ESXpert strategies VMware vSphere

ESXpert Strategies in Constructing & ESXpert Strategies in Constructing & Administering VMware vSphereAdministering VMware vSphere

Greg ShieldsGreg ShieldsPartner & Principal TechnologistConcentrated Technologywww.ConcentratedTech.com

This slide deck was used in one of our many conference presentations. We hope you enjoy it, and invite you to use it

within your own organization however you like.

For more information on our company, including information on private classes and upcoming conference appearances, please

visit our Web site, www.ConcentratedTech.com.

For links to newly-posted decks, follow us on Twitter:@concentrateddon or @concentratdgreg

This work is copyright ©Concentrated Technology, LLC

http://www.ConcentratedTech.com/

44% of Virtualization44% of VirtualizationDeployments FailDeployments Fail According to a CA announcement from

2007.– Inability to quantify ROI– Insufficient administrator training– Expectations not aligned with results

Success =– Measure performance– Diligent inventory– Load distribution– Thorough investigation of technology

55% Experience More Problems than 55% Experience More Problems than Benefits with VirtualizationBenefits with Virtualization

According to an Interop survey in May, 2009.– Lack of visibility

– Lack of tools to troubleshoot performance problems

– Insufficient education on virtual infrastructure software

Statistics:– 27% could not visualize / manage performance

– 25% cite training shortfalls

– 21% unable to secure the infrastructure

– 50% say that implementation costs are too high

Conclusion:Conclusion:Virtualization is Virtualization is HarderHarder than it Looks! than it Looks!

Conclusion:Conclusion:Virtualization is Virtualization is HarderHarder than it Looks! than it Looks!

Solution:Solution:Elevate your Experience.Elevate your Experience.Become an Become an ESXpertESXpert!!

WARNING: Prepare Yourself!WARNING: Prepare Yourself!Conversation Ahead!Conversation Ahead!

Everyone’s requirements are different. Everyone’s environment is different.

– We need to hear about it. We all learn (even me).

This is a strategies session.– The other four ESXpert sessions are demo-heavy.

– Here, very little demo. There, very few slides.

Today’s answers to leave with…– How do you best construct the environment?

– What are the common mistakes?

– How should you connect the pieces?

Class DiscussionClass Discussion

So, what’s the biggest mistake you’ve made so far with your virtual infrastructure?

Six Steps in a Typical Six Steps in a Typical Virtualization ImplementationVirtualization Implementation

Step 0: Environment Assessment Step 1: Constructing Virtualization Step 2: Backups Expansion Step 3: Virtualization to Private Cloud Step 4: Virtualization at the Desktop Step 5: DR Implementation

Step 0Step 0Environment AssessmentEnvironment Assessment

This Part of My Presentation UsedThis Part of My Presentation Usedto be Super Tech Heavy, Until…to be Super Tech Heavy, Until…

One day it finally dawned on me…Virtualization isn’t all about the infrastructure.

Virtualization is the infrastructure.

– “Virtualization” today is equivalent to “A Server” or “A Couple of Servers” just a few years ago.

– You think of your virtual environment like you thought of your servers just a few years ago.

– Thus, architecting your virtual environment requires a look at its business drivers – e.g. how it enables your business.

Questions to Ask YourselfQuestions to Ask Yourself

What are your reasons for virtualizing? How many physical servers will you

virtualize? What are your expectations for VM

consolidation ratios?– 5:1, 10:1, 15:1, greater?


At what consolidation ratio does virtualization start paying for itself?– 5:1 ?– 10:1 ?– 20:1 ?– More ???

The Classic Cost SavingsThe Classic Cost Savings

Reduced purchasing rate for new servers

Reduced electricity consumption– Both for servers, and for cooling

Reduced hardware maintenance and management costs

Termination of hardware leases Reduced cost of downtime Reduction in count of OS licenses Reduction in space/power/cooling costs

Potentially Unexpected CostsPotentially Unexpected Costs

Geometrically increasing rate of new server creation (VM sprawl).– New license costs.– New hardware costs.– Scaling the environment

Complexity– Internal IT process complexity.– Monitoring complexity.– Problem resolution complexity.– Why-does-processor-overuse-cause-a-network-

issue complexity?


How has virtualization changed your IT processes?

Quantifiable Success MeasurementsQuantifiable Success Measurements

Maximize hardware utilization– Recognize an X:1 consolidation ratio atop virtual hosts.– Recognize an X% resource utilization atop virtual

hosts.

Reduce server sprawl– Reduce servers under management by X%– Reduce new server purchase rate by X%

Consolidate administrative touch points– Reduce administration time per server by X%– Reduce number of administrators by X%

Minimize downtime– Reduce workload downtime to X%

Step 1Step 1Constructing VirtualizationConstructing Virtualization

Virtualization and IT ServicesVirtualization and IT Services

Users connect intoan IT Services DeliveryInfrastructure.– The Private Cloud

They also connect to theInternet for IT services.– The Cloud– Cloud Services

FAR MORE INTERESTING:You’re responsiblefor what’s in the“black box”.

