint framework. The development and staging environments are basically test grounds to provide quality assurance prior to deploying to a production environment. For more information, see the Microsoft TechNet article Design content deployment topology. The Hitachi Data Systems lab environment is based specifically on the production environment separating roles and tiers by individual servers. Figure 1 illustrates the tiers and Windows infrastructure for a farm based SharePoint enterprise deployment. Figure 1. Solution Topology 2

7 Planning Planning a SharePoint deployment involves understanding end to end (storage to user) requirements to prepare the collaborative environment. This includes storage building blocks, and design considerations including the unique requirements of each type of database. Hitachi Universal Storage Platform V and VM Family The Universal Storage Platform V and Universal Storage Platform VM are massively scalable. Existing logical units (LUs) and data on externally attached storage systems are automatically discovered, by Hitachi Universal Volume Manager software and presented through global cache as if they were still connected to the application server. For more information, see the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform overview brochure. Host Considerations To ensure optimal performance from your storage system, it is important to understand disk alignment, NTFS allocation unit size, path redundancy, HBA placement and queue depth during the planning process. Disk Alignment Both disk alignment offset and NTFS allocation unit size must be set when LUs are partitioned and formatted at the operating system level before Microsoft SQL Server database files are created. Windows Server 2008 eliminates the need to align the partition, due to the use of 1024K as the default partition offset. For Windows Server 2003, use Diskpart.exe to ensure that the disk tracks are sector and cache aligned. Use an offset of 64KB (128 sectors) for every LUN that is part of the SQL environment. It is important to remember that this is a destructive process and must be performed before database files are created to prevent data loss. NTFS Allocation Unit Size Choose an allocation unit size that matches the I/O profile of your application to allow more efficient I/O on your disk subsystem. When formatting your SQL LUs in Windows Server, override the default setting and specify an allocation unit size of 64KB. Host Bus Adapter Drivers When choosing HBA drivers, ensure that you are using the current recommended drivers for the Universal Storage Platform. Major HBA vendors allow you to download current drivers for Hitachi storage systems. For a list of currently supported HBAs and drivers, see the Interoperability Information section on the Hitachi Data Systems Web site. SAN Data Path Redundancy Hitachi recommends the use of dual SAN fabrics, multiple HBAs and host-based multipathing software when deploying business critical SQL Server applications. Two or more paths from the SQL Server connecting to two independent SAN fabrics is essential for ensuring the redundancy required for critical applications. Multipathing software such as Hitachi Dynamic Link Manager and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 native MPIO are critical components of a highly available system. Multipathing software allows the Windows operating system to see and access multiple paths to the same LU, enabling data to travel down any available path for increased performance or continued access to data in the case of a failed path. Hitachi Dynamic Link Manager includes the following load balancing algorithms that are especially suited for Hitachi storage systems: Round robin Extended round robin Least I/Os 3

8 Extended least I/Os Least blocks Extended least blocks While previous tests showed extended round robin to be the best algorithm to use in SQL Server environments, the introduction of additional load balancing algorithms increase the choices that can increase the performance of your SQL Server 2008 environment. In test environments, both extended least I/Os and extended least blocks are good candidates for SQL Server environments. Like any SQL Server deployment, conduct testing before establishing which of the two algorithms is better suited for your SQL Server 2008 environment. For more information, see the Best Practices for Microsoft SQL Server on Hitachi Universal Storage Platform VM For Online Transaction Processing Databases white paper. Storage Building Blocks Sizing and Design A storage building block is made up of database locations and configuration of RAID technology. These are important areas of review for building the storage environment for SharePoint. For more information, see the Deploying Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 with the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform Family Reference Architecture and Best Practices Guide white paper. Hitachi Universal Storage Platforms support RAID-1+0, RAID- 5 and RAID-6 configurations that are configured during installation of the storage system. Configuration occurs after the administration team determines database and index sizing. This paper assumes RAID-1+0 (2D+ 2D) configurations for all SharePoint and SQL related storage requirements. These include databases, index, tempdb and transaction logs. In cost-sensitive environments, consider using RAID-5 for transaction logs instead of RAID-1+0. In some cases, RAID-5 performs as well as RAID-1+0 on the Universal Storage Platform family for sequential workloads like Microsoft SQL Server log files. Consult your SQL database administrator about all storage design related configurations. When designing your SharePoint environment, carefully consider database design and overall performance, and after your environment is implemented, regularly monitor it to ensure the deployment remains healthy and continues to meet your needs. Database File Considerations When deploying SQL Server in support of SharePoint databases, it is important to have an overall understanding of sizing considerations which will be discussed in the following database topics. This enables both storage and database administrators (DBAs) to establish storage requirements for the SQL Server and SharePoint environment. Configuration Database The configuration database is used to manage the farm settings. Each farm has one configuration database and it generally never grows past 1.5GB in size. Content Database Content databases are used to store content. Your SharePoint farm can have many different content databases. If versioning is used for documents, a copy of each version is stored in the database. Many factors determine and limit the amount and size of the content databases. To minimize limitations and enhance performance, it s important to manage site and content hierarchy within your farm. Consider these factors when estimating the initial size of your content database: To estimate the size of stored content in your SQL database, multiply your initial content estimate by 1.3. If you plan to use versioning for documents, remember that a copy of each version is stored in the database, so increase your initial estimate accordingly. Versioning requires additional file space in the content database. 4

