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Virtualization in the Datacenter Timothy Antonowicz Systems Engineer Bowdoin College

Spring Intel servers Projected growth for per year No R&D infrastructure Limited Datacenter resources Need for higher availability and fault tolerance for services

Problem Statement We need to find a solution to our space and resource problem.  Address Hardware and Physical limitations  Support our diverse systems environment  Provide best use of staff resources  Consolidate to better utilize server resources

Software Requirements Flexibility  Multiple OS support Management  Ease of Use  Rapid deployment Backup and Recovery Industry Standard

Software: VMWare ESX Server “Bare Metal Install”  Licensed per server, not per VM  Each VM assigned the same virtual hardware  VMs portable between different ESX servers Image and Deploy servers in minimal time Multiple Drive States  Use of “REDO” for changes VM is comprised of 2 files, easy backup

Task: Create Testing Infrastructure Build virtual servers as “sandboxes”  Programmers and developers  Application support and upgrades  Standardization of platforms  Backup and recovery  Self-service option

Task: Migrate or retire old servers Replace older hardware with virtual  Application upgrades on VMs  P2V migration for static servers “Plan for Virtual, move to Physical”  New upgrades or migrations are done to virtual servers first. If more resources are needed, it is moved to a blade at that time.

Task: Build for future growth Create Server Images  Gold Win2k3 and Linux images  Scale ESX servers for growth VM resource allocation  Scale servers at a common base  Increase disk, memory, CPU as needed  “Added resources make happy customers”

Task: Change the mindset of IT “Plan for Virtual, move to Physical”  Projects begin with virtual servers  Charge/spec for “Server Resources” Prove patches and upgrades in VM  Beat up on a Clone Spread the wealth  separate file, web, and databases for security

Bowdoin Systems Today 46 X86-based servers (retired 30 servers) 122 X86-based hosts 10 ESX servers hosting 86 VMs 86 Virtual hosts vs. 36 Physical hosts 70% virtualized in the x86 space

Savings Cost of each Blade: $6,  Includes Disk, Memory, Dual Proc, etc. Number of additional servers:  86 virtual-10 ESX servers=76 Cost to provide physical Servers 76 x $6,250= $475, ** Bowdoin did not purchase servers in FY05-06

Conclusion Server Consolidation at Bowdoin was successful at many levels Consolidation can be done by anyone with a little time, resources and determination Bowdoin’s effort is ongoing ESX 3 upgrade and migration- Fall’06

Thank you for attending Tim Antonowicz Systems Engineer Bowdoin College