February 9, 2012

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Celerra VSA : Why you need to use the OVA

April 20, 2010 By 3 Comments

**** Go here for new version of UBER VSA ****

While working with the Celerra VSA (link here)I have noticed one big distinction form the OVA version versus the Workstation 7 version:

Workstation:

 

 

OVA:

So if you look at the yellow boxes you can see that the OVA will deploy much slimmer config as well as utilize the paravirtual SCSI controller.

If you are looking for a bit quicker and slicker VSA in your vSphere lab then I would defintely go with the OVA setup. Make sure your vCenter is running at least U1 to import (http://nickapedia.com/2010/04/20/celerra-vsa-ova-import-bug/).

.nick

Filed Under: Celerra VSA Tagged With:
  • Mervin Cinq-Mars

    I seem to have something in between. My server is a new Dell T110 with Xeon X3440 and 8GB. I am using ESXi E+ (patched to Ver 4.0.0 Build 244038) and I use the Vsphere Client (ver 4.0.0 build 20811) I am using your “Uber” OVA version and I added it to my host using the -file -Deploy from OVF template method. It adds without complaint but I end up with options non like what you indicate above. The defaults I see are 1GB (instead of 4GB) 1CPU (instead of 2) LSI Logic SAS (instead of Paravirtual.) My default has Paravirtualization disabled, as well as CPU/MMu Virtualization set to auto, instead of forcing VT-x and EPT, as I expected as a requirement for a max performance VSA image.

    • http://www.nickapedia.com nick

      This blog post is referring to the non-uber version of the Celerra VSA.

      The uber version runs smaller and uses a more generic configuration for a wide audience. That doesn’t mean you can’t customize however you would like though.

  • Mervin Cinq-Mars

    OK, that makes sense. Do you have suggestions as to optimal choices for your Uber VSA? The reason I am asking is that both your and the Virtual Geek blogs refer to significant performance improvements,but not much detail into how these were achieved. I want to be sure that the settings I have on the Vsphere side do not restrict these newfound advantages. I am pretty confident that more CPU’s/RAM and forcing VT-x and EPT will contribute to performance, but is enabling Paravirtualization and the associated SCSI adapter significant? Of course I can test and will, but I am looking forward to your opinion and experience.