Virtualization - An Introduction (Study Notes)

Virtualization in IT Infrastructure

Benefits of Virtualization in IT

Study Notes for

+W Series - Technology Skills For Women1

http://SlideShare.net/OxfordCambridge

1 Men too are allowed to read this document, if they wish to do so, as the language style and the document format are universal .

http://slideshare.net/OxfordCambridge

Study Notes http://SlideShare.net/OxfordCambridge

2 | P a g e V i r t u a l i z a t i o n i n I T : B e n e f i t s o f V i r t u a l i z a t i o n

Table of Contents

About “+W Series - Technology Skills For Women” .............................................................................................................................................. 3 About This Study Notes Set .............................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Objectives of this Study Notes Set ................................................................................................................................................................................. 4

I. BENEFITS OF VIRTUALIZATION IN IT ............................................................................................................................... 7

A. UNDERSTANDING VIRTUALIZATION ............................................................................................................................................................ 8 Infrastructure underutilized ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 11 Increased costs of physical infrastructure ............................................................................................................................................................. 12 Increased costs of management and maintenance ............................................................................................................................................ 13 A need for greater disaster protection ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Question .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 15

B. THE BENEFITS OF USING VMWARE .......................................................................................................................................................... 16 Resource efficiency ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 16 Cost and energy consumption ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 18 Business continuity ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 19 Operational flexibility ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 21 Desktop manageability and security ......................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Question .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 23 Question .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 23

II. ANNEXES: ..................................................................................................................................................................................25

A. GLOSSARY ..................................................................................................................................................................................................... 26 B. ANSWERS TO QUIZZES ................................................................................................................................................................................ 29




About “+W Series - Technology Skills For Women”

Study Notes in the field of technology will be put together under this category for the following reasons:

to encourage ladies, who wish to do so, to stand up and look over the fence into technology related

topics;

with no apprehension or fear;

and perhaps consider embracing a career move into a technological path;

or simply as to broaden their general knowledge; after all ICT is in most aspects of everyday life;

no matter the decision, their skills, professional strengths, and contribution can only be something

positive for technical and technological fields.

Enjoy!




About This Study Notes Set

Virtualization has become increasingly desirable in today's IT infrastructures. Companies from small start-ups to enterprise environments are turning to virtualization, not only for testing, but also for full production environments now.

Virtualization is a technology that enables multiple operating systems and applications to run on a single physical computer. Each system is isolated and runs on a separate virtual machine. Hardware resources are dynamically allocated among the virtual machines. In a cloud configuration, the collective resources of multiple servers can be allocated to large numbers of virtual machines.

VMware virtualization software enables more efficient resource use through consolidation. It reduces energy consumption and costs, improves business continuity, and increases operational flexibility. It also improves desktop manageability and security.

Objectives of this Study Notes Set

Recognize the benefits of virtualization. Recognize what virtualization can enable you to do.




Virtualization in IT Infrastructure: Foreword

Virtualization technology is one of the most prominent IT field and has commenced a top to bottom overhaul of the computing industry.

Virtualization is defined as the act of creating a virtual, rather than actual, version of something. In the context of computing, it is a proven software technology that allows multiple applications and operating systems to run on the same server concurrently. It led off in the 1960s, as a way of logically dividing the system resources provided by mainframe computers between various applications.

Virtualization can be achieved in numerous forms. Some of them are:

Hardware Virtualization: Converting one physical server into several individual & isolated virtual spaces that can be taken up by multiple number of users based on their requirements

Desktop Virtualization: Isolating a logical operating system (OS) instance from the client that used to access it

Application Virtualization: Encapsulating computer programs from the underlying operating system (OS) on which it is run, thereby enhancing portability

Storage Virtualization: Amalgamating multiple network storage devices into a single storage unit Network Virtualization: Combining network resources (both hardware and software) and network

functionality into a single, software-based administrative entity, rather a virtual network

Virtualization transforms the IT landscape and changes the way people utilize technology. Some of its major cutting edge benefits include:

IT expense reduction Efficiency and agility boost-up Faster workload deployment High performance and availability Automated operations

Virtual Servers:

A Virtual Server is a piece of software which emulates a physical server. The virtual server operates in the same

way as a physical server, without the physical presence. A collection of virtual servers is known as a hypervisor – a

piece of software that allows several virtualized servers to run at once. A hypervisor can be used to run a

virtualized complex desktop, and makes virtual desktops accessible through a thin client.

