Introduction; Quick Start Guide Operating Environment - NEC Express 5800 Quick Start Manual

Introduction

Welcome to your Quick Start Guide to configuring Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Service Pack 1 (SP1) on an
NEC Corporation of America Express5800 Fault Tolerant Server (FT Server) platform. NEC designs and builds
servers that provide the highest level of reliability and performance for your Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
solution. The FT Server provides built-in fault tolerance for your virtualized environment, so you can enjoy the
benefits of virtualization, including:
•
Hardware consolidation
•
Optimal hardware resource usage
•
Separation of applications
•
Flexible operating environment
This Guide will provide you with the necessary steps to install and configure hardware and software
components for your virtual environment. In addition, the Guide will outline a solution scenario that provides you
with the necessary information to deploy virtual solutions by using FT Servers and Microsoft Virtual Server
2005 R2 SP1 in production environments.
Your first task is to prepare the server hardware for installation of the host operating system. How you configure
your hardware and create the fault tolerant environment is critical to the success of your solution.
This Guide takes you through the following procedures:
•
Installing the server hardware
•
Configuring Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition
•
Configuring the hardware
•
Installing Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
•
Configuring the virtual machines
Because the Guide uses a scenario to provide a context for the information, there are a number of assumptions
made regarding the operating environment. The next section describes these assumptions.

Quick Start Guide Operating Environment

FT Servers provide optimal fault tolerance and performance for a number of server roles and IT services. When
combined with Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1, a single FT Server can operate a number of these roles and
services concurrently. This Guide walks you through the process of creating this type of virtualized operating
environment.
This Guide makes the following assumptions about your current network environment:
•
You want to install the FT Server specifically for the deployment of Microsoft Virtual Server R2 SP1 and
virtual machines, and you do not want to run any other applications.
•
You will deploy the virtual servers to a branch office. The branch office has good connectivity to the main
office and runs infrastructure and application services including one each of the following:
•
Domain controller;
•
File server; and
•
Exchange 2003 mail server.
Currently, NEC FT systems do not support 64-bit applications so the email virtual machine will run Exchange
2003 instead of Exchange 2007.
•
You install Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 on Windows Server 2003 SP1 or later. There are no extra
services or applications running on the Virtual Server Host.
NEC Express5800 Fault Tolerant Virtual Server Quick Start Guide 1