9 For example, if you have a single Web application with two site collections and 10 nested Web sites within those collections, each site can store an estimated 1,000 files. If each stored file is estimated to be an average of 5MB, the resulting storage estimate follows this calculation 10 x 1,000 x 5MB = 50,000MB (50GB) Microsoft recommends that content databases not exceed 100GB. When nearing threshold limits, creating new site collections with unique content databases helps keep database sizes within recommended specifications. If a content database is reaching its limit and quotas are continually nearing limits, you might need to create new site collections. For more information, see the Microsoft TechNet article Plan for software boundaries (Office SharePoint Server. Index Index and search roles can be affected by many factors, including size and quantity of data, number of users, amount of server roles and more. The index file is not a SQL database entity. Use the following formula to calculate how much storage is required for content index: Note: GB of disk space required = Total_Corpus_Size (in GB) x File_Size_Modifier x 2.85 Total_Corpus_Size is the amount of physical file content stored in content databases. File_Size_Modifier is based on the average size of the files in your content databases: 1.0 Contains small files (average file size is 1KB) 0.12 Contains moderate files (average file size is 10KB) 0.05 Contains large files (average file size is 100KB or larger) For example, for a content size of approximately 1,800GB that primarily contains files averaging 100KB in size, use the following calculation: 1,800GB x 0.05 = 90GB estimated size Next, multiply the estimated size of the index file by 2.85: 90GB x 2.85 = 257GB size requirement Search Database The search database stores metadata and search history information. This database normally requires more space than the index disk space. Use the following formula to calculate how much disk space you need for the search database: GB of disk space required = Total_Corpus_Size (in GB) x File_Size_Modifier x 4 Note: File_Size_Modifier is based on the average size of the files in your corpus for complete environment or Total_Corpus_Size: 1.0 Contains small files (average file size is 1KB) 0.12 Contains moderate files (average file size is 10KB) 0.05 Contains large files (average file size is 100KB or larger) For example, for a content size of approximately 1,800GB that primarily contains large files averaging 100 KB in size, use the following calculation: 1800GB x.05 = 90GB 5