The benefits of a Server Virtualization, incude:

No maintenance, as the virtual server provider takes cares of upgrades, updates and servicing

Reduced energy consumption, as there is no excess power needed for physical servers, or the air

conditioning needed to cool them down.

Pay as you go, rather than large expenditures associated with owning hardware and servers.

Easier to move towards Cloud Computing after installing a virtual server.

Virtualizing your server makes backing up and disaster recovery much easier.




Virtual Applications:

Traditionally, software applications are installed locally on a server or a desktop client. Now, with Virtual

Applications, the software is no longer hosted locally and instead delivered virtually. After moving applications to

a virtual environment, you can now use thin client terminals – which are cheaper, save space, and are easier to

manage.

The benefit of virtualizing applications, include:

Gain access to software applications from any web enabled device, at any time. It isn’t limited to the

platform you access it from, Apple, Windows, Android or Blackberry.

Reduce downtime as the Cloud is constantly available, which means that virtual applications can be

accessible almost 100% of the time.

Quicker and easier to implement than traditional applications.




I. Benefits of Virtualization in IT

A. Understanding virtualization

B. The benefits of using VMware




A. Understanding virtualization

Instead of one computer running a single operating system and application, virtualization enables today's computers to run numerous virtual machines(VMs) simultaneously.

So you can run several operating systems and applications on a single machine, as if they were actually running on separate physical computers.




Virtualization software provides a layer between the physical hardware and two or more operating systems on a computer. This layer includes a monitor known as a hypervisor.

The hypervisor dynamically assigns the resources and hardware capacity of the computer to multiple virtual machines(VMs), each with its own operating system.




So each virtual machine (VM) acts as a separate system, with its own access to CPU, RAM, hard disk capacity, and the network controller. No conflicts over resources occur between the virtual machines(VMs) and, in practice, they function like separate computers.

Virtualization was used by IBM as far back as the late 1960s as a means to partition costly mainframes into separate virtual machines(VMs).




Virtualization received less focus during the 1980s and 90s as hardware developed and inexpensive x86 chips led to cheaper distributed computing.

More recently, several factors have led to a renewed interest in virtualization. These include:

Infrastructure underutilized

X86 chips (in machines) are often underutilized. Most organizations still typically run only one critical application per server. This ensures that the application doesn't have to compete for resources. However, it can also mean that only 10% to 15% of the capacity of an average x86 chip is used.




Increased costs of physical infrastructure

The costs of the physical resources required to support IT infrastructures have risen steadily. These resources include physical equipment and electricity costs.




Increased costs of management and maintenance

As the complexity of technology has increased, the costs of training staff and managing servers has gone up too. Organizations increasingly require software solutions to lessen the burden of maintaining and managing company servers and high-end PCs.

A need for greater disaster protection

With IT taking an ever greater part in day-to-day business operations, the potential risks posed by server downtime have become more serious. Organizations need to find ways to minimize both planned and unplanned downtime, and to ensure that critical data is protected.

Virtualization software offers solutions to these infrastructure and operational challenges.

Instead of running virtual machines(VMs) on just one physical machine, you can use virtualization software to link many physical computers, each hosting multiple virtual machines(VMs). This collection of servers is known as a Cloud.

In a cloud, virtualization software can coordinate the collective resources of all your hardware. It allocates these resources dynamically, based on where they're needed.

This enables you to create a full, virtual infrastructure for applications and operating systems.

These are some of the advantages of using virtualization:

It eliminates the need to assign servers or storage space and enables coordinated management of applications.

It makes it unnecessary to assign permanent, fixed bandwidth for use by particular applications. It optimizes the use of hardware resources, which are shared among virtual machines(VMs) based on

the priorities assigned to processes.

Another advantage of using virtualization software in a cloud configuration is better disaster protection. If one server in a cloud fails, resources from other servers will remain available to all applications.




This prevents the potentially long periods of downtime that can occur when a traditional server running just one application fails.

Cloud systems also offer improved scalability – an organization's internal cloud can be connected to a larger external cloud.




Questioni

What does virtualization software enable you to do?

Options:

1. Run multiple applications and operating systems on a single computer 2. Reduce the hardware capacity required to run specific applications 3. Decrease the likelihood of server failures 4. Distribute the collective hardware resources of multiple servers among a large number of systems and

applications

(for answers see endnotes)




B. The benefits of using VMware

Unlike mainframes, x86 computers weren't designed to support full virtualization.

In 1999, however, VMware introduced virtualization software that resolved many of the challenges that prevented the virtualization of x86 computers. Today, VMware is recognized as a leader in virtualization technology.