IT ServicesDelivery

Infrastructure

The User

The Internet

WhatWhat’’s in the Black Box?s in the Black Box?

The User

The Internet

Processing ProcessingProcessingExpansion

Virtual Workloads

Storage

Workload-to-Storage Networking

Workload-to-User Networking

Inter-Workload N

etworking

Management

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

DataBackup

DataArchival

Security Infrastructure

Space / Power / Cooling


Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inte

r-Workloa

d Netw

orking

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

Secu

rity Infrastructu

re


DisasterOperations

WhatWhat’’s in the Black Box?s in the Black Box?

Constructing Processing and MemoryConstructing Processing and Memory

Step one is identifying howmuch processing and memoryyour IT Services will need.– This is an additive process.

– # Servers *GHz of Processing per Server

– # Servers *GB of RAM per Server

IT ServicesDelivery

Infrastructure

The User

The Internet


Step 1½ is identifying…– …growth capacity– …burst capacity– …cluster reserve capacity

VMware recommendationssuggest 75% of capacityas maximum utilizationduring steady state.

IT ServicesDelivery

Infrastructure

The User

The Internet

75% 75% 75%

75% 75% 75%

75% 75% 75%


Step 2 is converting those numbersinto specifications for serversor blades.

Example: HP Proliant BL460c G6 blade– 2x Intel Xeon 2.53GHz processors– Up to 192GB (!) RAM– Brocade 8GB FC HBA– Dual-port 10Gig-E– 2x 146GB RAID 0/1 drives

– (Just as an aside, isn’t it crazy that you can nowbuy a server with more RAM than disk???)


Example…– 2x 2.53GHz processors / blade * 16

blades/enclosure =40,480 Hz to distribute to VMs

– 32GB RAM / blade * 8 blades/enclosure =256 GB RAM to distribute to VMs.


These last few slides have shown us how to measure capacity.

But, how can we really measure demand?

Constructing ExpandabilityConstructing Expandability

Your environment willtend to always grow.– More IT services.– More virtual machines.– More business activities.

Virtualization quantifiesdecision points forexpansion.– We’re nearing 75%, expand!– We can’t maintain cluster reserve, expand!– Later sessions discuss gotcha’s you’ll encounter

as you expand (processing, network, storage, etc.)

IT ServicesDelivery

Infrastructure

The User

The Internet

ExpansionIT Services

Delivery Infrastructure

Constructing NetworkingConstructing Networking

The User

The Internet


Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inter-Workload N

etworking

Management

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

DataBackup

DataArchival




Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inte

r-Workloa

d Netw

orking

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

Secu

rity Infrastructu

re


DisasterOperations


Six types of virtual networking– Workload-to-user networking– Workload-to-storage networking– Inter-workload networking– Virtual environment-to-backups networking– Backups-to-archival networking– Virtual environment-to-DR networking

Combinations of 1Gig-E and 10Gig-E are now becoming the norm.– More throughput for higher-demands.– Right-size cost to needs.


StorageMulti, 1GbDual, 10Gb

ProductionDual or Multi, 1GbDual, 10Gb (w. Stor)

ManagementSingle, 1Gb(Share with Prod)

Networking GotchaNetworking Gotcha’’ss

ESX networking is per-host.– Ensure that every host is configured correctly.– Changing configuration on one will not affect another.

ESX network monitoring is per-host.– Network conditions on one host do not impact others.– …except when VMs are interrelated, although this is

outside the ESX layer.

Balance network segregation with consolidation.– Segregate out traffic by type.– Consolidate traffic within type.– VLANs are your friend.

CRITICAL: Networking is dynamic.

Management Connection(s)Management Connection(s)

An ESXi Server requires at minimum a single Management Connection.– Used for connecting ESXi to vSphere– Used for SSH connections for Remote Support– Can be used for VMotion (though generally as a

last resort).


Why is it a good idea to use a separate management connection?


Why is it a good idea to use a separate management connection?– Separates vCenter management traffic from

production networking traffic.– Places lower-trust traffic into lower-trust network.– Prevents regular users from access to the

management functions of vCenter

LIVE DRAW: Separating out management connections.

vSphere NetworkingvSphere Networking

ESX vSwitches…– …are typically associated with one or more

physical NICs; however, don’t necessarily need to be.

– …are Layer 2 devices.

– …can support NIC teaming, either failover mode or via load balancing.






No outside connection? Why would you want to do this?






No outside connection? Why would you want to do this?

Why is this fundamentally important?


ESX vSwitches…– …know the MAC addresses of attached virtual

machines.– …can terminate VLAN trunks (virtual switch

tagging), or can pass that VLAN trunk through to VMs.

– …will forward traffic between VMs and to the outside world, but never between vSwitches. Never between vSwitches? Why is this important?