10 Then multiply the estimated size of the index file by 4: 90GB x 4 = 360GB Key Considerations Keep the following considerations in mind when sizing storage building blocks: Place database and log files on physically separate RAID-1+0 (2D+2D) groups. Select the appropriate RAID type for database files based on performance, cost and availability requirements. RAID-1+0 provides the best performance and availability, but at a higher cost. RAID-5 can provide good performance with slightly lower availability and at a lower cost. For cost-sensitive environments, use RAID-5 for transaction logs rather than RAID-1+0. In some cases, RAID-5 performs as well as RAID-1+0 on the Universal Storage Platform family for sequential workloads like Microsoft SQL Server log files. Create one tempdb file per CPU core (per SQL instance) and make all files equal in size. For more information about using multiple files with a database configuration, see the Microsoft TechNet article Optimizing tempdb Performance. Place tempdb files on a separate RAID-1+0 group from the database and log files with the fastest hard disk drives available. However, with caution, tempdb files can reside on the same RAID group as the database files. To simplify monitoring, always place tempdb files in a dedicated LU, regardless of RAID group placement. tempdb LU usage and growth must also be evaluated prior to deployment and monitored regularly. Deployment Deploying a SharePoint environment includes many steps, from configuring servers to developing the actual site architecture. Detailed instructions about setting up the environment are out of the scope of this document, which focuses on the storage-related aspects of SharePoint deployment. For more information, see the deployment articles available on Microsoft s TechNet Web site. Configuring Storage The Hitachi Universal Storage Platform family allows for easy configuration and deployment of storage solutions using Hitachi Storage Navigator and Hitachi Device Manager software. This guide includes steps on how to provision and manage the storage for your SharePoint and SQL environments using Storage Navigator software s GUI. A command line tool is also available to accomplish the same tasks. RAID groups are setup during initial installation so all that is required is to configure host groups and LUs (LDEVs). Dynamic drive spares are also set ahead of time by local Hitachi Data Systems customer service teams as required. These spare drives must be similar in size and speed as the data drives. Hitachi Data Systems testing used 15 content databases, one configuration database, a search database and the required tempdb and transaction logs. Configuration also includes the index file, which is a flat file and not a SQL database, but uses the same RAID configuration. This environment is built on a Universal Storage Platform V or a Universal Storage Platform VM storage system, allowing configuration of database and storage without sharing any RAID groups with other applications. This configuration also includes the separation of transaction logs, tempdb and databases by unique LDEV. Figure 2 illustrates storage definitions and separation of LUs, LDEVs and RAID groups by database and file type. The environment for content databases is kept under 100GB size suggested by Microsoft and in this test environment, actual size is considered 88GB with a 20 percent growth expectation limit of 110GB usable storage for each database. 6

11 Figure 2. Initial Storage Configuration Configuring Storage This section provides a configuration overview using Hitachi Storage Navigator software for the following functions: Creating logical volumes LDEV assignment Host group and security management For more information about how to set these options, see the Hitachi Storage Navigator software online help. Creating Logical Units In this example, using 300GB drives in a RAID-1+0 (2D + 2D) configurations creates enough storage for five 110GB capacity content databases that include approximately 20 percent open space for growth on an approximate 90GB physical database. Some configurations require less than the capacity of a single RAID group and can be located in unused space of existing RAID structure. 7

12 To create LUs using Hitachi Storage Navigator software, follow these steps: 1. Navigate to the Virtual LVI/LUN (VLL) tab and locate the subsystem, box and RAID group required for the first LDEV. 2. Expand the Groups heading in the left storage system s pane and expand the RAID group. 3. Right-click the RAID group and select Install CV from the pop-up menu to create a volume. 4. Set the Emulation to OPEN V. 5. Set the Capacity setting to MB. 6. In the Setting Mode field, select the Divide free space by number radio button. 8

13 7. Enter 5 in the No. field. 8. Click the Set button. 9. Click the Next button. An LDEV of the specified size appears in the left pane. 10. Highlight the LDEV or LDEVs of choice in the left pane, choose the control unit from Select CU No. drop-down menu and then select interval from Interval drop-down menu in right pane and click a location in the matrix to place the new LDEVs. 11. Click the Next button to progress to the next screen, then Next button on the screen that appears. A confirmation screen displays. 12. Click the OK button to complete this operation. 13. After you complete all assignments, click the Apply button to activate. 9

14 Host Groups and Security To use LUN Manager to set host connection and security, follow these steps: 1. Right-click each host port and select LUN Security: Enable from the pop-up menu to set security to enabled. 2. Right-click each host port to be used by your application and select Add New Host Group from the pop-up menu. 3. Enter a name for the HBA port. Use intuitive naming for each HBA port of your server connections that will be assigned to each storage port. 10

15 4. Repeat Step 1 through Step 3 for all host groups to be used for the SharePoint Farm. Note: Ensure you use all HBA ports of each server connected to the storage and create host groups with the appropriate WWN of the HBA to configure Fibre Channel connectivity between server and storage. Spread access across different cluster (CL) interfaces to provide best performance, throughput and availability. 11

