You can create, edit, and delete DB and App VMs at any time. However, if you want to plan for the overall configuration of the system, make these decisions:
Determine if VMs have already been created on the system.
The MiniCluster installation process automatically prompts the installer to create VMs.
DB VMs – See View the DB VM Group and VMs (BUI).
App VMs – See View App VM Groups and VMs (BUI).
Determine the number of DB VMs and App VMs to create, keeping these points in mind:
Total VMs – You can create a maximum of 12 VMs on each node (24 total).
Number of DB VMs – You can configure a maximum of 4 DB VMs on each node (8 total).
Number of App VMs – The maximum number of App VMs per node is 12 minus the number of DB VMs you plan to have.
For example, if you create 4 DB VMs on each node, you can therefore create a total of eight App VMs per node. Another example is to create a 1 DB VM on each node, therefore creating a total of 11 App VMs per node.
As you create VMs, MCMU keeps track of used resources and only enables you to create VMs and assign cores that are available. You do not need to plan to use all the resources at one time. If resources are available, you can add more VMs later.
Determine how the VMs will be grouped.
VMs in a group share certain resources such as database installations, shared storage, and so on. For further details, see DB VM Group Parameters and App VM Group Parameters.
DB VMs – All the DB VMs are automatically created in one DB VM group, and only one group is supported.
App VMs – You can include one or two (one on each node) App VMs in a group. You can have as many App VM groups as there are resources to support them.
Determine the details for each VM.
Details include things like number of cores, host names, database versions, instance configurations, and more. For a list of configuration details, review these planning worksheets:
DB VMs – See DB VM Planning Worksheets (Optional).
App VMs – See App VM Planning Worksheets (Optional).