QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE McKesson Horizon Patient Folder on VMware Virtualized Platforms A reference guide for application deployment on VMware Infrastructure 3 using 64-bit Dual-Core and Quad-Core Intel processor Series 5100 and Series 5300-based platforms
LEGAL NOTICES Copyright 2008, McKesson Corporation, Dell, Inc., Intel Corporation, VMware. All rights reserved. For McKesson Corporation: Horizon Patient Folder is a trademark of McKesson Corporation and/or one of its subsidiaries. All information contained herein is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment by McKesson. ALL INFORMATION IS PROVIDED AS IS AND MCKESSON DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY RELATING TO THE INFORMATION, INCLUDING LIABILITY OR WARRANTIES RELATING TO FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR INFRINGEMENT OF ANY PATENT, COPYRIGHT, OR OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT. NO LICENSE, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, TO ANY MCKESSON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IS GRANTED BY THIS DOCUMENT. For Intel: Intel, the Intel logo, Xeon, and Xeon Inside are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries. INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH INTEL PRODUCTS. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN INTEL S TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF SALE FOR SUCH PRODUCTS, INTEL ASSUMES NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER, AND INTEL DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY RELATING TO SALE AND/OR USE OF INTEL PRODUCTS, INCLUDING LIABILITY OR WARRANTIES RELATING TO FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR INFRINGEMENT OF ANY PATENT, COPYRIGHT, OR OTHER INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT. Intel products are not intended for use in medical, life-saving, life-sustaining, critical control or safety systems, or in nuclear facility applications. Intel products may contain design defects or errors known as errata which may cause the product to deviate from published specifications. Current characterized errata are available on request. Intel Corporation may have patents or pending patent applications, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights that relate to the presented subject matter. The furnishing of documents and other materials and information does not provide any license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise, to any such patents, trademarks, copyrights, or other intellectual property rights. For VMware: VMware, the VMware boxes logo, MultipleWorlds, GSX Server, VMware Infrastructure 3 Server, Virtual SMP, VMware VMotion and VMware ACE are trademarks of VMware, Inc. You are not permitted to use these trademarks without the prior written consent of VMware. The use of the VMware trademarks is governed by VMware trademark guidelines posted on the VMware internal Web site at www.vmware.com/pdf/branding_partners.pdf. NO LICENSE, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, BY ESTOPPEL OR OTHERWISE, TO ANY VMWARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS IS GRANTED BY THIS DOCUMENT. VMWARE ASSUMES NO LIABILITY WHATSOEVER, AND VMWARE DISCLAIMS ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTY, INCLUDING FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, MERCHANTABILITY, OR INFRINGEMENT OF ANY PATENT, COPYRIGHT OR OTHER VMWARE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHT. For Dell: Dell is a trademark of Dell, Inc. All rights reserved. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for Dell products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. Dell shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. 2 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
RELATED DOCUMENTS Overview of McKesson Products http://www.mckesson.com/en_us/mckesson.com/for+healthcare+providers /Hospitals/Access+Management/Horizon+Patient+Folder.html Overview of VMware Products www.vmware.com/products/vi Overview of Intel Xeon Processor-Based Platforms http://www.intel.com/products/server/processors/index.htm?iid=process+ server Not sure which Intel product fits your needs? See the Intel Xeon Processor-based Server Selection Guide: ftp://download.intel.com/products/processor/xeon/ssguide.pdf Processor Product Brief Dual-Core Intel Xeon processor 5100 series (code name: Woodcrest ) http://download.intel.com/products/processor/xeon/dc51kprodbrief.pdf Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5300 series (code name: Clovertown ) http://download.intel.com/products/processor/xeon/dc53kprodbrief.pdf Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor 5400 series (code name: Hapertown ) http://download.intel.com/products/processor/xeon/dc54kprodbrief.pdf 3 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