16 Assign World Wide Names to Host Groups To assign a world wide name (WWN) to a host group, follow these steps: 1. Right-click a host group name, choose Add New WWN from the pop-up menu and populate using the drop-down menu listing discovered WWNs. You can manually enter a WWN if it is not registered yet. 2. Repeat Step 1 for all host groups in your application configuration. Assigning LDEV TO LUs To assign preconfigured LDEVs to a LU, follow these steps: 1. Using Storage Navigator software s LUN Manager tab, click a host group assigned within a storage port. The right pane shows unassigned LUs on top with available LDEVs in lower pane. 2. Highlight the LDEVs you want to bring into the configuration and click the LU Path button. This assigns each LDEV to a corresponding LU. You can also drag and drop the LDEVs manually up to the desired LU number. 12

17 3. Click the Apply button. 4. Repeat Step 1 through Step 3 for the remaining host groups. The newly configured LDEVs now appear in blue as configured to a LU within each host group. Changes take effect after you click the Apply button. 13

18 Server Preparation The first steps in deploying SharePoint are installation of all prerequisite Windows components noted in this section and then configuring the environment. Every SharePoint server in the farm requires these components: Windows Server 2008 (64 bit) Web Server Role Information Services (IIS) 7.0 Microsoft.NET ASP 2.0 NET Framework version 3.5 Keep the following performance and configuration requirements in mind as you plan your SharePoint deployment: The account that you select for installing Office SharePoint Server 2007 must be a member of the Administrators group on every server where installed. You can, however, remove this account from the Administrators group on the servers after installation. This account requires certain database roles that are set up during installation. You must install SharePoint Server 2007 on the same drive on all load-balanced front-end Web servers. To deploy SharePoint Server 2007 in a server farm environment, you must provide credentials for several different accounts. All instances of Office SharePoint Server 2007 in the farm must be in the same language. You must use the complete installation option on all computers you want to be index servers, query servers or servers that run Excel calculation services. This option can also be used for all servers in the farm. As a general rule, all servers within the farm with SharePoint installations (except the server hosting SQL Server 2008) can use complete installation option. As an example, this allows for adding query and other roles to Web servers without reinstalling the entire program. If you want to have more than one index server in a farm, you must use a different Shared Services Provider (SSP) for each index server. Server Requirements The application and database tiers sections explain the roles of storage that apply to include database requirements. For more information about storage requirements for each type of database, see the Storage Sizing and Design section of this document. Web Services Tier Table 1 describes minimum requirements for installing SharePoint front-end Web servers. Table 1. Front-end Web Server Requirements Server Component Processor RAM Network Configuration Dual processors, each running at 3GHz or faster 2GB or more 1Gbps network interface card (NIC) 14

19 Application Tier SharePoint application servers provide shared services such as search queries, indexing content and Excel services. These servers provide these services to the entire farm environment. This tier also hosts SharePoint central administration and a number of other mandatory and optional service provider functions. This tier has specific storage requirements including index storage and search databases. These requirements are in addition to the standard configuration and content databases SharePoint uses in SQL. Also, each Shared Service Provider requires its own database for service-specific data in addition to a separate database for search-related data. Application server roles include: Query (can also be loaded on Web front-end servers) Index Windows SharePoint services search Shared Service Provider (SSP) Excel calculation services Office SharePoint search Table 2 describes the hardware requirements for application servers. Table 2. Application Server Requirements Server Component Processor RAM Network Configuration Dual processors, each running at 2.5 GHz or faster 4GB or more 1Gbps NIC Database Tier SQL Server provides database management for all SharePoint content and configuration data. The solution described in this white paper uses a SAN environment and Hitachi Universal Storage Platform family storage system mapped to the SQL Server 2008 host. Table 3 describes minimum hardware recommendations for a SQL Server 2008 implementation. Table 3. Database Server Requirements Server Component Processor RAM Network Configuration AMD Opteron, AMD Athlon 64, or Intel Xeon with Intel EM64T support with Intel Pentium IV with EM64T support running at 2GHz or faster 2GB or more 1Gbps NIC 15

