Making the Virtualization Decision

Agenda

• The Virtualization Umbrella

• Server Virtualization Architectures

• The Players

• Getting Started

What is Virtualization?

The act of abstracting the physical

boundaries of a technology.

Server Virtualizatio

nClustering

Network Virtualizatio

nStorage

Virtualization

The Virtualization Umbrella

Network Virtualization

Emerging Technology

Cisco (Network-Based)• The efficient utilization of network resources

through logical segmentation of a single physical network.

• Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE)

• Virtual Routing and Forwarding (VRF)

• Multi-protocol Label Switching (MPLS) VPNs

• Single Physical Network -- multiple closed logical groups

Network Virtualization

Sun Crossbow (Host-Based)

• Physical NIC divided into multiple virtual NICs

• Bandwidth resource control and virtualization

included in the network stack

• Bandwidth and priority dynamically assigned to

services (FTP, SMB, etc) or Virtual Machines

Storage Virtualization

Host-Based• RAID

Network-Based• In-band

Virtualization appliance resides directly in the data path

Commonly associated with SANs

• Cisco, IBM, EMC, Pillar

• Out-of-band

Virtualization appliance resides outside of the data path

• DFS, Global Namespace

In-band Virtualization

• Physical storage resources translated into

virtual resources

• Replication

• Data

Management

• Combined with server

virtualization

Production LAN

SRV1 SRV2 SRV3

Disk Array

FC Switch

SANDisk Array Disk Array

Virtualization ApplianceVirtualization Appliance

Distributed File Systems

Abstract the physical storage location from

the data path

DFS RootPublic

Marketing

Engineering

Sales

\\mercury\sales

\\venus\engineering

\\mars\marketing

Clustering

Applications run within virtual servers that

reside on one or more physical host systems.

Common Implementations:

• Failover Clusters

• Load Balanced Clusters

• Shared Data Clusters

Failover Clustering

Physical Node Physical

Node

Shared Storage

Switch(to public LAN)

Virtual Server

Server Virtualization

Host systems, such as servers are virtualized

Servers run as virtual machines

Virtual MachinesVM = Independent OS running on top of another OS

Host = System running the Virtualization software

Run several logical servers on one physical system• Decommission older, slower systems• Supports server consolidation

Managed exactly the same as physical systems

Emulates all system hardware• AMD and Intel are changing this

Why Virtualize?

Consolidate Physical Resources• Logical resources may remain the same!

Reduce Power Consumption

Streamline System Recovery

Optimize Resource Utilization

Testing and Development

Training

Server Virtualization Architectures

Host-Based Server Virtualization

• Commonly known as “Server Virtualization”

• VMware, Microsoft, Xen

OS Virtualization

• Swsoft Virtuozzo, Solaris Containers

Host-Based Server Virtualization

Virtual Machine Monitor

• Coordinates physical

hardware access between

VMs

Host OS/Hypervisor

• Communicates with VMM

• Runs server virtualization

application

Virtual Machine Monitor

Emulated Hardware

Host OS/Hypervisor

Device Drivers

System Hardware

Virtual Machine

Guest OSDevice Drivers

VM Components

• Virtual Hardware

• Includes RAM, CPU, motherboard and network

cards

• Virtual Storage

• Mapped to physical resource or exist

as virtual disk file

.vmx = configuration

.vmdk = virtual hard disk

Virtual Machine 2VM2.vmxSCSI0-0.vmdkSCSI0-1.vmdk

Virtual Machine 1Virtual Machine 1

Virtual Machine 2VM2.vmx

SCSI0-0.vmdkSCSI0-1.vmdk

Host-Based Architectures

• Full Virtualization• Everything emulated• Fully portable VMs• Large hit on network, disk I/O, added CPU overhead

• Paravirtualization• OS kernel modified to make it hypervisor-aware• Solves problem of CPU overhead

• Hardware-assisted Virtualization• Fueled by AMD and Intel• System hardware is aware of virtualization hypervisor

OS Virtualization

• Isolation provided at the process level

• OS caps placed on individual processes

and system resources

• Each instance is a “Virtual Environment”

(AKA Virtual Private Server or Container)

• No added OS overhead

(Memory, Disk per VM)

• No emulation = No I/O overhead

• Excellent track record in web serving

• Limited OS support, all VEs on 1 box must use the same OS

Virtual MachinesOS Virtualization Layer

Isolation Logic

Host OS

Device Drivers

System Hardware

Virtual Environment

Installed Applications

• VMware

• ESX Server, Virtual Infrastructure 3

• VMware Server

• Microsoft

• Windows Server Virtualization Service (coming in

Windows Server 2008)

• Virtual Server 2005

• Xen

• XenSource, Virtual Iron,

Novell, Red Hat

The Players -- Server Virtualization

The Players – OS Virtualization

• SWsoft• Virtuozzo

• Linux, Windows

• Sun• Solaris Containers

• HP• Virtual Server Environment (VSE)

• IBM• Virtual Partition Manager

Benefits• Power and Hardware Savings

• Logical Resource Consolidation

• Fewer physical boxes, same or more logical resources

• Potential for more single points of failure

• Server Portability

• Host hardware may not matter

• Limitations on pass-through device

access needed to ensure portability

• Application Failover

• Apps that do not natively support

clustering can failover as part of a VM

Challenges

• Server Selection

• Management

• Performance

• Network & Storage Integration

• Backup Complexity

Eliminating Servers

“I want to consolidate 15 to 1!”

“Let’s put the servers that start with A-G on

this box, H-S on this box…”

Management

• Centralized management, monitoring

• VM sprawl

• Centralized hypervisor management

• Still an OS… still needs updates!

• IHVs is developing tools to centrally manage

multiple different server virtualized Apps.

Performance

• Vastly improved with Hardware-assisted or

paravirtualization

• Consolidation introduces

potential for more bottlenecks• Host disk

• Host network

• Vendors improving this• Improvements from Intel and AMD

• Paravirtualized or synthetic device drivers

Network and Storage Integration

• Existing devices may not be supported

• Varies by vendor

• Some products don’t have ability to add third party

drivers

• Disk bottlenecks easy possibility

• Virtual switch management

• 802.1Q support?

• Who owns it?

Backup Complexity

• Host backup required for VM configuration files

• VM Backup• Agent based is still the safest

• Centralized backup on the rise

VMware VCB

Microsoft Shadow Copies

Limitations on both OS/application

• May not be enough host I/O (disk, network) to

support previous backup window

To Virtualize or Not To Virtualize

Many choices for many problems

• Storage

• Network

• Server

• Host

Virtualizing StorageMore efficient utilization of storage resources

Simplifies administration

Provides additional methods for data protection

Better Server virtualization flexibility

Considerations:• Integration with existing hardware platforms and operating

systems

• Integration with existing data protection/backup products

Virtualizing Servers

Average server 10-15% CPU utilization

Consolidating to VMs on few servers = Better

efficiency & less space

Client workstation provisioning

• VMware ACE

• Secure VPN-connected workstations

Summary

• Over Plan

• Ensure Infrastructure Compatibility

• Storage/SAN

• Network

• OS/application

• Backup

• Start Slow

• For mission critical applications, VM failover support is key

Questions?

Andrew Kutz

akutz@burtongroup.com