Virtualization Interview Q & A

7/23/2019 Virtualization Interview Q & A

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VMware Server:VMware Server is a free virtualization product for Microsoft Windows and

Linux servers. It enables you to quickly provision new server capacity or server

consolidation by partitioning a !ysical server into "ultiple virtual "ac!ines. It is

"eant for t!ose businesses w!o want to opti"ize use of t!eir tec!nology assetsusing virtualization.

Technology behind VMware Server:

#ypervisor $ % osted 'rc!itecture(

1. What is Hosted Architecture?

#osted arc!itecture is w!ere your virtualization software is installed as an

application onto t!e pre)existing !ost operating syste". *!is "eans t!at your

virtualization layer relies on your !ost operating syste" for device support and

p!ysical resource "anage"ent. VMware Server is a good exa"ple of a !ostedarc!itecture.

Hardware and Software suort:+ 'ny standard !"#co"patible or !$"#$#%co"patible personal co"puter

% ' wide variety of Windows, Linux, Solaris, and ot!er guest operating

syste"s,Including -)bit operating syste"s

& *wo)way Virtual SM'

% Intel Virtualization *ec!nology ()ntel VT*

/ 'M0)Virtualization (AMT$V*

+. Where VMware Server does fits for your environ,ent?

VMware server suits t!e require"ents and de"ands of s"all and "ediu" scalebusiness wit! non)"ission critical processes. It can provide following options to t!e

business resources.

+ Virtual Machines for software develo,ent1+ ' co""on environ"ent "atc!ing in bot! configuration and tools for

your entire tea"

% 2uick rollout of new environ"ents and tools

3 'rc!ive of entire develop"ent environ"ents for "a4or pro4ects

% Virtual Machines for software testing1

+ latfor" *esting wit! Snaps!ots

% latfor" *esting wit! ersistent and 5on)persistent 0isks

3 Virtual Machines for 'ost$release and Alication$Maintenance.

+ It can create base i"age for you develop"ent environ"ent


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% 'rc!ive of t!e develop"ent tea"6s virtual "ac!ines used during t!e

develop"ent p!ase3 7apid platfor" availability for quick support tasks and bug

investigation

7un Windows, Linux, and ot!er operating syste"s and applications wit!outSoftware conflicts.

/ Move virtual "ac!ines fro" one p!ysical !ost to anot!er wit!out !aving to

7econfigure t!e".

-eatures of VMware Server:

1. Web$ased )nterface

8se VMware Infrastructure Web 'ccess &VI Web 'ccess( to perfor" !ost and

virtual "ac!ine configuration for VMware Server %.9.

+ :reate, configure, and delete virtual "ac!ines

% 'dd and re"ove virtual "ac!ines fro" t!e inventory3 erfor" power operations &start, stop, reset, suspend, and resu"e( on

virtual Mac!ines

Monitor t!e operation of virtual "ac!ines

/ ;enerate a Web s!ortcut to custo"ize t!e VI Web 'ccess user interface forusers, wit! t!e option to li"it t!eir view to t!e console or a single virtual

"ac!ine

- ;enerate a VMware 7e"ote :onsole desktop s!ortcut t!at allows virtual

"ac!ine users to interact directly wit! t!e guest operating syste" outside ofa Web browser

< :onfigure !ost)wide VMware Server settings

+. VMware /e,ote 0onsole

VMware 7e"ote :onsole enables you to interact wit! t!e guest operating

syste"running in a virtual "ac!ine. =ou can run VMware 7e"ote :onsole on t!e

!ost or a re"ote client syste". 'fter you install it as a Web browser add)on

fro" VIWeb 'ccess, VMware 7e"ote :onsole can run independently fro"

VIWeb 'ccess.VMware 7e"ote :onsole also allows you to connect and disconnect client

:0>0V0

and floppy devices.

&. Me,ory Suort

*!e "axi"u" a"ount of "e"ory t!at can be allocated per virtual "ac!ine

is?;@. *!e a"ount of "e"ory t!at can be used by all virtual "ac!ines

co"bined is li"ited only by t!e a"ount of "e"ory on t!e !ost co"puter.


