Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) — Design & Implementation

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Team project — contributor: Mohammed Mahyoub. See the documented scope below.

A working software-defined data center, built on physical hardware. Compute, storage and networking are all virtualised. On top of that platform run four production-style services:

• an Active Directory domain;
• Citrix application delivery;
• a web server;
• Exchange e-mail.

Every layer was installed, configured and tested end to end. The design follows the SDDC model: workloads run on logically defined resources, abstracted from the underlying hardware.

Team project covering design, implementation, configuration, testing and technical documentation.

Stack: VMware ESXi 5.5 · vSphere Client · FreeNAS 11 (ZFS) · iSCSI · vSwitch / NIC teaming · Windows Server 2008 R2 · Active Directory / DNS / DHCP · Citrix XenApp 6.5 · AppServ (Apache 2.2, PHP 5, MySQL 5.1, phpMyAdmin) · Exchange Server 2013

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Contents

1. Repository layout
2. Architecture
3. Hardware
4. Storage virtualisation — FreeNAS over iSCSI
5. Compute virtualisation — ESXi 5.5 and vSphere
6. Network virtualisation — vSwitch and NIC teaming
7. Application virtualisation — Citrix XenApp 6.5
8. Web server — AppServ (Apache, PHP, MySQL)
9. E-mail server — Exchange Server 2013
10. Results
11. Technical background

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Repository layout

sddc-lab-implementation/
├── README.md                        ← this document
├── config/
│   ├── freenas/iscsi-setup.md       ← iSCSI configuration order (portal → initiators → CHAP → target → extent → LUN)
│   ├── apache/httpd.conf.changes    ← Apache changes on the web-server VM
│   ├── php/php.ini.changes          ← PHP settings
│   └── exchange/mailbox-admin.ps1   ← Exchange Management Shell commands used
└── docs/images/                     ← screenshots from the implementation

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Architecture

 FreeNAS 11 storage server (ZFS, iSCSI LUN) ──┐
 Management laptop (vSphere Client) ──────────┼── 8-port switch ── VMware ESXi 5.5 host
 Wi-Fi access point (clients) ────────────────┘                     │
                                                                    ├─ VM1  Domain controller: AD, DNS, DHCP
                                                                    ├─ VM2  Cloud server: Citrix XenApp 6.5
                                                                    ├─ VM3  Web server: AppServ (Apache, PHP, MySQL)
                                                                    └─ VM4  E-mail server: Exchange 2013

Layer	Implementation
Compute virtualisation	VMware ESXi 5.5 (type-1 hypervisor), managed with vSphere Client
Storage virtualisation	FreeNAS 11 on a dedicated server, presented to ESXi over iSCSI as shared block storage
Network virtualisation	ESXi standard vSwitch with network labels, optional VLAN IDs and NIC teaming (active / standby)
Physical network	8-port switch and a Wi-Fi access point on one LAN

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Hardware

Role	Hardware	OS / software
Virtualisation host	Intel Core i7-3720QM (8 threads, 2.6 GHz), 20 GB DDR3, 500 GB SATA	VMware ESXi 5.5
Storage server	AMD Opteron 2220 SE (2.8 GHz), 16 GB DDR3, 2 × 73 GB 15k rpm SAS + 160 GB SATA	FreeNAS 11
Management / client	Intel Core i3-2350M, 6 GB DDR3, 128 GB SSD	Windows 7 x64, vSphere Client, Citrix Receiver
Network	TP-Link TL-SF1008D 8-port switch, TP-Link TL-WR841ND access point	—

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1 · Storage virtualisation — FreeNAS over iSCSI

The storage server runs FreeNAS 11 and turns its disks into a ZFS volume. That volume is exported as an iSCSI LUN, which the ESXi host uses as shared, SAN-style block storage over the existing Ethernet network.

1. Volume Manager: built the ZFS volume from the SAS and SATA disks.
2. iSCSI target global configuration: set the base name and global options.
3. Portal: the IP address and port the target listens on.
4. Initiators: authorised the ESXi host and its network.
5. Authorized access: set up CHAP and mutual CHAP.
6. Target: created the target and linked the portal and initiator groups to it.
7. Extent: added a device extent to back the LUN.
8. Target–extent association: linked the target to the extent, which forms the LUN.
9. Service: started the iSCSI service and added the LUN on ESXi as a datastore.

Full order and settings: config/freenas/iscsi-setup.md

_{Volume Manager · iSCSI portal and initiators · target–extent association}

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2 · Compute virtualisation — ESXi 5.5 and vSphere

1. Install. Installed ESXi 5.5 on the host from the ISO.

2. Management network (DCUI). Set a static IP address, subnet and gateway, the primary and alternate DNS servers, and the hostname ESX1.

3. Connect. Connected to the host from the management laptop with vSphere Client.

4. Build the VMs. Created the four VMs, setting for each:

   • the guest OS;
   • the vCPU count and memory;
   • the disk, choosing thick or thin provisioning;
   • a virtual NIC on the VM network.

   Each VM's OS was installed from an ISO image uploaded to the datastore.

