Flexibility In The Remote Branch Office VMware Mini Forum Calgary

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Simplify the Branch Office using Virtualization Technologies

James Charter, Sr. Virtualization Consultant

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Agenda

About Long View Systems

Branch Office Challenges

Opportunities for Change

Centralized vs. Distributed

Backup

Data Replication

Disaster Recovery

Q&A

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About Long View Systems

Focused on end-to-end IT Infrastructure Operations & Procurement Services

Extensive Client Successes with (complete lifecycle) in SMB to enterprise corporations

Established in 1999, with US operations established in 2004 with extensive growth and investment from 2006 to current

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Manufacturers

VMware Premier Enterprise Partner (Canada/US)

VMware Authorized Consulting Partner (1 of the first 4 VACP in the world)

A white label virtualization resource and delivery sub-contractor for VMware, HP, NetApp, EMC, Ingram and Avnet

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Branch Office Challenges

Lack of Standardization

Every server is different and configured in a unique way

Limited Space & Budget

Limited room, power and cooling

Cost constraints often mean:

• Fewer servers are deployed

• Additional roles are required per server (AD, File, SQL, Exchange)

• Server hardware configurations may be non-redundant

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Branch Office Challenges (continued)

Remote Support

Lack of onsite IT resources (phone, quarterly visits, ship to site)

Deploying a new desktop may require a site visit

Geographic location may not qualify for 4 Hour Onsite Warranty service and may only be Next Business Day.

Backup & Recovery

Tape changed by office personnel, backups unreliable

Where are the tapes being kept?

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Opportunities for Change

Virtualization!

You’ve already proven it’s benefits in the Datacenter, it’s time to virtualize the remote branch office.

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Benefits

Standardization with templates

Rapid provisioning based on your ‘gold master’ installation

Reduce your costs

Consolidate servers onto less hardware to reduce power and cooling requirements. Do more with less!

Reduce desktop support and deployment costs

Encapsulation & Isolation

Split application and service roles into separate virtual machines; reduce the impact of application outages when changing one virtual machine.

Virtual Machines are isolated and the stability of one virtual machine does not impact the others.

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Benefits (continued)

Centralized Management

Manage the environment with a remote connection

Backup & Recovery

Hardware independence for Virtual Machines makes restores more flexible

Backup entire Virtual Machines for quick ‘bare metal’ restores

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VMware Solutions

NIC Teaming,

Multipathing

VMware Fault Tolerance,

High Availability,

DRS Maintenance Mode,

VMotion

Storage

VMotion

Site

Recovery

Manager

Component Server Storage Data Site

VMware Data Recovery, VMware

Ready Data Protection solutions

from third-party partners

Protection against hardware failures

Planned maintenance with zero downtime

Protection against unplanned downtime

and disasters

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High Availability

HA – High Availability provides quick recovery from hardware failure

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Deployment Models

Centralized vs. Distributed

Centralized - All services are consolidated centrally, may include desktops

Distributed – Branch Office services available locally, may include desktops

What makes sense for your environment? What are the main determining factors?

WAN connectivity

Data Locality

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Centralized Deployment Model

All services are consolidated centrally

Reliable WAN links are required for connecting the branch office to centralized resources

High bandwidth with low latency may be required for a centralized model - WAN acceleration products can reduce bandwidth requirements and improve user experience

Virtual desktops can be used to minimize remote site support requirements

Data protection and backup are performed centrally

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Centralized Example

Head Office Datacenter(IT Operations)Branch Office

Virtual Desktops

WAN

Virtual Servers

WAN Acceleration

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Distributed Deployment Model

Core services in central location, local services based on use case.

Suitable for sites with unreliable or non-redundant WAN links

Less bandwidth may be required compared to a centralized solution

Suitable for sites that have a requirement for local data

Remotely managed from a central location

Virtual desktops can be used to minimize remote site support requirements

Data replication for centralized backup and disaster recovery

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Distributed Example

Head Office Datacenter(IT Operations)

Branch Office

WAN

WAN Acceleration

Virtual Servers(Core Services)

Virtual Servers

Virtual Desktops

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Backup Options

Backup Agents in the Operating System

Traditional agent based backup (same as physical servers)

Image or File level backups with VMware Data Recovery

Image or file level backups with VCB & Backup Product

Backup the Virtual Machine to your backup product (disk, tape)

Backup files in the Windows Virtual Machine to your backup product

Snapshot based backups with replication

Leverage storage array snapshots and application integration

Use De-duplication to minimize storage requirements!

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Backup with VMware Data Recovery

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Backup with VCB

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Data Replication

Enables centralized backup

Use WAN Acceleration to lower bandwidth requirements

Use De-duplication to lower storage requirements

Storage Array based replication enables more flexibility

Data Replication

ApplicationOperating SystemVirtual MachineStorage Volume

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Disaster Recovery - Manual

Data Replication

Data Replication of Virtual Machine to Recovery Site

Make storage volume writable (re-signature, rescan)

Register Virtual Machine

Adjust Virtual Machine Networking

Power On and Virtual Machine Customization (IP addresses, DNS, etc)

Follow Run Book

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Disaster Recovery with Site Recovery Manager

Simplifies and automates disaster recovery workflows:

Setup, testing, failover

Turns manual recovery runbooks into automated recovery plans

Provides central management of recovery plans from the VMware vSphere Client

Works with VMware vSphere to make disaster recovery rapid, reliable, manageable, affordable

Site Recovery Manager leverages VMware vSphere to deliver advanced

disaster recovery management and automation

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SRM Topologies

Standard Deployment:

1:1 mapping between each protected site and its recovery site

Shared Recovery Sites:

Multiple sites can be protected by a single, shared recovery site

Leverage for remote office/branch office topologies

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Summary – Remote Office Big Wins

Use Storage Replication for the most flexibility

Scalability & Simplicity over VM, App, or OS replication

Use De-duplication

Less data to move, less bandwidth required, less $/GB

Use WAN Acceleration to maximize links & user experience

More efficient data transfer = less $/link, more /user

Disaster Recovery / Business Continuity

Build a framework that will scale to DR/BC when your business needs it.

Centralize to Simplify when you can

Does Virtual Desktop fit? What can you move back to the core?

Thank You

Questions?

Contact:

James [email protected]