20 SQL Server 2008 Installation For SharePoint, it s most beneficial to make improvements in the following areas of SQL Server 2008: Backup performance By implementing database backup compression. Security By implementing Transparent Data Encryption (TDE). Resource management By using SQL Server 2008 Resource Governor. For more information, see the Microsoft TechNet articles Plan for and design database storage and management and Integration of SQL Server 2008 and Office SharePoint Server This section provides key considerations for installing a single instance SQL Server 2008 application to prepare for SharePoint. For more information, see the Microsoft TechNet article, Quick-Start Installation of SQL Server Before installing SQL Server 2008, keep the following points in mind: Use mount points instead of drive letters for storage connections. Drive letter naming convention have a limitation to 26 letters; this limitation does not apply to mount points. In addition, mounted drives are better protected from changes in the event physical storage devices are added or removed. The database planning section provides examples of the storage LUs created for the different types of databases. For more information, see the Microsoft TechNet article Volume Mount Points vs. Lettered Drives. Volume mount points are attached to folder names on NTFS volumes and are protected against system changes with normal drive letter configuration alterations. Ensure that the prerequisite software is installed. Prerequisite software includes.net Framework 3.5 and Installer 4.5. If this software is not installed, you can obtain it from Microsoft download centers. You can authenticate to SQL in one of two ways: Windows authentication mode Disables the SQL system administrator (sa) account Mixed authentication mode Enforces strict security requirements on SQL sa account as well as windows domain accounts Select Mixed Mode Authentication for your instance of SQL Server if you want to use both Windows and built in SQL sa accounts to access the SQL instance, especially if your database administrators require the use of the built-in SQL sa account. SharePoint requires the use of Windows Active Directory users to also have specific permissions to access and manage some of the databases required by WSS 3.0. Complete the database and analysis services configuration steps for installation. SharePoint Installation You must install and configure SharePoint Server 2007 on all of the farm servers before you configure any SharePoint related services and create sites. You also must have SQL Server running on at least one database server before you install SharePoint on your Web and application servers. After all servers are configured, the SharePoint Product and Technologies configuration wizard completes the farm implementation and ties all tiers together. This includes running the wizard when adding any new front-end Web servers, index, search or any other servers to the farm. To deploy a farm of servers, follow these steps: 1. Ensure that the appropriate Windows updates applied and necessary prerequisite software are installed on all servers. Note: This procedure assumes that SQL Server 2008 on the database server is already installed for the database tier. 2. Using the SharePoint 2007 installation media, run setup on each application and Web server within the farm. 16

21 Choose the Complete option for each installation. Note: Run the SharePoint Products and Technologies configuration wizard on all servers within the farm upon completion of the SharePoint installation to finalize the integration of all tiers into the SharePoint farm. First run the configuration wizard on the application server running the Central Administration service. The SharePoint central administration Web site launches upon completion of the wizard. 3. When SharePoint 2007 installations are complete, recheck Microsoft updates to gather any pending patches or hot fixes that apply. 4. Complete all of the administrative tasks as shown on the Central Administration home page. Instructions are provided for each step. After each step is complete, edit the task and provide completion details, such as who completed the activity, date of completion or deferral, and so on, in case you cannot complete the tasks at one time. Front-End Network Load Balancing When deploying multiple front-end Web servers, proper balance of the serving load is accomplished through a network load balancing (NLB) component. Your network load balancer, whether physical or virtual, must be configured prior to completing SharePoint installation. Windows 2008 Network Load Balancer must be manually installed on your Windows server because it is not installed by default. Load balancing on front-end Web servers ensures equal balancing across replicated Web servers to provide identical functionality for serving Web content. For more information, see the Microsoft TechNet article Implementing a New Network Load Balancing Cluster. Application Server Tier Setting up this tier includes implementing all application structures of SharePoint including Shared Services Providers, central administration and Excel services in additional to any provisions for queries and search. A single Shared Services Provider (SSP) is a logical grouping of shared services and their supporting resources. At least one SSP is required within a SharePoint 2007 farm. For more information, see the Microsoft TechNet article Create and configure Shared Services Providers. Trace Log Configuration The trace log can be useful for analyzing problems that might occur. For example, you can use events that are written to the trace log to identify configuration changes made in Office SharePoint Server 2007 before a problem occurred. By default, Office SharePoint Server 2007 saves two days of events in the trace log files. This means that trace log files that contain events that are older than two days are deleted. Whether you are using the Office SharePoint Server Search service or the Windows SharePoint Services Search service, Hitachi Data Systems recommends that you configure the trace log to save seven days of events. You can use the diagnostic logging page in central administration to configure the maximum number of trace log files to maintain and how long (in minutes) to capture events to each log file. By default, 96 log files are kept, each one containing 30 minutes of events: 96 log files * 30 minutes of events per file = 2,880 minutes or two days of events You can also specify the location where the log files are written or accept the default path. 17