CONTENTS Page Related Documents...3 Introduction...5 Deployment...7 System Architecture...7 Hardware Requirements...12 Installation and Tuning...13 VMware Features and Functionality...16 Resource Usage Profile...16 4 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
INTRODUCTION Horizon Patient Folder is a document management and imaging solution that electronically captures, indexes, completes and stores a legal electronic medical record. Information is captured via incoming faxes, scanning, or electronic feeds, and is stored in the imaging database. Horizon Patient Folder manages the recording, tracking and completion of deficiencies as well as the process for releasing information. It routes work to appropriate users through adaptive workflow, resulting in significant operational efficiencies and acceleration of cash collection. Deploying Horizon Patient Folder offers benefits including: Easy access to patient information. Multiple users can assess the same patient chart. Significant reduction or elimination of supply costs and improved staff efficiency resulting from a paperless environment. Significantly reduced chart deficiencies as charts are more easily accessible and time to complete is shortened. Ability to more easily attract and retain talented and experienced coders due to remote coding capabilities. Improve productivity by eliminating filing, delivery, retrieving, and all other processes associated with creating and managing paper-based records. Potential for a new revenue stream generated by bringing release of information functionality inhouse. Improved physician and administration relations through responsive service and improved quality. A Health Information Management (HIM) department prepared to transition to an e-him environment Horizon Patient Folder is optimized to take advantage, at a minimum, of processors with two logical cores for enhanced performance. The benefits of using Horizon Patient Folder in a virtual environment include: Ability to quickly clone of an existing image. A cloned environment on a virtualized system can be used as a temporary environment for training, test, and demos, as well as for backup, and then removed when no longer needed. Cloning can also play an important role in implementing a disaster recover strategy. A datacenter can be replicated at another site, often using a storage area network, providing backups of data and virtual machines in the event of a disaster to allow quick recovery of a virtualized IT environment. Reduced number of physical servers. The many application (agent) servers needed to support a Horizon Patient Folder landscape can be consolidated onto a fewer physical servers. Workload flexibility. Application server workloads can be transparently moved to other hosts during peak workloads or for hardware maintenance. Server consolidation. Functions such as development, test, and quality assurance can be consolidated onto the same server. 5 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) provides specific functionality that helps simplify the deployment of virtualization software delivering complimentary, optimized hardware support that magnifies the value of leading virtualization software solutions such as the VMware Infrastructure 3 virtualization suite. The VMware Infrastructure 3 platform makes near-linear scaling of loads on more powerful servers possible and allows control of hardware resource allocation among virtual machines. VMware Infrastructure 3 also enables faster system deployment, increased security through virtual machine isolation and mirroring, easier system administration, and reduced costs through hardware consolidation. Intel continues to be a significant contributor to the development of virtualization tools and resources through: Award-winning 1/ processor technology and unparalleled reliability. Intel Core microarchitecture powers the current generation of Intel 64 architecture, including both dual-core and quad-core processors that deliver performance improvements with up to 40 percent power reduction 2/. Advanced reliability features such as Intel Cache Safe Technology available in the latest Intel Xeon processors MP reduce latency and improve reliability in virtualization deployments. Availability of Intel VT on all Intel server processors. Intel VT supports a new hardware layer that provides hardware-assisted virtualization for next-generation solutions. This layer reduces the complexity of the virtual machine monitor (VMM) and enables new virtualization capabilities. It also eliminates compute-intensive software translations in the virtualization software by enabling a new, higher privilege mode for VMM operation. This innovation allows the guest operating system (OS) and applications to run in their intended mode. Intel VT is fully supported by VMware ESX Server version 3.0.1, enabling 64-bit guest OS support. Powerful