Exploring Sample Virtualized SharePoint 2010 Architecture

There are many ways to deploy SharePoint 2010 in a virtualized environment. However, some designs are more widespread than others and reflect common needs across many organizations. For example, high availability is becoming a must for the critical document management and collaboration functionality in SharePoint. All the new high-availability options in SharePoint 2010 are available for virtual environments and can actually be easier to deploy because of the flexibility that virtualization provides.

Figure 1 illustrates a small virtualized SharePoint 2010 environment with all components running on a single virtual host. This type of deployment doesn’t have any built-in high availability or disaster recovery, but it’s the simplest environment to set up, and it can still take advantage of virtualization benefits and scalability. Table 1 shows sample server specifications for an environment of this size. These specifications assume 500 active users in the environment.

Figure 1. Conceptualizing a small virtualized SharePoint farm.

Table 1. Small Virtual SharePoint Environment Deployment Specifications

Server	Memory	Processors	Disk
Virtual host	24GB RAM	2 quad-core (8 cores)	C: drive—OS, Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V, 50GB dedicated volume D: drive—Dedicated volume for OS VHDs E: drive—500GB dedicated volume for SQL Server database VHDs F: drive—100GB dedicated volume for SQL Server log VHDs
SQL Server server	12GB RAM	4 virtual processors	C: drive—OS, fixed-size VHD (100GB) D: drive—Fixed-size VHD (100GB) for the SQL Server logs E: drive—Fixed-size VHD (500GB) for the SQL Server data
SharePoint web/query/app	10GB RAM	4 virtual processors	C: drive—OS and transport queue logs, fixed-size VHD (100GB) E: drive—Fixed-size VHD (100GB) for indexing and querying

The next design, illustrated in Figure 2, provides a virtualization architecture that provides a high level of availability, disaster tolerance, and scalability for an environment with 2,000 active users. The entire SharePoint environment is deployed across two virtual hosts, which provides for high availability of the environment. SQL Server databases are mirrored from one virtual guest to another, and a third SQL witness server monitors the SQL principal server, providing for automatic failover in the event the virtual host or virtual guest fails.

Figure 2. Conceptualizing a medium-sized SharePoint farm.

These high-availability and disaster-recovery options are possible without the need for shared storage, a SAN, or host availability solutions. Table 2 lists the sample virtual host and guest architecture guidelines for the solution in Figure 2.

Table 2. Medium-Sized Virtual SharePoint Environment Deployment Specifications

Server	Memory	Processor	Disk
Virtual hosts	48GB RAM	2 quad-core (8 cores)	C: drive—OS, Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V, 50GB dedicated logical unit number (LUN) D: drive—Dedicated LUN for VHDs Raw volume—100GB dedicated LUN for SQL Server logs Raw volume—2TB dedicated LUN for SQL Server databases
SQL Server servers	16GB RAM	4 virtual processors	C: drive—OS, fixed-size VHD (50GB) D: drive—Pass-through dedicated LUN (100GB) for SQL Server logs E: drive—Pass-through dedicated LUN (2TB) for SQL Server data
SharePoint web and service application servers	12GB RAM	2 virtual processors	C: drive—OS, fixed-size VHD (100GB)
SharePoint search/query servers	12GB RAM	2 virtual processors	C: drive—OS, fixed-size VHD (100GB) D: drive—Fixed-size VHD (200GB) for indexing and querying
SQL witness server	2GB RAM	1 virtual processor	C: drive—OS, fixed-size VHD (50GB)

Virtualization technologies allow for a high degree of scalability and aren’t limited to small and mid-sized organizations. For example, the architecture that Figure 3 shows allows for tens of thousands of SharePoint users, full disaster tolerance, and high availability, all with the high performance expected from SharePoint. In this particular model, multiple SQL Server machines are used for the various SharePoint databases, with one used for content databases, one for service application databases, and one for the search databases. Server groups are created for different SharePoint server roles, and the web tier is broken into two components: one for users and another for crawl and administration. In this example, host-based failover solutions such as Hyper-V Live Migration could also conceivably provide for failover of individual guest sessions between failed hosts.

Figure 3. Conceptualizing a large virtualized SharePoint 2010 environment.

These three samples illustrate some of the potential design options available for a virtual SharePoint environment. Every environment is unique, and specifics will vary based on business and technology needs. However, you can use these sample architectures as a starting point for developing a high-performance virtualized SharePoint 2010 environment.