22 Validation Like any other type of SQL Server deployment, it s important to test your environment to ensure that the current configuration achieves appropriate performance levels. Microsoft offers the SQLIO and the SQLIOSim tools to help validate your SQL Server environment. Nevertheless, it is important that you test your own environment in a close to production mode. While SQLIO and SQLIOSim can provide some a generic view of the environment s capabilities, your specific database workload and user load might greatly differ from SQLIO. The Iometer tool is also a good option when you have deep knowledge of your specific database workload. For more information on utilizing tools to validate you SQL Server environment, see Microsoft s Deploying SQL Server 2005 with SAN #3 article. Always start by deploying the a test or development environment and appropriately test the SQL Server instance to ensure the correct levels of IOPs are achieved within acceptable latency ranges. It s important to establish baseline metrics for your environment so that you can monitor its performance and identify areas of concern. SQLIOSim The SQLIOSim utility tests data integrity capabilities of I/O paths. It simulates read patterns, write patterns and the problem identification techniques of SQL Server. To perform these tasks, the SQLIOSim utility simulates a SQL Server system s user and system activity. The SQLIOSim utility performs this simulation independent of the SQL Server engine. The utility generates log files that show execution and error details. Note: Be careful to not specify the actual SQL Server database files for testing if your SharePoint databases are already prepared because this utility overwrites data with random test patterns, destroying current data. For more information, see the Microsoft article How to use the SQLIOSim utility to simulate SQL Server activity on a disk subsystem. SQLIO SQLIO is a free Microsoft utility that measures I/O capacity performance. This tool has nothing to do with SQL Server but is valuable in stress testing and analyzing your SAN. Use this test in parallel among all application and SQL servers that touch your SAN within your SharePoint farm to determine if multiple servers running on the same SAN affect each other s performance. You can download SQLIO from the Microsoft Download Center. For more information, see the SQLServerPedia article SAN Performance Tuning with SQLIO. Iometer Iometer is an open source performance analysis tool that includes a graphical interface that allows you to configure the workload, set parameters and start and stop tests to test disk performance. It collects the test results and produces the reports for analysis. Iometer measures performance under controlled load, as a workload generator and a measurement tool. It can be configured to emulate the disk or network I/O load of any program or benchmark, or can be used to generate entirely synthetic I/O loads. It can generate and measure loads on single or networked systems. Iometer can be used for measurement and characterization of the following metrics: Performance of disk and network controllers Bandwidth and latency capabilities of buses Network throughput to attached drives 18