There are several benefits of using VMware to handle your virtualization needs.

Resource efficiency

In organizations that use one physical machine per workload, most servers use only a small fraction of their total load capacity. This is highly inefficient – it leads to over-provisioning and underutilization of existing resources.

VMware enables the use of multiple virtual machines(VMs) on a single physical server. Resources like processing capacity, memory, and storage are dynamically assigned to the virtual machines(VMs), each of which can run a different application and operating system – for example Windows, Linux, Solaris, or Macintosh.




This consolidation of functions can increase hardware utilization from around 10% to as high as 80%. In turn, this means you can assign more tasks to a single server.

Many VMware customers routinely run 10 or more applications from a single piece of hardware.

This translates into a significant saving – running 10 applications in the traditional server model would typically require that you buy 10 machines.




Cost and energy consumption

By enabling you to run many virtual machines(VMs) per server, VMware can reduce organizations' energy costs by up to 80% without compromising system reliability or service levels. For example, running 10 virtual machines(VMs) from a single system eliminates the power consumption of nine machines.

It's estimated that underutilized servers produce as much as 80 million tons of carbon dioxide every year. So as well as reducing organizations' costs, the energy savings provided through VMware play an important role in protecting the environment.

Currently networks that already use VMware run about 1.2 million workloads in virtual environments. This represents an aggregate power saving of 8.5 billion kWh.

WMware supports a feature known as Distributed Power Management, or DPM for short. The DPM function monitors the utilization of hardware and powers down unneeded physical servers. This further increases energy efficiency.




Further power savings can be realized by replacing underutilized desktops with thin clients and allowing heavy processing to occur on servers. Thin clients typically consume far less energy, last longer, and are cheaper to replace than the high-end PC desktops used in many offices today.

Eliminating traditional PCs and properly integrating thin clients with the servers in a datacenter can significantly reduce power consumption in an organization.

Business continuity

VMware improves business continuity by:

Virtualizing business-critical applications




Enabling better data protection Improving availability, And enabling the use of holistic disaster recovery plans.

Running all business-critical applications from virtual machines(VMs) in a cloud configuration makes organizations less vulnerable to downtime. If one physical server fails, hardware resources from other servers will remain available to all the applications.

It can also dramatically reduce administrative overhead and associated disruptions. Instead of having to upgrade or add software to a large number of individual PCs in a network, you can manage business-critical applications centrally and consistently, for all users.




Maintaining the integrity of data is one of the most important factors in maintaining business continuity. VMware supports automated, non-disruptive backup and restore processes, and enables you to formulate simpler data protection plans that encompass all systems.

VMware also enables you to take images of virtual machines(VMs). An image is a clone or copy of a VM machine and all its associated software settings at the time the image is saved. You can think of it much like a snapshot of a system at a given point. It can be used to make backups of files and settings on any virtual machine (VM).

By removing the dependence of business-critical applications on single physical servers, VMware eliminates downtime due to hardware maintenance or errors. This ensures high availability of applications and good business continuity.

In a purely physical datacenter, incompatibility among different systems can result in failures. It also prevents the planning of backup and recovery procedures for the datacenter as a whole.

VMware eliminates any hardware incompatibility that might be behind system failures by providing a completely virtual datacenter.

It also enables you to run disaster scenarios and test disaster recovery plans without disrupting or destabilizing services. Because the datacenter is virtual rather than linked to individual pieces of hardware, you can formulate holistic disaster recovery plans.

Operational flexibility

Organizations' needs and workloads often change or fluctuate. For example, server workloads and resource requirements may be significantly higher in some months than in others. Together with day-to-day problems like hardware failures or incompatibility, this means it's often necessary to reconfigure servers.




VMware improves operational flexibility by making it easy to reconfigure systems and reassign resources whenever necessary.

If a physical server fails or the resource needs of applications change in a VMware cloud configuration, the collective resources of servers in the cloud are simply reassigned.

Compare this to what occurs in a traditional system based on one application per physical server. Replacing a server after a failure would involve locating a physical machine with the required capacity, loading and configuring the appropriate operating system and application software, and possibly updating network configuration tables.

Similarly, reconfiguring physical servers to increase their capacity can involve downtime.

Using VMware, you can save images of virtual machines(VMs) and use these to restore or replicate system configuration. So you can choose to save a successful virtual configuration before making system changes and then reload the original configuration when needed.




You can also quickly set up saved virtual machines(VMs) on another hardware configuration, for example in another office.