Intel product roadmaps focused on optimization and acceleration of virtualization software. An extensive Intel VT roadmap is planned to deliver near-native performance in virtualized environments as well as other new virtualization capabilities architected in Intel processors, chipsets, and communications components making possible more robust and complete virtualization solutions. Ecosystem Leadership. Intel is a global leader in enabling the software industry through microprocessor technologies. Intel works together with leading ISVs, universities, and OEMs to develop standards, specifications, and best practices to optimize enterprise solutions. Intel VT and VMware Infrastructure 3 offer software vendors and IT organizations essential advantages such as reduced costs and risk, improved reliability and availability, enhanced security, and simpler VMM development for their virtualized deployments. This document covers how to effectively deploy Horizon Patient Folder in a virtualized environment, including an overview of system architecture and hardware requirements, as well as specific guidelines for installation. For general information about Horizon Patient Folder, visit: http://www.mckesson.com/en_us/mckesson.com/for+healthcare+providers/hospitals/access+m anagement/horizon+patient+folder.html For full details about how to install and configure Horizon Patient Folder or for customer references, please contact your McKesson Corporation technology engineer or sales representative. 1/ 2/ Intel Core microarchitecture won a Technical Excellence award from PC Magazine, announced in Issue 23, December 5, 2006. Source: Intel. 6 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
The deployment of Horizon Patient Folder on the VMware virtualized platform is the first step in an ongoing strategy by McKesson to validate and deliver product suites capable of deployment in a virtualized environment. DEPLOYMENT This section presents key information about the deployment of Horizon Patient Folder in a virtualized environment, including system architecture, hardware requirements, installation, and tuning. System Architecture A typical non-virtualized Horizon Patient Folder deployment is shown in Figure 1a and Figure 1b. The deployment comprises a number of agents providing a variety of functions, a database server and storage area network (SAN), and a Web server. In a non-virtualized environment, Horizon Patient Folder agent components each run on a separate server. These components are: Batch Compiler (BCMP) Archive (release) Agent (ArcRel) Magnetic (release) Agent (MagRel) COLD Agent Fax In/Out Server Imaging Link Engine (ILE) Index Upload Agent Transaction Agent (Trans agent) Workflow Agent Print Server Web Server Advanced Imaging Server (AIS) Network communication is accomplished between components over a standard 100 MB LAN. Agent functionalities can be combined in different ways and other resources may be added depending on the needs of the particular environment. For example, some customers may have additional Web servers, fax servers, or other capabilities or may incorporate other storage mechanisms, such as tape backup, or implement clustering or load-balancing to enhance reliability or performance. All required third-party applications are either bundled with or embedded in the Horizon Patient Folder package. Bundled applications include: Microsoft* Windows* Microsoft* SQL Server* Elan Faccent Metasoft Folder 2 Folder Captaris Rightfax JBoss Web Server EMC DiskXtender Kofax VRS 7 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
Embedded applications include: Accusoft Snowbound Kofax Crystal Reports Figure 1a. Non-virtualized system architecture for Horizon Patient Folder 10.x 8 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
SureStoreOptical IBM Database Server Active-Active Cluster Storage Server Portal Server SQL Server Heartbeat HPF DCS/QCI Scanner SAN Batch Import Server Magnetic Release Signature Server Test/Development System LAN equivalent (100Mbps or greater) Registration (ILE) Scanner Databases Images Archive Images Shadow Copy Hospitals (High Speed Link) Citrix Farm Optical Storage AIS-A Archive Agent Archive Release RMI server AIS-C Faxin/Faxout RightFax Server AIS-A 32 Bit IU Arc EPRS Console Transman Schedule Agent AIS-C Workflow Mgr Workflow Agent. 32 Bit IU Mag. AIS-C, Elan Cold Mgr Cold Agent OSS AIS-A Print Only EIW Sysadmin Web Server JBOSS Snowbound Viewer ILE Server Optio Server Laserarc Server WAN HPF Remote DCS Remote Print Release Server DCS/QCI Registration (ILE) Scanner Scanner Hospitals/Clinics (Low Speed Link) Datacenter Figure 1a. Non-virtualized system deployment for Horizon Patient Folder 10.x 9 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
