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 Virtualization Clustering Network Virtualization Storage 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 Virtualization Appliance

Distributed File Systems Abstract the physical storage location from the data path DFS Root Public 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 Shared Storage Switch (to public LAN) Virtual Server

Server Virtualization Host systems, such as servers are virtualized Servers run as virtual machines

Virtual Machines VM = 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

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

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

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 Storage More 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