ESX vSwitches…– …know the MAC addresses of attached virtual

machines.– …can terminate VLAN trunks (virtual switch

tagging), or can pass that VLAN trunk through to VMs.

– …will forward traffic between VMs and to the outside world, but never between vSwitches. Never between vSwitches? Why is this important?

It prevents creating network loops.Won’t affect Spanning Tree operations.


Two types of port groups:– VMKernel port groups– Virtual machine port groups

Five uses:– VM production networking– vMotion– iSCSI– NFS– Host management

The Role of TeamingThe Role of Teaming

Teaming physical network cards is a smart idea in every case except storage.– More on the storage reason in the next session!

– Leverages Etherchannel (802.3ad link aggregation).– Setup Etherchannel first, then bind NICs together.

This presents the correct networking to the vSwitch.

– Failover and load balancing options available. Failover is default, unless load balancing is specifically configured.

– Four policy options for failover/load balancing.– Incorrect configurations here are a common mistake.

The Role of TeamingThe Role of Teaming

Teaming physical network cards is a smart idea in every case except storage.– More on the storage reason in the next session!

– Leverages Etherchannel (802.3ad link aggregation).– Setup Etherchannel first, then bind NICs together.

This presents the correct networking to the vSwitch.

– Failover and load balancing options available. Failover is default, unless load balancing is specifically configured.

– Four policy options for failover/load balancing.– Incorrect configurations here are a common mistake.

Extra Credit!Failover by IP Hash required for load balancing.


What about NIC consolidation? When is it appropriate to use VLANs?


What about NIC consolidation? When is it appropriate to use VLANs?– PRO: Reduces NIC count requirements– PRO: Lowers hardware costs– PRO: Reduces network complexity at the ESX

layer– PRO: Plays perfectly with 10Gig-E– PRO: Trivial to configure


What about NIC consolidation? When is it appropriate to use VLANs?– PRO: Reduces NIC count requirements– PRO: Lowers hardware costs– PRO: Reduces network complexity at the ESX layer– PRO: Plays perfectly with 10Gig-E– PRO: Trivial to configure– CON: Increases network complexity at the Cisco layer– CON: Greater potential for network saturation.

Excessive traffic on one VLAN causes problems for all others.

– CON: Security concerns. Some (obtuse) VLAN exploits believed in the wild.

– CON: Trivial to misconfigure

VST vs. EST vs. VGTVST vs. EST vs. VGT

Three types of VLAN tagging in ESX.– Virtual Switch Tagging– External Switch Tagging– Virtual Guest Tagging


Virtual Switch Tagging– Physical switch treats vSwitch like any other

switch, tagging traffic as it moves into the vSwitch– ESX Server uses VLAN tags to direct traffic to port

group– Physical switch ports are configured as VLAN

trunks.– Each ESX server must have a port group defined

for each VLAN ID.

Virtual Switch TaggingVirtual Switch Tagging

EST vs. VST vs. VGTEST vs. VST vs. VGT

External Switch Tagging– Physical switch passes untagged traffic for a single

VLAN through each port.– In Cisco, this means physical switch ports are

configured as access ports assigned to a particular VLAN.

– Most physical switch ports are configured in this way.

– In this mode, ESX has a different vSwitch for each VLAN. Each vSwitch has its own individual uplink to a physical NIC.

– Port groups can be used to control traffic shaping and security policies, but they don’t affect VLAN ops.

Virtual Switch TaggingVirtual Switch Tagging


Virtual Guest Tagging– Specialized case where VLAN tags are passed all

the way into the virtual machine.– Guest OS must support VLANs

and handle VLAN tags.– Physical switch treats ESX

vSwitch like another physicalswitch, but vSwitch passesVLAN tags on to VM.

– Set VLAN ID to 4095 toconfigure this.

– ESX e1000 VM NIC canhandle this.

Why? Where? When?Why? Where? When?

VST: If you plan to consolidate NICs via VLAN aggregation– This is growing more common

EST: If your network core/distribution layer cannot handle multiple and simultaneous VLANS– This is growing less common

VGT: A VM needs to simultaneously be on multiple VLANs, but you don’t want multiple NICs– This is rare– VGT and VST can be used simultaneously

Constructing StorageConstructing Storage

The User

The Internet


Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inter-Workload N

etworking

Management

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

DataBackup

DataArchival




Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inte

r-Workloa

d Netw

orking

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

Secu

rity Infrastructu

re


DisasterOperations


What’s the best SAN for virtualization?

Constructing StorageConstructing Storage

Selected SAN medium does not appear to be based on virtual platform construction.– Result: You’re probably stuck with what you’ve

got.