A virtualized Horizon Patient Folder deployment is shown in Figure 2a. In this deployment, the agents have been consolidated onto virtual machines running on a VMware ESX Server. For consistency with best practices, a separate server console network and separate network for the virtual machines are recommended. For redundancy, at least two network interface cards (NICs) are typically recommended for each server, and possibly more depending on the size of the installation. In virtual environment, the VMware ESX Server operating system runs on a mirrored local drive with the virtual machine files backed up on the SAN consistent with best practices used for all servers in the system. The test environment used to develop this document included two servers: Server 1: Database, storage, MagRel, BCMP, fax, Legato DX Server 2: VMware ESX Server for all other agents A typical production environment typically includes: Server 1: Databases (primary), storage (failover) Server 2: Storage (primary), databases (failover), magnetic release server, signature server, batch compiler Server 3: Agents running on guest virtual machines (except fax cards and write-once-read-many (WORM) devices, which must be installed on their own servers). Allocation of services across guest virtual machines should mimic the non-virtualized arrangement as much as possible. Server 4: Horizon Patient Folder workstation, Java Development Kit, JBOSS web application, AIS, Legato DX (if applicable), fax Additional servers are added when needed for: Additional printers Remote DCS_Data Remote fax Imaging Link Engine (ILE) Legato DX for Centera Additional capacity, such as AISs, release servers, index uploads, or Web servers The storage tier cannot be virtualized in a Horizon Patient Folder virtualized deployment. The Virtual Center and license manager software must also be run on separate servers. Horizon Patient Folder can only be configured to run on a Microsoft Windows 2003 guest operating system, so workstations running Microsoft Windows XP or other operating systems cannot be virtualized. Brooktrout Technology fax cards are required and must be installed on their own server as they cannot be virtualized in the Horizon Patient Folder environment. If the Horizon Patient Folder deployment requires a WORM device such as an optical jukebox, this device requires its own interface, so also cannot be virtualized. No additional third-party components are required for a virtual environment. 10 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
Figure 2a. Typical virtualized system architecture for Horizon Patient Folder 11.x Figure 2b shows a typical Horizon Patient Folder installation on a VMware ESX server. The left panel shows details about the hosts and clusters, the datacenter and group layout, and individual physical and virtual hosts. On the right, the network configuration tab provides details about the network and vswitch layout and configuration and shows the service console, the VMware VMotion network, and virtual machine networks, in some cases teamed NICs for redundancy. 11 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
Figure 2b. Inventory of virtualized systems in Horizon Patient Folder 11.x virtualized deployment Hardware Requirements For the development of this document, Horizon Patient Folder was tested in a virtual environment using the following Dell server-based test configurations: A Dell PowerEdge 2950 server test system with two 64-bit Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processors 5160 (3.00 GHz, 4 MB L2 cache, 1333 MHz FSB) and 8 GB RAM. The Woodcrest family of processors does not support Hyper-Threading Technology (HT Technology), so this feature was disabled. The two-socket PowerEdge 2950 was chosen for its ability to deliver next-generation performance combined with a balance of future expandability and rack density. Its eight memory slots support up to 32 GB RAM using latest technology, fullybuffered DIMMs. The PowerEdge 2950 also provides up to eight internal hard drive bays in its 2U chassis although, for our validation, only two local drives were used in a RAID-1 configuration. A Dell PowerEdge 6850 server test system with four 64-bit Dual-Core Intel Xeon Processors 7140 (3.4 GHz, 16 MB L2 cache, 800 MHz FSB) and 16 GB RAM. The quad-socket PowerEdge 6850 was chosen for its exceptional performance and scalability in a 4U rack dense form factor. With support for up to 64 GB DDR-2 memory, SAS hard drives and 12 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
