whats new vmware vcenter server 50 technical whitepaper

8/4/2019 Whats New VMware vCenter Server 50 Technical Whitepaper

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/whats-new-vmware-vcenter-server-50-technical-whitepaper 1/11

What’s New inVMware vCenter ™ 5.0

EectiveVirtualizationManagement

T E C H N I C A L M A R K E T I N G D O C U M E N T AT I O N

v 1 . 0 / U p D A T E D A p R I L 2 0 1 1



What’s New in VMware vCenter 5.0

T E C H N I C A L W H I T E p A p E R / 2

Table of Contents

Introduction 3vSphere Web Client 4

Web Client Capabilities 4

Web Client Technology 6

VMware vCenter Server Appliance 8

Overview 8

Enhanced VMware vCenter Server Availability 10

Enhanced VMware vCenter Server Architecture 10

VMware vCenter Client Integration 11

Application Support 11

Summary 11





IntroductionVirtualization is changing the way business is perormed. With the advent o new and enhanced technologies or

use in virtualized environments, customers are now able to achieve levels o eciency and utilization unheard oin years past. Large-scale environments, such as with cloud-based services, now push the scope o managed

objects to ever-increasing levels. To continue down this road, IT proessionals must have a comprehensive

virtualization management solution.

As a leader in datacenter virtualization and virtualization management, VMware understands these needs. With

the release o VMware vSphere™ 5.0 (“vSphere”), the ollowing new capabilities and technologies are among

those being added to the vSphere platorm to provide enhanced virtualization management:

•vSphereWebClient

•VMwarevCenter™ServerAppliance

•EnhancedVMwarevCenterServeravailability

This paper discusses the enhancements that VMware has provided in these three areas and the associated benets.





vSphere Web ClientHow an administrator interacts with their environment has a great impact on their efectiveness in managing the

environment. With the prolieration o virtualization and cloud-based technologies, the ollowing criticalrequirements are among those that rise to the surace or a management tool that enables the administrator:

•Theabilitytoworkwithinaheterogeneousenvironment

•Aexibleandextensiblefoundationtoenablecustomization

•Readyaccesstoinformation

•Theabilitytomanageahighnumberofobjectsacrossgeographicallyseparateddatacenters

To meet these requirements and to provide a sustainable user interace model in the uture, VMware developed

thevSphereWebClient.

Initsinitialrelease,thevSphereWebClientprovidesaWebinterfacereplacement.Futurereleaseswillbuild

upon this support, eventually becoming the primary client platorm.

vSphere Web Client Capabilities

Outofthebox,thevSphereWebClientprovidesnumerousfeaturesandfunctionalitythatempoweradministrators

toeectivelymanagelarge-scaledistributedenvironments.Thefollowingcoversafewofitskeyfeatures.

GUI Customization

Most user interaces are static in design and attempt to display all the inormation that every user might want.

The problem is that not everyone uses a GUI or the same purposes. In a vSphere environment, there might be

administratorswhoareprimarilytaskedwithmanaginginfrastructureservices,suchasstorageornetworks.In

contrast, there are other administrators who are primarily concerned with the management o virtual machines.

Both types o administrators oten are bombarded by inormation that is not needed by them in the

performanceoftheirdailytasks.

ThevSphereWebClientaddressesthisproblembyenablingtheusertocustomizetheirvisualizationoftheuser

interace in a way that best suits them. It is possible to move inormation presented by the user interace to a

dierentlocationortoeliminateitalltogether.ThevSphereWebClientalsoutilizesaprogressiveinclusion

model or displaying inormation. Applicable inormation will be displayed only as requested by the user instead

o orcing the user to see all the inormation up ront.





Inthisway,thevSphereWebClientprovidestheexibilityforuserstoutilizeasingletoolinamannerthatmakes

them most ecient.

Figure 1. RepositioningUIComponents

Common Task Access

Administratorstendtoperformrepetitivetasksundernormalcircumstances.Beingabletoquicklyperform

thesetaskshelpstoreducefrustrationandimprovesproductivity.ThevSphereWebClientprovidesacontext-

sensitiveareawherethemostcommontaskscanquicklyandeasilybeperformed.