Source: http://www.emc.com/collateral/analyst-reports/2009-forrester-storage-choices-virtual-server.pdf

Five Capabilities to LookFive Capabilities to Lookfor in a SANfor in a SAN

ESX Server

ESX Server

SAN Storage Device

2. Processing Redundancy

3. Networking Redundancy

4. Cross-node Disk Redundancy

1. Disk Redundancy,a.k.a RAID

Five Capabilities to LookFive Capabilities to Lookfor in a SANfor in a SAN

PrimaryESX Server

PrimaryESX Server

SAN Storage Device SAN Storage Device

BackupESX Server

BackupESX Server

Backup Site

5. Site-to-Site Replication

Nice FeaturesNice Features

Storage-level thin provisioning.– This is different (and augments) ESX-level thin-

provisioning.

Storage-level snapshots.– Can be useful for data backup and replication

Storage-level volume replication & cloning.– Ensure that storage-level management activities are

completed on storage processors.– Eliminates impact on ESX processors.

Trivial scalability.– You want to “snap-and-go” additional storage as needed.– Yesteryear’s big iron storage is waning in popularity

everywhere except where already invested.

But Irrespective, a SANs a SAN.But Irrespective, a SANs a SAN.

ESX treats most SAN connections pretty much the same.– SCSI– Block SCSI– iSCSI

SAN SAN ConnectionsConnections, are a, are aCompletely Different StoryCompletely Different Story

Your goal: 100% SAN Uptime.– Redundancy in the SAN itself– Redundant connections to storage– Redundant paths to storage– Verification that paths exist on all ESX servers

LIVE DRAW: Sketching out a SAN design.– Who would like to offer theirs up as an example?

Four Steps in StorageFour Steps in StorageProvisioningProvisioning

1. LUN is provisioned at the SAN

2. LUN is masked/unmasked/routed to ESX hosts

3. VMFS/(NFS) datastore is provisioned across ESX hosts

4. Virtual disks are provisioned for virtual machines

Common Storage BottlenecksCommon Storage Bottlenecks

\\server1 \\server2

Network

iSCSI Storage

Clients

Type and Rotation

Speed of Drives

Spindle Contention

Network

Contention

Connection Medium

Connection Redundancy

& Aggregation

Administrative

Complexity


How do you resolve these common bottlenecks?– Network contention– Type and rotation speed of drives– Connection redundancy and aggregation– Spindle contention– Connection medium– Administrative complexity

Thick versus ThinThick versus Thin

vSphere 4.0 (finally) brought thin provisioning to ESX servers.– Only use as much storage as you need.– Thin provisioning adds a tiny I/O penalty, but only

during the first write to an unwritten file block. This is essentially only when your server needs more disk.

– Some applications are not supported on thin provisioned disks: Microsoft Exchange is one.

Thin provisioning eliminates wasted storage, but requires monitoring to use.– If your volume runs out of space, your VMs will fail.

VMware suggests that today thick and thin provisioning have almost equal performance.

Disk DefragmentationDisk Defragmentation

Windows’ native disk defragger is disabled by default on all Windows Servers.– This in an of itself will create a performance

bottleneck if not enabled on those servers.

Enabling in-VM disk defragmentation will significantly reduce overall performance.– Same as in-VM anti-virus, in-VM backup, other in-

VM scanning and heavy I/O services.– For VDI environments, the defragger is enabled by

default on Windows desktops.

Consider virtualization-aware solutions for VMDK defragmentation.

Storage ArchitectureStorage Architecture

Use a tiered storage approach– Tier 1 (expensive) storage for high-priority VMs.– Tier 2 (less expensive) storage for lower-priority VMs.– Tier 3 (NAS/NFS/other) storage for templates, ISOs,

etc.

Use separate LUNs for templates– Reduces the impact of VM creation on VM operations.

Avoid the use of extents– Like Windows Dynamic Disks, adds a dependency.– Try to limit to one VMFS volume per LUN.

Ensure partition alignment– Always create partitions with starting blocks that are

a multiple of 8K.


What are the big storage gotcha’s for virtual environments?

Constructing SoftwareConstructing Software

The User

The Internet


Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inter-Workload N

etworking

Management

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

DataBackup

DataArchival




Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inte

r-Workloa

d Netw

orking

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

Secu

rity Infrastructu

re


DisasterOperations

Constructing SoftwareConstructing Software

182% 28% 21%


…and yet the hypervisor itself is only the start!

What other classes of software are needed in order to fully manage a virtual environment?

Step 2Step 2Backups ExpansionBackups Expansion

Constructing BackupsConstructing Backups

The User

The Internet


Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inter-Workload N

etworking

Management

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

DataBackup

DataArchival




Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inte

r-Workloa

d Netw

orking

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

Secu

rity Infrastructu

re


DisasterOperations

VirtualizationVirtualization’’s Backups Problems Backups Problem

A TechTarget reader survey in September, 2009 asked the question: In a VMware ESX environment, which system management functions do you find most challenging?

