Adding Resources to an ALB Service Engine

[Kable991]

Hello,
I have a need to add resources to my Service Engine ( CPU, RAM, Disk ) which is in production.

I haven't found much on the net, can you help me out? I wanted to give as little disruption as possible.

Thank you so much,
Fabio

[Sulaiman Lodewyk]

Hi

Currently the only way to increase the Resources requires that a new Service Engine be created.

Process, would be to update the resource allocations in the SE Group and then to migrate one of the VS to a new Service Engine which will be deployed with the new resource Allocation. Once you have the new SE you can easily migrate all the VS to the new SE and delete the old SE.

Sulaiman

[Domenico Montanaro]

Hi Kable991,

If you have you have AVI console linked with your vCenter you can resize the Service Engine using the AVI console under the Service Engine Group section, in this case you must have an enterprise license.

If you don't have AVI console linked with your vCenter you can't orchestrate it automatically and you need to do it manually. You must shut down the Service Engine appliance, resize the resources as needed thorough vCenter and power on it again. 

Here some useful doc links about SE resources best practice:
https://avinetworks.com/docs/latest/se-memory-consumption/
https://avinetworks.com/docs/latest/sizing-service-engines/
https://avinetworks.com/docs/latest/service-engine-group/

Best.

 

[Sulaiman Lodewyk]

Hi Domesenn_

From my understanding and engagement with Support, there is no currently supported way to update an existing Service Engine. A new will need to be created after the resource allocation is updated on the SE Group.

Is manually updating the Service Engine resources supported as I have asked this before as well and it was mentioned as it is not supported method.

Migrating to a new Service Engine will be less disruptive as updating via vCenter will require downtime.

Sulaiman

[Domenico Montanaro]

Hi Sulaiman,

My answer is based on field experience, this two options was suggested (as best practice) and approved from our internal VMware ALB Architects and PSOs. I saw used both of them in many of my costumers without any problem or disruption. Remember: if you want add a SE you need available licenses to do it, if the customer dosn't has?

I hope that my experience can help the community.

Best.

[MoroniF]

Hi All,
thank you so much for your response.

I try to follow your suggest and in fact via AVI Console I discovered that I can manage this type of necessity.

Kudos to you.

Fabio

[Sulaiman Lodewyk]

Did the Service Engine resources Automatically scale to the new scpecifications?

[Sulaiman Lodewyk]

 were the resources to the Service Engine automatically increased when you updated the settings in the SE Group?