Figure 2.QuickAccesstoCommonTasks

Interrupt-Driven Workfows

Performingataskinalinearfashionisnotalwayspossible.Peopleoftengetinterruptedorsidetrackedwith

more pressing matters or to get some inormation needed to complete the operation. Standard user interaces

requirethatauserquitthetasktheyareperformingandrestartitfromthebeginningwhentheycancomeback

toit.ThisisnotthecasewiththevSphereWebClient.





ThevSphereWebClientaddssupportforinterrupt-drivenworkloads.Thisagilemanagementfeatureenables

administratorstostartatask,pauseiftheygetinterrupted,andreturntoexactlythepointwheretheywere

when they stopped.

Figure 3.Interrupt-DrivenWorkfows

Extensibility

Many third-party vendors provide useul tools and unctionality that complement the capabilities o the vSphere

WebClient.Thisisofgreatbenettotheadministratorbecauseitoersthemtheabilitytoperformamultitude

o actions under a single pane o glass.

ThevSphereWebClientmakesextendingitsfunctionalityeasierthaneverbefore.Practicallyeverythingthata

user can interact with in the user interace can be added to or modied. A rich set o documentation providesdeveloperswiththeinformationneededtoquicklydevelopnewextensionsandfunctionality.

vSphere Web Client Technology

ThefeaturesandfunctionalityofthevSphereWebClientwouldn’tbepossiblewithoutarobustenginecapable

ofprovidingthescaleandexibilityrequired.Thecomponentsofthisrevolutionaryenginearediscussedinthe

ollowing paragraphs.

Architecture

ThevSphereWebClientusesthefollowingstandardthree-tiermodelofoperation:

•vSphereWebClient

ThevSphereWebClientrunsasanAdobeFlex–basedapplicationwithinasupportedWebbrowser.Current

browserssupportedincludeInternetExplorer,onMicrosoftWindows–basedoperatingsystems,andFirefox,onbothWindowsandLinux-basedoperatingsystems.Abrowserplug-inisalsoprovided,whichenablesthe

utilization o a console into the virtual machine.

This empowers any user with a Web-enabled system to manage the environment and decreases the burden on

administrators to manage the deployment o the client sotware to individual systems.





•Applicationserver

The application server is based on the SpringSource dm Server, a completely module-based Java application

server designed to run enterprise Java applications and Spring-powered applications with a high degree o

exibilityandreliability.InsupportofthevSphereWebClient,theapplicationserverprovidesanOpenServicesGatewayInitiative(OSGi)containerandvariousservicesthatenablescalabilityandextensibilityby

third-party vendors.

•VMwarevCenterServerandassociatedservices

VMwarevCenterServeractsastheinformationsourceforthevSphereWebClient.Aninventoryserviceisfed

livedatafromthecoreVMwarevCenterServerprocessandtransmitsthattotheapplicationserverasrequired.

The vSphere Web

Client runs within

a browser.

The application server

provides a scalable

back end.

Flex Client

Back End

The VMware vCenter

Server is in either

single or linked

mode operation.

VMware

vCenter

Server

Figure 4. vSphereWebClientArchitecture

DeploymentandManagement

DeploymentofthevSphereWebClientfortraditionalVMwarevCenterServerenvironmentsdeployed

onWindowsrequirestheinstallationofthevSphereWebClientserverbinaries.ForVMwarevCenter

Server Appliance environments, the components are already installed. The user simply must start the

appropriate service.

DeploymentofthevSphereWebClientinyourenvironmentrequirestheinstallationoftheVMwarevCenter

WebClientserverpackageonahost.TheVMwarevCenterServerAppliancecomesbundledwiththevSphere

WebClientserver,simplyrequiringthattheservicebeenabled.

Oncedeployed,eachVMwarevCenterServerinstancetobeusedwiththevSphereWebClientisregistered

throughaWeb-basedvSphereWebClientadministrationapplicationpageaccessiblefromthehostwherethe

vSphereWebClientserverpackagesarerunning.Nofurthermanagementisrequired.

UpgradeswillconsistofremovalofthevSphereWebClientserverbinariesandtheinstallationofthenewpackages.

UsingthevSphereWebClient,ITdepartmentsmustbeconcernedonlyaboutupdatingasinglesysteminstead

o pushing out new sotware to every user o the client. This signicantly decreases the overhead and

management costs typically associated with such sotware deployments.