– 30% - Backing up virtual machine data– 25% - Server availability monitoring and metrics– 28% - Storage management– 21% - Change and configuration management– 36% - I/O bottlenecks– 21% - Network capacity and utilization monitoring– 26% - Capacity planning and monitoring

Virtual Backups and Virtual Backups and ““PerspectivePerspective””

Virtualization introduces the concept of “perspective” with backups.– Essentially, there is now more than one location from

where backups can be sourced.– Different locations enable the gathering of different

kinds of data.

– Some perspectives don’t work well for some data.– Some perspectives gather data that isn’t easily

restorable.– Some perspectives introduce performance problems.– Some perspectives don’t scale well.– Some perspectives can/will corrupt data as it is backed

up.

BackupBackup’’s Many Perspectivess Many Perspectives






Agent-in-the-VMAgent-in-the-VM

Pro’s– No change in practice from all-physical

environments.– Essentially all existing technology will continue

to function.– Easy ability to restore individual files and folders

or application objects.

Con’s– Problems with scalability.– Problems of performance.– No change in ability to restore whole machine.

Agent-on-the-HostAgent-on-the-Host

Pro’s– Capable of point-in-time entire-machine backup

as a single file.– Less impact on performance.– Greater scalability.

Con’s– Extra steps required to restore individual files or

application objects.– Agent support required to successfully back up

application objects.– Backed up files are exceptionally large.

Agent-in-the-StorageAgent-in-the-Storage

Pro’s– Complete offloading of backup processing to storage

device.– Single location for all backups, fewer management

touch points.

Con’s– Extra steps required to restore individual files or

application objects.– Agent support required to successfully back up

application objects.– Comparatively limited agent and software support.– Backed up files are exceptionally large.

A New PerspectiveA New Perspective

A New PerspectiveA New Perspective

Agent-in-the-File SystemAgent-in-the-File System

Pro’s– Every transaction can be captured, whether from an

application, a file or folder, or an application object.– Single location for all backups of all types.– Continuous Data Protection for all data types.– Item-level compression and de-duplication of data.– Restoring an individual email or file is no different

than an entire VM.

Con’s– This is an entirely new mechanism to do backups.– Relies firstly on disk-based storage, secondly on

tape-based storage.

The The ““Fourth PerspectiveFourth Perspective””

This “fourth perspective” in fact eliminates perspective entirely by unifying all backups under a single solution.– Works well for all types of data, from files and folders,

to application objects, to entire virtual machines.– Gathers data in a way that makes it easily and quickly

restorable to virtually any point in the past. Eliminates the “daily” in daily backups.

– Backs up with very little impact to host or VM performance.

– Scales with the number of VMs per host, and to many hosts.

– Ensures that application objects remain uncorrupted through its position within the file system driver.


Which perspective(s) do you use?– Why?

(Hint: The correct answer doesn’t need to be a single perspective!)

Step 3Step 3Virtualization to Private CloudVirtualization to Private Cloud

What Makes a Private Cloud?What Makes a Private Cloud?

WARNING: A bit of marketecture ahead. But that’s OK…

What Makes a Private Cloud?What Makes a Private Cloud?

WARNING: A bit of marketecture ahead. But that’s OK…

A Private Cloud enables…– …availability for individual IT services.

– …flexibility in managing services, as well as deploying new services.

– …scalability when physical resources run out.

– …hardware resource optimization, to ensure that you’re getting the most out of your investment.

– …resiliency to protect against large-scale incidents.

– …globalization capacity, enabling the IT infrastructure to be distributed wherever it is needed.

Thanks, but No, Really...Thanks, but No, Really...What What ReallyReally Makes a Private Cloud? Makes a Private Cloud?

A Private Cloud at its core is little more than…– A virtualization technology…

– …some really good management tools…

– …and their integration with business processes.

Thanks, but No, Really...Thanks, but No, Really...What What ReallyReally Makes a Private Cloud? Makes a Private Cloud?

A Private Cloud at its core is little more than…– A virtualization technology…



“While VMs are the mechanism in which IT services are provided, the Private Cloud infrastructure is the platform that enables those VMs to be created and managed based on business drivers.”

Source: My new (and free!) book,

Private Clouds: Selecting the Right Hardware for a Scalable Virtual Infrastructure

Which you can download from…http://www.realtimepublishers.com

A Private Cloud is Essentially a A Private Cloud is Essentially a Resource PoolResource Pool

Processing Processing

Processing Resource Pool Processing Resource Pool

Processing Processing

Storage

Storage Resource Pool

SAN Node 1

SAN Node 4

SAN Node 2

SAN Node 3

A Private A Private Cloud is a Cloud is a Further Further

Abstraction Abstraction from Simple from Simple VirtualizationVirtualization

Rather than focusing on virtual machines and virtualizing,

a Private Cloud focuses on the resources.

A Private A Private Cloud is a Cloud is a Further Further

Abstraction Abstraction from Simple from Simple

VirtualizationVirtualization

Private Cloud: The UserPrivate Cloud: The User’’s Perspectives Perspective

A Private Cloud is perhapseasiest explained from theuser’s perspective.

