JSS and ESXi requirements...

[jmercier]

Hi, we have JSS on physical server for now... we have 3-4 mac servers running different mac services...

we start on planning putting everything on esxi on mac hardware...

What would be best practice for CPU and memory requirement for those ressources to be allocated to those services ?

JSS internal with mysql database
Internal SUS mac update
JSS DMZ for external access

[rtrouton]

You'll want to allocate at least two CPUs per OS X VM, as I've observed assigning one CPU can lead to some odd behavior for MDM. Aside from that, how many machines would be hitting your SUS and JSSs? That'll help with figuring out how much RAM to give to each VM.

[jmercier]

hi... thanks for the info...

we have about 475 macs... and not really planning adding a lot in the futur... max 500...

[rcorbin]

We've been thinking about going that route as well. We currently run on stand alone Mac hardware, but I'm wondering if we move to our ESXi setup would it be just easier to run it on Red Hat or other Linux. We have about 6000 machines in total in the JSS.

[jmercier]

as far as im concerned... nothing else than mac infrastructure...

we will receive soon Sonnet enclosure for 2 mac pro... with enclosure for pcie cards... all rack mount...

then will start to install esxi and add that structure to our windows structure too...

but all casper and SUS will be managed onto that 2 mac pro setup

[jonscott]

I moved most of our Apple infrastructure to ESXi running on Xserves about 4 years ago. Now mostly off the Apple hardware as the need for OS X server diminishes. This includes the JSS & MySQL, which are running very well on RHEL. SUS is there too, and most likely moving to NetBoot on Linux VM as well, once I can get the networking team to cooperate.

As has been mentioned already, the virtual hardware requirements depend in large part on the size of the environment, but moving to ESXi in general works very well, in my opinion -- probably easier to manage on non-Apple hardware in the long run (IMHO).

With that said, I still have 2 Xserve3,1s alongside HP ProLiants, all running ESXi and hosting OS X (on the Apple hardware), RedHat, Ubuntu, and Windows.