PCI Express* connectivity, this server provides headroom for large-scale, mission-critical implementations. The server features advanced memory technology such as memory RAID, mirroring, and hot-plug DDR-2 SDRAM for enterprise-class availability. Memory mirroring was disabled for our validation environments so we could make the best use of ALL the memory. In addition, the PowerEdge 6850 provides hot-plug, redundant power supplies, memory, PCI Express slots, hard drives, and cooling fans so that you can replace components without having to make the server unavailable. Only two local drives were used in a RAID-1 configuration with an extra drive configured as a hot spare. For the database tier, a server with a quad-core processor (4-socket) or higher is recommended. Database and storage servers usually run Microsoft* Windows* 2003 (Enterprise Edition with Microsoft Cluster Services for high availability) and SQL* 2000. For non-virtualized agent servers, a server with a dual-core processor (2-socket) is recommended with Microsoft* Windows* 2003 residing on local drives. The use of an enterprise-class SAN is highly recommended for any virtual machine data storage, for database files and storage, and to take advantage of advanced VMware features and functionality. The VMware ESX Server operating system resides on local (mirrored) drives. Virtualization in a VMware environment allows the agent components of the Horizon Patient Folder applications to be consolidated onto one server. Hardware requirements for the VMware ESX Server are described below. Processor Dual-core or quad-core processors from the Intel Xeon processor family with performance of at least 3.0 GHz provide excellent results for the deployment of Horizon Patient Folder on VMware Infrastructure 3. Memory 8GB RAM minimum. The RAM requirements for a system running Horizon Patient Folder are dependent on many factors and you should seek the assistance of your McKesson Corporation representative for correct sizing. Network Interfaces 4 or more Gigabit Ethernet ports (2 integrated, 2 on single-port cards) Disk 2 72 GB serial attached SCSI disks configured as RAID-1 (with additional online spares) Guest Operating Systems Resource Requirements Horizon Patient Folder can be configured to run on a Microsoft Windows 2003 guest operating system. See your McKesson Corporation implementation engineer or sales representative for complete system requirements. Installation and Tuning Follow these guidelines when creating virtual machines to run Horizon Patient Folder application components: Disable Hyper-Threading Technology. In the VMware ESX Server host, turn off the option enabling Hyper-Threading Technology. Horizon Patient Folder does not benefit from Hyper- Threading. 13 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
Avoid memory swapping. Accumulation of virtual memory on all VMs should not exceed the physical memory available. To avoid this situation, set the minimum memory for the guest OS equal to the maximum memory. Use at least two virtual CPUs per virtual machine for better scalability. Avoid over-committing memory. The current standard is to divide the total amount of memory by the total number of virtual machines to equally distribute the allocated memory across virtual machines. In some cases, it may be useful to create virtual machines with memory that cannot be swapped out. To do this, set the minimum memory for the guest operating system equal to the maximum memory. Disable COM ports and USB ports. Disable ports COM1 and COM2 in each virtual machine. Also disable USB ports. When these ports are enabled, they can cause random spikes in processor utilization. VMware ESX Server 3.0.1 does not support USB functionality. VMware ESX Server 3 Installation VMware ESX Server 3 is installed to boot locally and is configured with the partitions listed in Table 1. Note: VMware Server 3.0.1 Build 32039 or later is required. Table 1. VMware ESX 3 Partitions Mount Point Type Size Description /boot *ext3 250 MB Contains information needed to boot the VMware ESX Server. NA *swap 2000 MB Allows VMware ESX Server and third party add-ons to swap to disk. / *ext3 10 GB Contains the VMware ESX Server operating system and services. /home ext3 2048 MB Is used for storage by individual users. /tmp ext3 2000 MB Is used for storage of temporary files. /var/log ext3 2000 MB Is used for storage of log files. NA vmkcore 102 MB Is used to store core dumps for debugging and technical support. /opt ext3 2000 Is used for storage of log files from third party agents * Denotes primary partition Virtual Switch Configuration The virtual switch environment consists of three virtual switches (vswitches). Two are connected to two physical Ethernet ports with one dedicated to the service console and the other to a VMware VMotion network. The third vswitch is dedicated to virtual machine network traffic. 14 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