IT ServicesDelivery

Infrastructure

The User

The Internet

Private Cloud: The UserPrivate Cloud: The User’’s Perspectives Perspective

A Private Cloud is perhapseasiest explained from theuser’s perspective.

Users connect intoa local IT Services DeliveryInfrastructure.– The Private Cloud

They also connect to theInternet for IT services.– The Cloud

– Cloud Services

IT ServicesDelivery

Infrastructure

The User

The Internet

The Private Cloud

The Cloud

Why is thisWhy is thisFundamentally Important?Fundamentally Important?

Because, at the end of the day, your users should care less about how their IT services are delivered.– They can be delivered locally or remotely.

As long as those services are delivered securely and in an always-on fashion, users are enabled to accomplish the tasks and activities of business.

Its our job to manage what’s in the black box.– Availability – Resource Optimization

– Flexibility – Resource Quantification

– Scalability – Globalization & Failover

Why is thisWhy is thisFundamentally Important?Fundamentally Important?

Because, at the end of the day, your users should care less about how their IT services are delivered.– They can be delivered locally or remotely.

As long as those services are delivered securely and in an always-on fashion, users are enabled to accomplish the tasks and activities of business.

Its our job to manage what’s in the black box.– Availability – Resource Optimization

– Flexibility – Resource Quantification

– Scalability – Globalization & Failover…and, arguably, what’s in “The Cloud” as well.

But that’s a topic for another day.

Private Cloud: AvailabilityPrivate Cloud: Availability

Live Migration means VMs can run anywhere.– IT can no longer think of

service availability by individual server.

Users need not worry where services are hosted, only that they’re available.– The Private Cloud is

constructed with the necessary resources to maintain service availability.

Private Cloud: FlexibilityPrivate Cloud: Flexibility

“Just a few virtual hosts” quickly becomes a Private Cloud as the scale of its hardware increases.– A Private Cloud is a

collection of resources that can be reconfigured at any time

– A Private Cloud is always prepared to incorporate new services immediately.

IT’s former technical hurdles need are no longer a business agility drag.

Private Cloud: ScalabilityPrivate Cloud: Scalability

A Private Cloud and its hardware are seamlessly scalable.– New hardware should

trivially “snap” into the environment.

– No operations impact.

– No extra engineering.

– No delay. There before you need them.

More hardware equals more resources.

Private Cloud: Resource OptimizationPrivate Cloud: Resource Optimization

A Private Cloud uses its available resources at a maximum level.– Hardware utilization is

balanced to protect against overuse.

– Policies ensure resource availability for VM needs.

– Resource requirements and capacity are plannable.

Resource OptimizationResource Optimization

A Private Cloud’s Resource Pools are infinitely malleable.– “Project X contributed 30% in $$s to buying the hardware,

so we’re going to ensure Project X always has 30%.”– “\\ServerA needs more processing power. Let’s supply

that power.”– “Business Unit Y is about to expand and they anticipate

that they’ll need another 20 VMs, we’ll need to expand our environment to suit.”

Resource Pools bring rationality to IT’s traditional “guess and check” mentality.– Your gut probably doesn’t like this concept.

– But this is a good thing.

– Your boss loves it.

Private Cloud: Resource QuantificationPrivate Cloud: Resource Quantification

Resources become quantifiable units within the virtual platform.– Blade Enclosure 1 supplies

40,480 MHz of processing,256 GB of RAM.

– Virtual Machine \\server1 needs 2,048 MHz of processing,4 GB of RAM

– Resource assignment evolves from “gut feeling” to numerical supply and demand values.

Resource QuantificationResource Quantification

Each hardware component in a Private Cloud contributes a finite level of capacity to the Resource Pool.– Servers contribute processing and memory

– Storage contributes disk space

– Networking contributes throughput


Each hardware component in a Private Cloud contributes a finite level of capacity to the Resource Pool.– Servers contribute processing and memory

– Storage contributes disk space

– Networking contributes throughput

Virtual machines assert the quantity of resources they need at every point in time.– The Private Cloud supplies these resources.

– You supply the Private Cloud with hardware.

– It tells you when you need more.

– You add more, or you restrict VMs (with notable results).


Exceptionally Important:It is the job of the Private Cloud to abstract each of these contributions and assertions into a numerical value.– Numerical values represent supply and demand for

resources.– Hardware adds to resource supply.– Virtual machines exert resource demand. “You need a

VM? How big?”– Quantitatively meeting supply to demand is what

Private Cloud computing is all about.

– This is simple addition and subtraction.– This should not be an arcane art.

Doing this SuccessfullyDoing this SuccessfullyRequires The Right HardwareRequires The Right Hardware

Doing this Successfully Doing this Successfully Requires the Right Requires the Right

Management SolutionsManagement Solutions

Management that spans past just the hypervisor layer.– …that can peer into

hardware, network, storage layers for resource quantification.

– …that includes preconfigured templates for deployment into Resource Pools.