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3 · Network virtualisation — vSwitch and NIC teaming

• vSwitch. Created a standard vSwitch for virtual-machine traffic (vSphere Client → Configuration → Networking → Add Networking → Virtual Machine). It has its own network label and an optional VLAN ID; the default is none (0).
• NIC teaming. Added a second physical adapter to the vSwitch. One uplink was set to active and the other moved down to standby, so traffic fails over if the active link drops.

_{Standard vSwitch on the host · NIC teaming with one active and one standby adapter}

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4 · Application virtualisation — Citrix XenApp 6.5

The cloud-server VM delivers Windows applications that run centrally on the server, so client devices do not need them installed.

1. Install. Installed the XenApp server role with XenApp Management, so the server acts as both controller and session host.
2. Configure:
   • pointed the server at the license server and confirmed the connection;
   • created a new server farm;
   • used an existing Microsoft SQL Server database as the farm data store, with service-account credentials, and tested the connection;
   • left the XML Service on port 80;
   • set up the Receiver / Web Interface options and Remote Desktop Users.
3. Publish. In Citrix AppCenter, published an application (Notepad, from C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe) to the farm's servers. Domain users TU1 and TU2 were given access to it.
4. Client access. Installed Citrix Receiver Enterprise on the client and allowed the ActiveX add-on. Then signed in through the XenApp web interface as TU2 and launched the published application.

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5 · Web server — AppServ (Apache, PHP, MySQL)

1. Layout. Created C:\dev\progs\ for the binaries and C:\dev\www\ as the web root. Updated the hosts file so localhost resolves to 127.0.0.1.
2. Apache 2.2:
   • set the server name and administrator e-mail;
   • enabled mod_rewrite;
   • moved DocumentRoot to C:/dev/www with AllowOverride All;
   • added index.php to DirectoryIndex and registered the PHP handler.
3. PHP 5:
   • installed as an Apache module;
   • raised the memory, post and upload limits;
   • enabled error display for development;
   • set the time zone.
4. MySQL 5.1:
   • ran the detailed instance configuration with TCP/IP on port 3306 and a firewall exception;
   • enabled strict mode and multilingual (UTF-8) character sets;
   • installed it as a Windows service.
5. phpMyAdmin for database administration. The site was deployed to C:\dev\www\sanaa\ and served at http://localhost/sanaa.

# httpd.conf — key changes (full list: config/apache/httpd.conf.changes)
LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so
DocumentRoot "C:/dev/www"
<Directory "C:/dev/www">
    Options Includes Indexes FollowSymLinks MultiViews
    AllowOverride All
</Directory>
DirectoryIndex index.html index.htm index.php
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
PHPIniDir "C:/dev/progs/PHP/"
LoadModule php5_module "C:/dev/progs/PHP/php5apache2_2.dll"

; php.ini — key changes (config/php/php.ini.changes)
memory_limit = 512M
post_max_size = 100M
upload_max_filesize = 2000M
display_errors = On

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6 · E-mail server — Exchange Server 2013

Exchange 2013 was installed on the Active Directory domain hosted by VM1. It is administered through the Exchange Admin Center (https://<server>/ecp), and users reach their mail through OWA (https://<server>/owa).

• Mailbox database. Moved the database file to a dedicated disk with Move-DatabasePath.
• Mailboxes:
  • user mailboxes created through the EAC;
  • bulk-enabled for a whole OU from the Exchange Management Shell;
  • delegation set up (Send As / Send on Behalf).
• Groups and recipients:
  • distribution, security and dynamic groups;
  • room and equipment resource mailboxes;
  • mail contacts for external addresses;
  • a shared company mailbox.
• Mail flow:
  • send and receive connectors;
  • accepted domains and e-mail address policies;
  • transport rules (message size limits);
  • delivery reports.
• Policies. OWA / Outlook Web App policies, controlling feature access, file access and offline access.

# config/exchange/mailbox-admin.ps1
Move-DatabasePath -Identity "Mailbox Database 0252873693" `
                  -EdbFilePath "J:\exdb\Mailbox Database 0252873693.edb"

Get-User -OrganizationalUnit "<OU>" |
    Where-Object { $_.RecipientType -eq "User" } |
    Enable-Mailbox -Database "<Database>"

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Results

• Storage: a FreeNAS iSCSI LUN served as shared block storage for the ESXi host over standard Ethernet, with CHAP authentication.
• Compute: a single ESXi 5.5 host ran four server VMs, all managed centrally from vSphere Client.
• Network: the vSwitch's NIC teaming gave the VM network a standby uplink.
• Applications: a published application was delivered through Citrix XenApp to a domain user on a client device.
• Web and mail:
  • the web server served the PHP/MySQL site;
  • Exchange provided domain e-mail, groups, resource mailboxes and controlled mail flow.

Technical background

The documentation also covers the concepts behind the implementation:

• SDDC: architecture, cloud management and multi-tenant trust boundaries.
• Storage networking: DAS, NAS and SAN; SCSI, Fibre Channel, FCIP and IP SAN; storage virtualisation.
• Network virtualisation: how it compares with SDN, and the role of hypervisors.
• Virtualisation and cloud computing: service and deployment models.
• Mail and web servers: SMTP, POP3 and IMAP.

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Author: Mohammed Mahyoub · Portfolio · LinkedIn · ORCID