VMware vCenter Server ApplianceThevSphereWebClientisonlyonecomponentneededtomanageavirtualizedenvironment.Theotherpieceof

thepuzzleisVMwarevCenterServer.

VMwarecustomershaveexpressedadesiretoenhancethepatchingandupgradeprocessofVMwarevCenter

Server as well as to reduce the costs associated with deploying it within a Windows-based environment.

Toaddresstheseneeds,VMwareisintroducingtheVMwarevCenterServerAppliancewithvSphere5.0.Withit,

customers can simpliy deployment and conguration, streamline their patching and upgrade process, and

reducetheirTCOforVMwarevCenterServer.Thisenablescompaniestorespondtobusinessneedsfaster.

Overview

TheVMwarevCenterServerAppliance(VCSA)consistsofaprepackaged64-bitSUSELinuxEnterpriseServer11

virtualmachinethathostsaVMwarevCenterServerinstance.BynotrelyingonaWindows-basedOS,

customerscaneliminatethelicensingcoststypicallyassociatedwithrunningVMwarevCenterServer.

VMwareVCSAisdistributedasacompressed.vmxorasan.ovflewithsparsedisksthatdecreasestheoverallsizeoftheappliancetoamere3.6GB.Deployingthe.ovfleissimple.Ittypicallytakesonlyabout5minutes.

Oncedeployed,VMwareVCSArunslikeanyothervirtualmachineintheenvironment.

AWeb-baseduserinterfaceprovidesaconvenientmeanstocongureallaspectsofaVMwareVCSAinstance,

including the ollowing ones:

•Services–Itprovidesameanstocongureservicessuchassyslog,netdump,AutoDeploy,andthevSphereWebClient.

•Authentication–ItenablesthecongurationofauthenticationservicesthroughMicrosoftActiveDirectoryorNIS.

•Network–CongurationofIPv4networkingsettings,includingproxies,canbeperformed.

•System–Aspectssuchasthetimezonecanbecongured.

•Upgrades–UpgradessimplyconsistofdeployinganewVMwarevCenterServerAppliance.Built-inconguration

migration utilities are provided to securely import conguration data rom a previous installation.

Figure 5. VMwarevCenterServerApplianceAdministrativeInterace





TheVMwarevCenterServerAppliancerequiresadatabasetostoreallitsrequiredinformation.TheVMware

VCSAispackagedwithanembeddeddatabasethatsupportsuptovehostsand50virtualmachines.When

deployingVMwareVCSAinlargerenvironments,itsupportsconnectingtoanexternalOracledatabase.

Conguredwithanexternaldatabase,itcansupport300hostsand3,00064-bitvirtualmachines.Thesehost

requirementlimitsareconsistentwithVMwarevCenterServer.

AftertheVMwarevCenterServerAppliancehasbeendeployedandcongured,itperformsexactlyliketheWindows-

basedversionofVMwarevCenterServer,withtheexceptionthatLinkedModeisnotcurrentlysupported.

BesidesprovidingsupportforvSphere5.0,VMwareVCSAisabletomanagevSphere4.0and4.1hosts.This

exibilityprovidesadministratorswiththeoptiontouseitintheseenvironmentsuntiltheyareabletoupgrade.

Becauseitisanappliance,VMwareVCSAalsoinheritsallthebenetsofbeingvirtualized.Thisentailstheability

toleveragevSphere®HighAvailability(vSphereHA)forhighavailabilityandsnapshots,foraneasybackup-and-

recoveryoption.ItalsomeansthatVMwareVCSAiscompletelyself-contained,sothereisnoneedtologinand

manage the appliance. This represents a signicant reduction in management responsibilities or an administrator.



T E C H N I C A L W H I T E p A p E R / 1 0


Enhanced VMware vCenter Server AvailabilityBeingtheprimarymanagementpointofaVMwareenvironment,theavailabilityofVMwarevCenterServeris

criticalwhenconstructingahighlyavailableenvironment.ForcustomerswhochoosetodeployVMwarevCenterServeronphysicalWindowshosts,providingavailabilityisthefunctionofVMwarevCenterServerHeartbeat.