Virtual local area network (VLAN) tagging is not currently being used. Network cards are set to gigabit full duplex for the VMotion network and 100 MB full duplex for the virtual machine traffic. Load balancing on the virtual machine vswitch is configured to route-based IP hash. At the cluster level, both VMware high availability (HA) and distributed resource scheduling (DRS) are enabled. In the event of a VMware ESX host failure, VMware HA automatically restarts virtual machines on another host in the cluster, while DRS dynamically load-balances virtual machines between VMware ESX hosts for optimum performance. The clusters are configured to not allow virtual machines to be powered on if the availability constraints of the cluster would be violated. In the event that a VMware ESX host loses communication with the cluster or becomes isolated, the isolation response is to power off all virtual machines on the host. This is the default configuration for VMware HA. VMware DRS is configured to be fully automated, meaning that it automatically distributes VMotion virtual machines between VMware ESX hosts to optimize performance. VMware VirtualCenter Configuration and Recommendations Mckesson recommends using a dedicated physical server for the VMware VirtualCenter Server and VMware License Server and advises against running these servers on a virtual machine. To configure VMware VirtualCenter: Determine the licensing mode that best suits the deployment environment and design the licensing infrastructure accordingly. McKesson recommends you use a server-based licensing model, which allows clients to take advantage of advanced features like VMware VMotion and DRS. In a server-based licensing model, the VMware License Server runs as a service on a Microsoft Windows host and centrally manages licenses for VMware Infrastructure 3 components. Typically, the License Server is installed on the same Windows host as the VirtualCenter Server during the VirtualCenter Server installation process. Create a new database to store VirtualCenter data. Install the VirtualCenter Server. Install the VMware Infrastructure Client. Many customers choose to deploy the VirtualCenter Server with a Microsoft SQL Server database. SQL Server offers administrators a choice of recovery models, which is the primary factor that determines transaction log disk space requirements. The full recovery model is the default and has the potential to consume all available disk space, if appropriate database maintenance is not performed. For sites that do not intend to schedule regular backups of the database transaction logs, VMware suggests that the VirtualCenter Server database be set to the simple recovery model. In VirtualCenter 2.0.1 Patch 2 (and subsequent releases), the License Server can access a directory for licensing information, rather than the vmware.lic file, to support multiple VMware licensed products. To add server-based licenses for new VMware products, you can simply copy the server-based license file into the License Server directory rather than using the more error-prone method of manually editing the vmware.lic file. Configuring a Microsoft Windows Guest Operating System When running Microsoft Windows 2003, use Service Pack 2. Only Internet Explorer 6.0 is supported. Internet Explorer 7 is not supported. See your McKesson Corp. implementation engineer or sales representative for complete system requirements. 15 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
VMWARE FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITY Horizon Patient Folder 11.x supports the VMware features and functions described below. For more information about using Horizon Patient Folder with advanced features of VMware ESX Server, please contact your McKesson sales representative or technical engineer. (These features are not supported on Horizon Patient Folder 10.x.) Server consolidation and centralized management of virtual machines through the VMware VirtualCenter helps reduce supply costs, improve staff efficiency, and reduce space requirements. Virtual machine cloning and deployment. Cloning a virtual machine enables system administrators to easily deploy many copies of a fully configured virtual machine, without the need to install the same operating system and applications in each copy. Cold migration. Cold migration allows moving a powered off virtual machine from one physical server to another simply by dragging and dropping the virtual machine icon. Cold migration of virtual machines can occur between VMware ESX Server instances and does not require the server hosts to share a SAN. Virtual symmetric multiprocessing (Virtual SMP). VMware Virtual SMP allows a single virtual machine to use up to four physical processors simultaneously. Scaling a virtual infrastructure is much easier with multiple processors working in parallel in a single virtual machine. VMware VMotion. VMware VMotion enables migration of live virtual machines to a different physical host without impacting end-users and conducting non-disruptive maintenance of IT environments. VMware High Availability (HA). HA allows for the migration and restart of a virtual machine guest when a loss of one or more hosts in an HA enabled cluster occurs. VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS). DRS