– …that spans The Cloud &The Private Cloud

Doing this SuccessfullyDoing this SuccessfullyRequires the Right Division of LaborRequires the Right Division of Labor

IT Architects and External Service Providers define and construct service templates.

IT Administrators manage resources. Service Consumers request and deploy

templates from the Service Catalog.

How Do You Get There?How Do You Get There?

Remember: A Private Cloud at its core is little more than…– A virtualization technology…



How Do You Get There?How Do You Get There?

Remember: A Private Cloud at its core is little more than…– A virtualization technology…– …some really good management tools…– …and their integration with business processes.

You’ll need those three things. You’ll also need a set of hardware that is

designed with virtualization and Private Cloud computing in mind.

“You don’t want to be ‘white boxing’ your virtual environment, do you? That was a bad idea the last time!”

Step 4Step 4Virtualization at the DesktopVirtualization at the Desktop

Products in this Space:Products in this Space:

HypervisorsHypervisors

VMware vSphere Citrix XenSource Microsoft Hyper-V Sun VirtualBox Parallels Bare Metal & Containers


StorageStorage

HP & HP / LeftHand Dell & Dell Equalogic IBM EMC NetApp Starwind Software et al

Capabilities in this Space:Capabilities in this Space:

Storage Management & Storage Management & VirtualizationVirtualization

Thin Provisioning Snapshot Volume Rollback Replication, Local & DR Replication, Synchronous &

Asynchronous “Node-ification” (that’s my term…)

Network RAID Continuous Data Protection


Monitoring & Performance Mgmt.Monitoring & Performance Mgmt.

First-Party Solutions vKernel eG Innovations Veeam Vizioncore Akorri CiRBA (This space is swiftly growing)


Desktop ProvisioningDesktop Provisioning

VMware View Composer Citrix Provisioning Server Microsoft System Center VMM Quest vWorkspace Vizioncore vControl MokaFive Suite


Transport ProtocolsTransport Protocols

Microsoft RDP Citrix ICA & HDX VMware PCoIP, Extended RDP Quest Experience Optimized Protocol

(EOP)


Desktop Brokers & AdvertisementDesktop Brokers & Advertisement

Microsoft RD Session Broker, RD Web Access

Citrix XenDesktop VMware View Connection Server Quest vWorkspace AppPortal Ericom WebConnect MokaFive


Endpoints / Desktop ReceiversEndpoints / Desktop Receivers

Traditional PCs, via client access Pano Logic Wyse NComputing


Application VirtualizationApplication Virtualization

Microsoft App-V Citrix XenApp VMware Thinstall Symantec Workspace Virtualization


Workspace ManagementWorkspace Management

Microsoft Roaming Profiles RES Software PowerFuse AppSense Management Suite Tranxition LiveManage RingCube vDesk

Step 5Step 5DR ImplementationDR Implementation

Constructing Disaster RecoveryConstructing Disaster Recovery

The User

The Internet


Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inter-Workload N

etworking

Management

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

DataBackup

DataArchival




Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inte

r-Workloa

d Netw

orking

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

Secu

rity Infrastructu

re


DisasterOperations

What Makes a Disaster?What Makes a Disaster? Which of the following would you consider a disaster?

● A naturally-occurring event, such as a tornado, flood, or hurricane, impacts your datacenter and causes damage. That damage causes the entire processing of that datacenter to cease.

● A widespread incident, such as a water leakage or long-term power outage, that interrupts the functionality of your datacenter for an extended period of time.

● A problem with a virtual host creates a “blue screen of death”, immediately ceasing all processing on that server.

● An administrator installs a piece of code that causes problems with a service, shutting down that service and preventing some action from occurring on the server.

● An issue with power connections causes a server or an entire rack of servers to inadvertently and rapidly power down.

What Makes a Disaster?What Makes a Disaster? Which of the following would you consider a disaster?

● A naturally-occurring event, such as a tornado, flood, or hurricane, impacts your datacenter and causes damage. That damage causes the entire processing of that datacenter to cease.

● A widespread incident, such as a water leakage or long-term power outage, that interrupts the functionality of your datacenter for an extended period of time.

● A problem with a virtual host creates a “blue screen of death”, immediately ceasing all processing on that server.

● An administrator installs a piece of code that causes problems with a service, shutting down that service and preventing some action from occurring on the server.

● An issue with power connections causes a server or an entire rack of servers to inadvertently and rapidly power down.

DIS

AS

TER

!JU

ST A

BA

D

DA

Y!

What Makes a Disaster?What Makes a Disaster?

Your business’ decision to “declare a disaster” and move to “disaster operations” is a major one.

The technologies that are used for disaster protection are different than those used for HA.– More complex. More expensive.

Failover and failback processes involve more thought.


Are you here yet?– Are you planning a DR implementation?– Do you already have one?– Do you care?


