Applications of Virtualization & Automation Gary Kidney Director of Academic & Research Computing Rice University "Copyright Rice University 2009. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.
The Context Private Small (5,243 students) but growing Research University Houston
The Situation
Gartner Group Says: “In IT, virtualization will be the most significant trend through the next four years.” Gartner Group. (28 Mar 08). Special report: Virtualization. Available at: http://gartner.com/it/products/research/virtualization/virtualization.jsp?ref=3_28_08LR
3 Kinds of Virtualization Server or Machine Application User Experience
1. Server or Machine Virtualization
1. Server or Machine Virtualization 118 virtual servers on 37 physical servers. Average of 3.19 virtual servers per box. Running VMware Server, migrating to ESXi.
2. Application Virtualization
2. Application Virtualization Virtualized services on high performance computing with Red Hat Linux Advanced Platform and Zen Login & authentication services Application failover Global storage Guest operating system (coming soon). Virtualized Web spaces for students and clubs Enterprise storage Apache Plone Web.rice.edu, wikis, & blogs (coming soon)
3. User Experience Virtualization
3. User Experience Virtualization Applications running in high performance computing condo Altiris Endpoint Virtualization Service Divide & conquer Ease of administration Adding those last minute requests as virtual apps Looking at thin-client/blade-server architectures North Carolina State Virtual Computer Lab Vendor presentations from HP and Dell
Virtualization Benefits Reduces the quantity of physical servers needed. Saves on power and cooling. Reduces the costs of service, support, & (hopefully soon) software licensing. Enables quick, automated deployment. Provides economy of scale in system administration .
Automation “The IT worker was so busy reengineering and automating everyone else to prepare for the digital revolution, now … IT practices have some catching up to do.” Ramsay Millar as quoted in Reilley, D. (23 Oct 08). Closing the gap. Dr. Dobb’s Portal. Available at: http://www.ddj.com/architect/211201795
1. IT Accounts
2. Some IT Services Network Info Email Aliases Password Changes Printing Charges Storage Used Spam Settings
3. IT Alerts and Metrics
Future Automation New tools: Web.rice.edu Wikis Blogs Turn-key virtual servers Automation and integration of thin-client/blade-server architectures
Lessons Learned Increase the priority of IT’s internal automation projects Virtualization and automation merge into the Cloud Our efforts helped make the campus “greener” Virtualization and automation have both integration and management issues that must be addressed Software licensing is not easy in the virtualization world.
Questions Contact: Gary Kidney – gkidney@rice.edu