WiththereleaseofVMwarevCenterServerHeartbeat6.4,severalenhancementshavebeenincorporated.

These include an enhanced architecture to improve accessibility o the secondary server and integration with the

VMwarevCenterclientformanagement.

EnhancedVMwarevCenterServerArchitecture

VMwarevCenterServerHeartbeat6.4providesanenhancedarchitecturethatenablesboththeactiveand

passive servers to be represented as unique entities within Microsot Active Directory. This enables the

assignmentofauniqueIPaddresstobothservers,makingthemaccessiblethroughthenetworkatalltimes.

With both servers readily accessible, administrators can easily perorm maintenance actions such as patching or

upgrades on either server at any time.

Inthisnewarchitecture,theVMwarevCenterServerinstancewillbeassociatedwithavirtualIPaddress.Whena

failoverisrequired,thisvirtualIPaddressfollowstheactiveVMwarevCenterServerinstance.Bydoingso,users

mustbeawareonlyofasolitaryaddresstoconnectto,butthisenablesgreaterexibilityinperforming

maintenance operations.

VCENTER.VMWARE.COM

PRIMARY SERVER

SERVER1.VMWARE.COM

SECONDARY SERVER

HEARTBEAT

CHANNEL

WAN

LAN

MONITORING

REPLICATION

FAILOVER

SWITCHBACK

Data

OS

SERVER2.VMWARE.COM

VMware

vCenter Server

Data

OS

VMware

vCenter Heartbeat

VMware

vCenter Server

VMware

vCenter Heartbeat

Figure 6. ArchitectureoVMwarevCenterHeartbeat

MaintenanceactionscannowbeperformedwithminimaldowntimefortheVMwarevCenterServerinstance.

Patches can be applied to the passive host through its unique IP without afecting the active host. The VMware

vCenterServerinstancecanthenbefailedoverfromtheactiveservertothepassiveserverinpreparationfor

patching the active server. In the event that the maintenance activity causes an issue with a host, administrators

cansimplyfailtheVMwarevCenterServerinstancebacktotheotherhostuntiltheproblemisrectied.




VMwarevCenterClientIntegration

WiththereleaseofVMwarevSphere5.0andVMwarevCenterServerHeartbeat6.4,administratorscanleverage

theVMwarevCenterServerclientasasinglepaneofglassforVMwarevCenterServerHeartbeatoperations.

AnewvSphereClientplug-inprovidesadministratorswiththeabilitytomonitorandperformmanagementfunctionsrightfromtheclient.VMwarevCenterServerHeartbeatoperationaltasksandalarmsarenow

registeredwithVMwarevCenterServer.ThisenablesuserstoviewthisinformationdirectlyfromtheVMware

vCenterClient.

Application Support

InadditiontoprovidingavailabilityforVMwarevCenterServer5.0,VMwarevCenterHeartbeatalsonow

providesfortheavailabilityofVMwareViewComposerandMicrosoftSQLServer2008R2.ThisenablesVMware

vCenterHeartbeattoprotectothercriticalVMwareservicessuchasVMwareView™aswellastheSQLdatabase

providingsupportforVMwarevCenterServer.

SummaryThe VMware commitment to ensuring ease o deployment, increased availability, and ease o use has brought

signicant enhancements to vSphere 5.0. These enhancements provide the tools and services that

administrators need to efectively manage a business-ocused virtualized computing environment.

Administratorsoftheseenvironmentscanresteasywiththeknowledgethatastheycontinuetogrowand

develop their inrastructure, they have tools that will grow with them.

vMware, Inc.HillviewAvenuePaloAltoCA9USATel77-6-927Fax65-27-5wwwvmwarecom

Copyright©2VMware,IncAllrightsreservedThisproductisprotectedbyUSandinternationalcopyrightandintellectualpropertylawsVMwareproductsarecoveredbyoneormorepatentslistedat

http://wwwvmwarecom/go/patentsVMwareisaregisteredtrademarkortrademarkofVMware,IncintheUnitedStatesand/orotherjurisdictionsAllothermarksandnamesmentionedhereinmaybe

trademarks of their respective companies Item No: VMW-WP-vCNTR-5--USLET-

whats new vmware vcenter server 50 technical whitepaper

Documents