Desktop manageability and security

VMware improves desktop manageability and security by enabling you to:

Integrate branches and offices by providing local and remote users with access to the same virtual machines(VMs)

Allow end users outside a company firewall to access virtual machines(VMs) without exposing data, which improves security and makes managing mobile users easier

Grant third-party stakeholders with unmanaged desktops temporary access to virtual machines(VMs), without risking data leakage or code intrusion

Migrate operating systems and other software more easily by isolating applications, eliminating conflicts, and maximizing program uptime during these processes

Maintain and distribute software licenses by using discovery and audit tools to manage and track the distribution of applications

Monitor regulator compliance by tracking when and by whom applications are used.

VMware enables you to set up a datacenter so that desktops can access data without the associated risks of data being downloaded onto physical hardware.

With WMware, you can decide who gets access to what resources and ensure that data does not have to leave the system for work to be done.

In addition, you can upload images of prepared virtual machines(VMs) to make the process of migrating operating systems and software a lot easier.

Questionii

Using VMware can have several important benefits for organizations. Identify some of the benefits

of using VMware.

Options:

1. It enables more efficient use of existing hardware resources 2. It provides improved operational flexibility 3. It eliminates the need for physical servers 4. It makes all operating systems compatible


Questioniii

Using VMware can have several important benefits for organizations. What are additional benefits of using VMware?

Options:




1. Reduced costs through energy savings 2. Improved business continuity 3. Improved desktop manageability and security 4. Reduced power consumption by physical servers and all desktops that access a datacenter 5. Prevention of hardware conflicts through the use of only one operating system





II. Annexes:

Glossary

Answers to Quizzes




A. Glossary

central processing unit

See CPU.

cloud

A virtual and physical IT infrastructure of resources that behaves like a single computer system, including but not limited to processing and storage capacity, networking capacity, peripherals, and telecommunications components.

cloud operating system

An operating system that manages a cloud and facilitates server consolidation through clustering and virtualization.

clustering

A method that connects and consolidates multiple computer systems and their resources to form a single accessible resource.

CPU

Central processing unit, the main microprocessor chip that processes data in a computer system.

datacenter

A physical facility that houses computer and networking systems.

hypervisor

A software program that is responsible for virtualizing computer hardware/software resources so that multiple operating systems can run on one host computer.

infrastructure

All the physical and virtual IT systems and resources within an organization.

scalable

A scalable software platform is one that can scale dynamically according to the requirements of applications running on the software platform. Dynamic scaling enables resources that are no longer needed to be released and made available to other applications on the platform.

server consolidation

An approach to reducing the number of physical servers in an IT infrastructure – often through virtualization – by combing their hardware and processing power, for better space and cost efficiency, reliability, and to reduce time spent on maintenance and troubleshooting.

shell

A software component that enables the user to interface with the operating system kernel.

storage arrays

Collections of linked storage devices, usually hard disk drives.

virtual appliance marketplace

A library of applications and operating systems for a virtual environment and cloud.

virtual infrastructure

IT infrastructure that enables sharing of resources across multiple virtual machines and applications, using virtualization technologies.

virtual machines




Isolated suites of software comprising a shell that contains an operating system and can run applications, as if it were a physical computer. VMware virtual machines are created on hosts running virtualization technologies such as VMware Server or VMware Workstation.

virtualization

The act of converting physical resources into virtual machines, and of running applications on virtual machines to share consolidated resources and processing power.

VMware ACE

A VMware product that securely deploys and controls virtual machines across an infrastructure from a single management point.

VMware Capacity Planner

A VMware product used to plan or optimize capacity for maximum performance within a virtual infrastructure, by collecting and analyzing utilization data, and performing modeling that can assist in decision-making.

VMware Consolidated Backup

A VMware product that backs up virtual machines without disruption and reduces the load on servers.

VMware ESX

A VMware hypervisor that uses server consolidation to provide high-level reliability, optimal performance, continuity, disaster recover, and energy efficiency.

VMware ESXi

A VMware hypervisor that runs multiple operating systems on one server, backs up data, and restores applications.

VMware Fusion

A VMware utility that enables virtual machines to launch Windows products on an Intel-based Apple Mac.

VMware HA

VMware High Availability, a product that supports reliable clustering across a virtual infrastructure.

VMware Infrastructure 3

A virtual infrastructure management suite that creates a shared dynamic platform that is reliable, secure, and easily scalable.

VMware Lifecycle Manager

A product that manages the lifecycle of virtual machines in the datacenter.