23 Shared bus performance System-level hard drive performance System-level network performance To download Iometer, visit SourceForge.net. System Center Capacity Planner 2007 This Microsoft modeling and analysis product helps you plan and review options for your environment. By providing pre-implementation what if scenarios for configuration and performance, plus a post-implementation analysis of the same information, this product can validate your planning and what you either have or are about to place into a production environment. Used in conjunction with the SharePoint Capacity Planning Tool, models are available to analyze topology, hardware, software and usage profiles including the following detailed information outlined by Microsoft: Topology Site locations, types of networks, network components and network characteristics (bandwidth, latency) Hardware Server distribution and characteristics, server and network mapping Software Server role and service mapping, file and storage device mapping Usage profiles Site usage and client usage For more information, see Microsoft s System Center Capacity Planner Web site. SharePoint Capacity Planning Tool The SharePoint Capacity Planning Tool is an add-in modeling tool for the System Center Capacity Planner 2007 software. As with most tools, experience in architecture, design and performance requirements are very important when planning an enterprise environment of any nature. The value of this tool is that it models your efforts based on input you provide to the program and helps design and review configurations for the topology of your SharePoint farm. This Microsoft tool is a free download available at Microsoft TechNet. Visual Studio Team System Test Edition Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) Test Edition allows you to create and view results of testing scripts that can show you how your SharePoint environment is performing. The main purpose of this testing environment is to run load and web tests to evaluate the SharePoint farm s performance. For more information, visit Microsoft s Visual Studio Team System Test Edition Web page. SharePoint 2007 Test Data Population Tool This open source tool populates SharePoint databases for testing SharePoint deployments. You can also use included test scripts for additional VSTS load testing. To download this tool, visit CodePlex. Monitoring the Environment Monitoring your SharePoint environment for functionality, performance and error indications is critical. Monitor the following areas: Event Logs Keep an eye these logs will tell about errors from Windows, to IIS and more. It is important to monitor event logs on all servers within the SharePoint farm. Free disk space If you run out of space, whether on local or SAN you system can be severely impacted. This can be monitored on individual servers through the Windows Management Interface (WMI). SQL server has its own monitoring for databases that are near growth limitations and also needs to be monitored on a regular basis. SharePoint diagnostic logging Error reports can be scheduled in order to review and manage hardware and software problems within the SharePoint farm. You can use the event throttling function to control how 19

24 errors are reported to the Windows event logs. You can set specific location for trace logs to be stored. Use SharePoint Central Administration Operations tab to set this function. SharePoint usage analysis processing These logs and reports help you monitor usage of Web Applications within the SharePoint farm. You can set schedule for the frequency of the analysis and set specific location for the analysis log files. Use SharePoint Central Administration Operations tab to set this function. Information management policy usage reports From the SharePoint Central Administration Operations tab to set log locations to save reports and set a template by Web application for these reports. Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 (SCOM) This Microsoft service offering enables you to monitor and manage many of the components within your SharePoint Server 2007 environment for performance and availability. Some areas monitored are noted in bullets below (SCOM is an add-in to the System Center Capacity Planner 2007): SharePoint Server 2007 services and Web server applications Microsoft SQL Server databases Microsoft Windows services such as the timer service Search Usage Reports From the SharePoint Shared Services Administration site, you can monitor reports for queries and search results either in comma-separated value (.csv) or Adobe PDF format. Confirming SharePoint 2007 Functionality It s important to confirm that your SharePoint 2007 environment is functioning properly before making it live. Test the functionality of your SharePoint farm environment by creating and manipulating content using the existing configurations of storage and roles. If you can create and manipulate content without errors, you can rest assured that your SharePoint environment is functioning correctly. Validate Site and Content Creation To validate site and content creation, follow these steps: 1. Choose Start > Administrative tools in SharePoint central administration. 2. Click the Application Management tab. 3. Test creation of a Web application. 4. Test creation of a site collection. 5. Test deleting the same application and collection. Validate Sub-site, Library and List Creation To validate creation of sub-sites, testing libraries and list functionality, follow these steps: 1. Click the Shared Documents link to upload, download, delete or edit files within a library. 2. Click the Calendar link and add events or other calendar items. 3. Tasks are similar as each of these lists includes an Add or Edit link to provide new data or change existing content. 4. Click the Sites link and add sub-sites to the top level site, alter or add permissions for any site, list or library, 20