dynamically allocates and balances computing capacity and virtual machine placement with resources pooled from multiple ESX Server hosts. As an application and software provider as well as a hardware provider, McKesson offers the resources to provide a complete solution. Experienced McKesson engineers can help install and configure a VMware-based virtualized Horizon Patient Folder implementation based on industry-accepted best practices. RESOURCE USAGE PROFILE Follow the guidelines below to take best advantage of a virtualized environment for Horizon Patient Folder 10.x: Install the latest version of VMware Tools in the guest operating system and ensure it stays updated after each VMware ESX Server upgrade. Installing VMware Tools updates the guest operating system BusLogic driver to the VMware supplied driver. The VMware driver has certain optimizations that guest-supplied drivers do not. The balloon driver used for memory reclamation on the VMware ESX Server is part of VMware Tools. Ballooning will not work if VMware Tools is not installed. Disable screen savers and window animations in the virtual machine. On Linux servers, if an X server is not required, disable it. Screen savers, animations, and X servers all consume 16 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on
processor time which can affect performance of other virtual machines and consolidation ratios. The non-trivial consumption of processor cycles by idling virtual machines can also have an adverse impact on dynamic resource scheduling (DRS) decisions. When configuring virtual machines, remember that VMware ESX Server itself has some overhead. Allow for the processor overhead required by virtualization and take care not to excessively over-commit processor resources (in terms of processor utilization and the total number of virtual processors). Use as few virtual processors as possible. For example, do not use virtual SMP if your application is single-threaded and does not benefit from the additional virtual processors. Avoid memory over-commitment. Make sure the host has more memory than the total amount of memory that will be used by VMware ESX Server plus the sum of the working set sizes that will be used by all the virtual machines. Due to page sharing and other techniques, VMware ESX Server can be over-committed on memory and still not swap. However, if the over-commitment is large and ESX is swapping, performance in the virtual machines is significantly reduced. Multiple network adapters from a single vswitch to the physical network form a NIC team. A NIC team can increase performance by distributing the traffic across the physical network adapters and provide passive failover in the event of hardware failure or network outage. Use separate vswitches (and consequently separate physical network adapters) to avoid contention between the service console, VMkernel, and virtual machines, and between virtual machines running heavy networking workloads. To optimize storage array performance, spread I/O loads over the available paths to the storage across multiple host bus adapters (HBAs) and service processors (SPs). For Active/Active arrays with a fixed failover policy, designate preferred paths to each logical unit of storage. Doing so allows for the best possible utilization of your bandwidth to the disk array. Use Reservation to specify the minimum acceptable amount of processor time or memory, not the amount you would like to have available. The host assigns additional resources as available based on the number of shares specified and the limit for your virtual machine. Reservations can be used to specify the minimum processor and memory reservation for each virtual machine. In contrast to shares, the fixed amount of resources represented by a reservation does not change when you change the environment, for example, by adding or removing virtual machines. Don't set Reservation too high. A reservation that's too high can limit the number of virtual machines you can power on in a resource pool. When specifying the reservations for virtual machines, always leave some headroom. Do not commit all resources. As the amount of resources reserved approach the capacity of the system, it becomes increasingly difficult to make changes to reservations and to the resource pool hierarchy without violating admission control. In a DRS-enabled cluster, reservations that fully commit the capacity of the cluster or that of individual hosts in the cluster can prevent DRS from migrating virtual machines between hosts. Use resource pools for delegated resource management. To fully isolate a resource pool, make the resource pool type Fixed and use Reservation and Limit. Group virtual machines for a multi-tier service in a resource pool. This allows resources to be assigned for the service as a whole. 17 Quick Reference Guide for VMware Infrastructure 3 on