I am working on a new Windows 2008 R2 / SQL Server R2 HA cluster and we are planning on running this inside of VMware ESX 5. I have read and heard differing views on using SQL clustering inside of ESX, some seems to say its fine others do not. We will be running dedicated Hosts, SAN and networking for this as we are very SQL heavy for our core apps, I would like to hear peoples view on if this is a good or bad idea.
SQL Server 2008 R2 Clustering inside VMware
failoverclustersql-server-2008-r2vmware-esxivmware-vspherewindows-server-2008-r2
Best Answer
We're currently doing this in production with few issues.
VMware has a KB article on virtual MSCS configurations:
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1004617
Check the appropriate clustering guide PDF for your vSphere version. In particular, pay attention to the support matrices if you're clustering across hosts. Note the following things:
Also take note of the other setup limitations in the guide. Configuration is fairly straightforward if you follow their directions.