25 Hitatchi Storage Management Software Hitachi Data Systems offers software to provide performance and specification recommendations and validations. The following software is used in this solution: Hitachi Storage Navigator software Storage Navigator is a part of the Hitachi Resource Manager utility package. Use it to configure LUNs, obtain system configuration and status information and send commands to Hitachi Universal Storage Platform storage systems. Hitachi Storage Navigator software is a Java applet program that can run on any computer that supports the Java Virtual Machine. Java API is the program that enables the functions and communications of Storage Navigator software. A computer hosting the Storage Navigator remote console is attached to the Universal Storage Platform V or Universal Storage Platform VM storage system through a local area network. The Storage Navigator applet runs on the Web browser and communicates with the storage system through the local area network. Hitachi LUN Manager LUN Manager is a part of Storage Navigator software. It allows you to reconfigure the LUs at any time to accommodate system configuration changes and optimize system performance. Using LUN Manager, you can define I/O paths from hosts to logical volumes, set the host modes for the Fibre Channel ports, set the Fibre Channel topology, configure host groups and define command devices for Command Control Interface operations. To launch LUN Manager, click the LUN Manager/LUN Security button on the Storage Navigator main panel. The following programs are not required for this solution, but are useful for managing your environment: Hitachi Performance Monitor feature Performance Monitor feature helps you achieve and maintain the service level objectives for performance of the storage systems and availability of data. In addition, Performance Monitor software maximizes utilization of the storage assets. Performance Monitor software's in-depth troubleshooting and analysis reduces the time taken to solve storage performance problems. Performance Monitor feature provides statistics on physical hard drives, logical volumes, processors, workloads on disk drive and traffic between hosts and the disk system. You can also use Performance Monitor feature to analyze trends in disk I/O and detects peak I/O time. Hitachi Device Manager software Hitachi Device Manager software provides centralized management of all Hitachi storage systems, including the Universal Storage Platform family. Device Manager software can link to Storage Navigator software and has the ability to provision using storage pools, manage replication between storage systems and logically group resources for more efficient management. It also provides the device interface into Hitachi storage systems for the heterogeneous Hitachi Storage Services Manager software and other third-party storage management tools. Device Manager software's Provisioning Assistant enables you to integrate and manage various models and types of storage systems as a single, virtual storage pool, allowing you to do more with less. These are some of Device Manager software s key features: Central consolidation and management of multiple, local or remote Hitachi storage systems, all from a single point of control Operating system independent, holistic and granular view of all storage Central repository of configuration, utilization, capacity and status of all managed storage Open API based on industry standards common interface management (CIM) and Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S) Enhanced user authority control feature 21

26 Hitachi Dynamic Link Manager Advanced software Hitachi Dynamic Link Manager Advanced software consists of multipathing software and Hitachi Global Link Manager software. Hitachi Dynamic Link Manager software, which is installed on each SQL Server host, includes capabilities such as path failover and failback, and automatic load balancing to provide higher data availability and accessibility. The Hitachi device-specific module is integrated into Hitachi Dynamic Link Manager software and can effectively replace the generic Microsoft MPIO device-specific module that is included in Windows Server Hitachi Tuning Manager software Hitachi Tuning Manager software enables you to proactively monitor, manage and plan the performance and capacity for the Hitachi storage that is used by your SQL Server environment. Hitachi Tuning Manager software consolidates the statistical performance data from the entire storage path. It collects performance and capacity data from the operating system, SQL Server databases, switch ports, storage ports on the storage system, RAID groups and the logical units where the SQL Server files are located. It also provides you with a complete performance picture. It can provide historical, current and forecast views of these metrics. Fully integrated with the Hitachi Storage Command Suite and compliant with industry standards, Tuning Manager software improves storage performance and capacity management to maximize storage utilization on the Universal Storage Platform V or Universal Storage Platform VM. 22

27 Corporate Headquarters 750 Central Expressway, Santa Clara, California USA Contact Information: / info@hds.com Asia Pacific and Americas 750 Central Expressway, Santa Clara, California USA Contact Information: / info@hds.com Europe Headquarters Sefton Park, Stoke Poges, Buckinghamshire SL2 4HD United Kingdom Contact Information: + 44 (0) / info.uk@hds.com Hitachi is a registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd., in the United States and other countries. Hitachi Data Systems is a registered trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd., in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks, service marks and company names mentioned in this document or Web site are properties of their respective owners. Notice: This document is for informational purposes only, and does not set forth any warranty, expressed or implied, concerning any equipment or service offered or to be offered by Hitachi Data Systems. This document describes some capabilities that are conditioned on a maintenance contract with Hitachi Data Systems being in effect and that may be configuration dependent, and features that may not be currently available. Contact your local Hitachi Data Systems sales office for information on feature and product availability. Hitachi Data Systems Corporation All Rights Reserved. AS January 2010