At a very high level, disaster recovery for virtual environments is three things:– A storage mechanism– A replication mechanism– A set of target servers to receive virtual

machines and their data


PrimaryESX Server

PrimaryESX Server

Storage Device Storage Device

BackupESX Server

BackupESX Server

Backup Site

Storage Device(s)

Replication Mechanism

Target Servers

Thing 1:Thing 1:A Storage MechanismA Storage Mechanism Typically, two SANs in two different

locations– Fibre Channel , iSCSI, FCoE– Usually similar model or manufacturer. – This is often necessary (although not required) for

replication mechanism to function property.

Backup SAN doesn’t necessarily need to be of the same size as the primary SAN– Replicated data isn’t always full set of data.– You may not need disaster recovery for everything.

Thing 2:Thing 2:A Replication MechanismA Replication Mechanism

Replication between SANs must occur.– There are two commonly-accepted ways to

accomplish this….

Synchronously– Changes are made on one node at a time.

Subsequent changes on primary SAN must wait for ACK from backup SAN.

Asynchronously– Changes on backup SAN will eventually be

written. Are queued at primary SAN to be transferred at intervals.


Synchronously– Changes are made on one node at a time. Subsequent

changes on primary SAN must wait for ACK from backup SAN.

Storage DevicePrimary Site

Storage DeviceBackup Site

Change Committed at Primary Site

Change Replicated to Secondary Site

Change Committed at Secondary Site

Acknowledge of Change Returned to

Primary Site

Change Complete


Asynchronously– Changes on backup SAN will eventually be written. Are

queued at primary SAN to be transferred at intervals.

Storage DevicePrimary Site

Storage DeviceBackup Site

Change 1 Committed at Primary Site



Changes Replicated to Secondary Site


Class DiscussionClass Discussion Which Would You Choose…?

Synchronous● Assures no loss of data.

● Requires a high-bandwidth and low-latency connection.

● Write and acknowledgement latencies impact performance.

● Requires shorter distances between storage devices.

Asynchronous● Potential for loss of data during a failure.

● Leverages smaller-bandwidth connections, more tolerant of latency.

● No performance impact.

● Potential to stretch across longer distances.

Your Recovery Point Objective makes this decision…


Replication processing can occur at the… Storage Layer

– Replication processing is handled by the SAN itself. Often agents are installed to virtual hosts or machines to ensure crash consistency.

– Easier to set up, fewer moving parts. More scalable. Concerns about crash consistency.

OS / Application Layer– Replication processing is handled by software in the VM OS. This

software also operates as the agent.– More challenging to set up, more moving parts. More installations

to manage/monitor. Scalability and cost are linear. Fewer concerns about crash consistency.

Thing 3:Thing 3:Target ServersTarget Servers

Finally is a set of target servers in the backup site.

ESX ServerESX Server

Storage Storage

Backup Site

NetworkSwitch

NetworkSwitch

NetworkSwitch

NetworkSwitch

Thing 3:Thing 3:Target ServersTarget Servers

Finally is a set of target servers in the backup site.

Also needed is a management mechanism to fail over servers when disaster strikes.– VMware’s solution here is Site Recovery

Manager.– However, SRM is only one of many (and

sometimes overlapping) solutions that can be implemented.

Multi-Site TacticsMulti-Site Tactics

Ensure networking remains available as VMs migrate from primary to backup site.– Crossing subnets also means changing IP address,

subnet mask, gateway, etc, at new site.– This can be automatically done by using DHCP and

dynamic DNS, or must be manually updated.– DNS replication is also a problem. Clients will require

time to update their local cache.– Consider reducing DNS TTL or clearing client cache.

Ensure that enough throughput is available for replication requirements.– Use vendor-supplied throughput calculators to “guess

” this value. Be prepared to augment down the road.

Six Steps in a Typical Six Steps in a Typical Virtualization ImplementationVirtualization Implementation

Step 0: Environment Assessment Step 1: Constructing Virtualization Step 2: Backups Expansion Step 3: Virtualization to Private Cloud Step 4: Virtualization at the Desktop Step 5: DR Implementation

ESXpert Strategies in Constructing & ESXpert Strategies in Constructing & AdministeringAdministeringVMwareVMwarevSpherevSphere

Greg ShieldsGreg ShieldsPartner & Principal TechnologistConcentrated Technologywww.ConcentratedTech.com

Please fill out evaluations,or they won’t let me go!

!!!

This slide deck was used in one of our many conference presentations. We hope you enjoy it, and invite you to use it

within your own organization however you like.

For more information on our company, including information on private classes and upcoming conference appearances, please

visit our Web site, www.ConcentratedTech.com.

For links to newly-posted decks, follow us on Twitter:@concentrateddon or @concentratdgreg

This work is copyright ©Concentrated Technology, LLC

http://www.ConcentratedTech.com/

ESXpert strategies VMware vSphere

Technology

virtualization step

memory step

virtualization isharderthan

virtualization deployments

environment assessment

new servers

virtual environment

s environment