VMware Orchestrator

A product that automates tasks, enables multiple solutions, and enables administrators to develop automated processes in the virtual environment.

VMware Player

A VMware utility that allows you to run multiple virtual machines on a desktop computer, contain preconfigured products, and shared data between host computer and virtual machine.

VMware Server

The VMware product that provides the platform for virtualization and the dynamic creation, deployment, and decommissioning of virtual machines.

VMware Storage VMotion

A utility that facilitates the transmission of files from virtual machines across storage arrays.

VMware ThinApp

A utility that eliminates application conflict through application virtualization.




VMware Tools

A suite of utilities that enhances performance of the operating system on a virtual machine and improves management of the virtual machine.

VMware vCenter Converter

A utility to automate and simplify physical to virtual machine conversions as well as conversions between virtual machine formats.

VMware vCenter Server

A VMware product providing a scalable and extensible platform that forms the foundation for virtualization management.

VMware vCenter Update Manager

A utility for automating updates and patches of VMware vSphere and virtual machines.

VMware View

A portfolio of products that enables centralized management of virtual desktops in the datacenter, while allowing end users to personalize their view of all applications and data.

VMware View Composer

A product that delivers personalized virtual desktops to any computer in the datacenter and gives end-users control of their applications and data.

VMware VMotion

See VMware Storage VMotion.

VMware VMsafe

An application program interface (API)-sharing program that enables partners to develop security products for VMware environments, to provide better protection to applications on virtual machines.

VMware vSphere

A cloud operating system that gives control over the virtual IT infrastructure.

VMware vStorage VMFS

A product that controls virtual storage volumes dynamically, improves utilization, and reduces inefficient use of storage space.

VMware Workstation

A VMware product that enables you to create, deploy, manage, and decommission virtual machines on a desktop computer.




B. Answers to Quizzes

i Answer

Option 1: Correct. Virtualization software enables you to share the hardware resources of a single computer among independent operating systems and applications.

Option 2: Incorrect. Virtualization software enables you to optimize the hardware resources of computers by sharing these among applications running on separate virtual machines. It doesn't actually reduce the hardware requirements of applications.

Option 3: Incorrect. Virtualization software can't help prevent server failures. In a cloud system, however, it can help ensure that the failure of a server won't result in downtime. When one server fails, hardware resources from other servers will remain available to all applications running in the cloud.

Option 4: Correct. You can use virtualization software in a cloud configuration. This enables you to distribute the collective hardware resources of several servers among a large number of operating systems and applications running on separate virtual machines.

Correct answer(s):

1. Run multiple applications and operating systems on a single computer.

4. Distribute the collective hardware resources of multiple servers among a large number of systems and applications.

ii Answer

Option 1: Correct. VMware enables organizations to make significantly better use of existing hardware resources. It does this by enabling multiple applications on separate virtual machines to use the hardware resources of a single physical server, or the collective resources of multiple servers in a cloud configuration.

Option 2: Correct. VMware improves operational flexibility by enabling you to reassign hardware resources automatically and to use images of virtual machines to save and reload particular system configurations when they're needed.

Option 3: Incorrect. VMware enables multiple applications to use the collective hardware resources of servers simultaneously. It doesn't eliminate the need for basic hardware.

Option 4: Incorrect. VMware doesn't eliminate the incompatibility issues that exist between operating systems. However, it enables you to run multiple systems on separate virtual machines on the same physical machine.

Correct answer(s):




1. It enables more efficient use of existing hardware resources 2. It provides improved operational flexibility

iii Answer

Option 1: Correct. By enabling the use of fewer servers and ensuring resources on these servers are used efficiently, VMware can dramatically reduce energy consumption and the associated costs.

Option 2: Correct. VMware minimizes downtime and ensures the continued functioning of business-critical applications. If a physical server in a cloud fails, hardware resources from other servers are dynamically assigned to the applications running on separate virtual machines. VMware also simplifies the backup and recovery of a full datacenter.

Option 3: Correct. VMware improves desktop manageability and security by enabling you to control and monitor all users' access to virtual machines, as well as the licensing and use of applications.

Option 4: Incorrect. Using WMware won't reduce the energy consumption of physical servers and PCs. However, it reduces the number of servers required, enables users to use thin clients in place of high-end PCs, and automatically powers down unused servers.

Option 5: Incorrect. VMware prevents conflicts by isolating different operating systems on separate virtual machines. It enables the simultaneous use of multiple operating systems.

Correct answer(s):

1. Reduced costs through energy savings 2. Improved business continuity 3. Improved desktop manageability and security
