Comments on: Building a SharePoint Development Farm http://sharepoint.inproc.com/building-a-sharepoint-development-farm/ Tom Dietz's Musings on SharePoint and .NET Development Tue, 03 May 2011 20:17:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Roger http://sharepoint.inproc.com/building-a-sharepoint-development-farm/comment-page-1/#comment-8231 Roger Tue, 03 May 2011 20:17:38 +0000 http://sharepoint.inproc.com/?p=51#comment-8231 Hi Tom, Wow, you have an excellent detail description of how you build your SharePoint development environment. Eventhough it was two years ago, the information are still very current. Hi Tom,
Wow, you have an excellent detail description of how you build your SharePoint development environment.

Eventhough it was two years ago, the information are still very current.

]]> By: Garry http://sharepoint.inproc.com/building-a-sharepoint-development-farm/comment-page-1/#comment-4353 Garry Tue, 04 Jan 2011 17:11:51 +0000 http://sharepoint.inproc.com/?p=51#comment-4353 Hi Tom, Can you please elaborate on the SQL Server? You keep it NON-virtualized. Which means, each dev VM will access the DBs via the network. Would that transfer the bottleneck to the network? If the SQL Server (shared by all dev VMs) was one of the VM in the same host than the dev VM, the communication DEV VMs to SQL Server would remain internally in the HyperV server without crossing any wire. On the other hand that virtualized SQL Server will add extra dis I/O to the HyperV server. From what you described, I trust you that the network overhead of a physical SQL Server is lower than the increased disk I/O of a virtualized SQL Server. Especially from your answer above ("I have seen a lot of issues with virtualized SQL instances") So I guess you have already tried virtualized SQL Server. What were the issues did you encounter? Regarding the RAID 0+1, although I am not the hardware guy, just curious, did you use a dedicated RAID controller or the RAID built-in of the chipset? Hi Tom,

Can you please elaborate on the SQL Server? You keep it NON-virtualized. Which means, each dev VM will access the DBs via the network. Would that transfer the bottleneck to the network?

If the SQL Server (shared by all dev VMs) was one of the VM in the same host than the dev VM, the communication DEV VMs to SQL Server would remain internally in the HyperV server without crossing any wire. On the other hand that virtualized SQL Server will add extra dis I/O to the HyperV server.

From what you described, I trust you that the network overhead of a physical SQL Server is lower than the increased disk I/O of a virtualized SQL Server. Especially from your answer above (“I have seen a lot of issues with virtualized SQL instances”)

So I guess you have already tried virtualized SQL Server. What were the issues did you encounter?

Regarding the RAID 0+1, although I am not the hardware guy, just curious, did you use a dedicated RAID controller or the RAID built-in of the chipset?

]]> By: tdietz http://sharepoint.inproc.com/building-a-sharepoint-development-farm/comment-page-1/#comment-2820 tdietz Sat, 09 Oct 2010 22:55:27 +0000 http://sharepoint.inproc.com/?p=51#comment-2820 There were several reasons for keeping SQL on a single, non virtualized Host: - Performance - Centrally managed (I can insure backups) - For my environment, it was easier to spin up sysprepped images without SQL. There's isn't a single perfect solution, so I would say performance was the most important reason. I have seen a lot of issues with virtualized SQL instances. I am not saying that it can't work virtualized, I just didn't want the headache. I'm seeing amazing performance with RAID 10. There were several reasons for keeping SQL on a single, non virtualized Host:

- Performance
- Centrally managed (I can insure backups)
- For my environment, it was easier to spin up sysprepped images without SQL.

There’s isn’t a single perfect solution, so I would say performance was the most important reason. I have seen a lot of issues with virtualized SQL instances. I am not saying that it can’t work virtualized, I just didn’t want the headache.

I’m seeing amazing performance with RAID 10.

]]> By: Garry http://sharepoint.inproc.com/building-a-sharepoint-development-farm/comment-page-1/#comment-2078 Garry Mon, 23 Aug 2010 23:54:17 +0000 http://sharepoint.inproc.com/?p=51#comment-2078 Hi, Thanks very much for your guidance. I'll try to replicate your advices for a Team Dev environment working on SP 2010. Can you please help me to clarify this part. You used a single SQL Server 2008 shared by N dev VMs. Which means there will be N instances in the SQL Server (1 per VM). Can you please confirm? Also, besides the fact that this saves some resources, what is the advantage of this approach compared to having a local SQL Server in each dev VM? Thanks in advance for any help. Hi,

Thanks very much for your guidance. I’ll try to replicate your advices for a Team Dev environment working on SP 2010. Can you please help me to clarify this part.

You used a single SQL Server 2008 shared by N dev VMs. Which means there will be N instances in the SQL Server (1 per VM). Can you please confirm?

Also, besides the fact that this saves some resources, what is the advantage of this approach compared to having a local SQL Server in each dev VM?

Thanks in advance for any help.

]]> By: Top SharePoint articles for the week | Whats The Point Of Sharing? http://sharepoint.inproc.com/building-a-sharepoint-development-farm/comment-page-1/#comment-527 Top SharePoint articles for the week | Whats The Point Of Sharing? Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:23:34 +0000 http://sharepoint.inproc.com/?p=51#comment-527 [...] Building a SharePoint Development Farm: This has some really good information, more in depth than most of the other blog posts that I have read, about how to build a farm. [...] [...] Building a SharePoint Development Farm: This has some really good information, more in depth than most of the other blog posts that I have read, about how to build a farm. [...]

]]> By: Jamar Wright http://sharepoint.inproc.com/building-a-sharepoint-development-farm/comment-page-1/#comment-518 Jamar Wright Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:53:31 +0000 http://sharepoint.inproc.com/?p=51#comment-518 Tom this is a great post. I have a server...desktop in the basement that is running Hyper V. So far it is working great. I also use System Center VMM. What issues were you having with it as far as cloning VMs? Also on the cloning part is it correct that you are installing SharePoint, Sysprepping and then when you create a VM from this machine you just run join the domain and run configuration wizard? I have never tried installing SharePoint before Sysprep and was wondering if that was working without issues. Just last week I was looking at the cost to build another server and we have some of the same parts selected. Can I borrow 5 dollars? I can't afford that RAM or those hard drives. haha I have to wait for the 4 GB sticks to drop in price. Tom this is a great post. I have a server…desktop in the basement that is running Hyper V. So far it is working great. I also use System Center VMM. What issues were you having with it as far as cloning VMs? Also on the cloning part is it correct that you are installing SharePoint, Sysprepping and then when you create a VM from this machine you just run join the domain and run configuration wizard? I have never tried installing SharePoint before Sysprep and was wondering if that was working without issues.

Just last week I was looking at the cost to build another server and we have some of the same parts selected. Can I borrow 5 dollars? I can’t afford that RAM or those hard drives. haha I have to wait for the 4 GB sticks to drop in price.

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