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%. u,ber of etwor2 Adaters Suorted

It can support total of +9 network adapters for a virtual "ac!ine.

3. 4uiesced ac2us of Virtual Machines on Windows

An Windows !osts, you can enable t!e VMware VSS Writer, w!ic! uses

snaps!ots to

"aintain t!e data integrity of applications running inside t!e virtual "ac!inew!en

you take backups.

#. Suort for High$Seed 5S +.6 7evices

If t!e guest operating syste" !as t!e appropriate 8S@ %.9 device drivers,

you can use perip!erals t!at require !ig!)speed perfor"ance, suc! as

speakers, webca"s,next)generation printers and scanners, fast storage devices, M3 players,

0V0)7W

drives, and !ig!)capacity :0)7AM 4ukeboxes.

@esides above t!ere are few "ore suc! as

'dditional !ost operating syste" support

'dditional guest operating syste" support

i"proved - bit guest support

- bit sound driver

5ative - bit support on linux

I"proved VIB)'I

VM:I socket interface

ottlenec2s:1 It puts "ore of your clientCs eggs in one basket. If t!e !ost "ac!ine breaks

or needs to be taken offline, several virtual servers will go down.

+ 'pplications like databases t!at require a lot of disk activity. *!e prevailing

wisdo" is t!at databases s!ould still run on dedicated p!ysical servers.& *i"e)sensitive applications like Voice over I &VoI("ay also be poor

candidates for virtualization.

% Virtual Mac!ine overload1 'pplication t!at are low I>A intensive and low

utilization are best candidates for virtualization but need to put restriction onno. of virtual "ac!ines t!at can be !andled wit! ease on p!ysical server.

VMware Server at a glance:

'rc!itecture Hosted
http://searchunifiedcommunications.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid186_gci214148,00.htmlhttp://searchunifiedcommunications.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid186_gci214148,00.html


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8S /e9uire,ents Windows or Linux

Tyical 5se 0ases *est D 0ev, roduction

7edicated Server

/e9uired

5o

0entralied Manage,ent8tion

5o

;ase of 5se #ig!

'erfor,ance ;ood

;S< Server

ESB Serveris VMware6s flags!ip enterprise server virtualization platfor". It

co"es in two versions $ ESB Server and ESBi Server w!ere t!e latter !as no

service console and is t!e t!innest version available. ESB Server !as "anyoptional features like VMotion and VM#' and so"e built)in features like t!e

VMFS file syste". Most end users purc!ase VMware ESB Server wit! so"e

set of optional features in a package called VMware Infrastructure. ESBServer is "anaged by t!e VMware Infrastructure :lient. Its centralized"anage"ent platfor" is called Virtual :enter.

-igure 1: ESB server in Enterprise &Virtual infrastructure(
http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/esx/http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/esx/


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3. What is the need of ;S< Server?

If you are an idealist t!en ESB is 4ust for you. It possesses best approac!es

to adopt t!e !ardware abstraction and "ost effective usage of your resourcest!roug! vast available tools and services so t!at you can "axi"ize your

infrastructure efficiency, reducing operational cost by providing cost effective

business continuity.

Technology behind ;S


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's ESB is enterprise wide solution for virtualization to adopt effective

!ardware abstraction, it best suits for large enterprises wit! enor"ousresources.

Hardware and Software suort with -eatures for ;S


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=ogical volu,e ,anager1 Manage t!e interaction between t!e

p!ysical storage arrays and VMFS wit! flexibility and reliability

/aw device ,aing1 Aptionally, "ap S'5 L85s directly to a virtual

"ac!ine in order to enable application clustering and array)based

snaps!ot tec!nology w!ile profiting fro" t!e "anageability benefits of

VMFS -iber 0hannel HA consolidation1 S!are expensive storage

network co"ponents across "any virtual "ac!ines w!ile "aintaining

!ardware fault tolerance

Write$through )>81 Ensure precise recovery of virtual "ac!ines in

t!e event of server failure. Write)t!roug! I>A enables virtual "ac!ines

to !ave t!e sa"e recovery c!aracteristics as a p!ysical syste" running

t!e sa"e operating syste".

oot fro, SA: 7un VMware ESB installations on diskless

configurations of blade and rack "ount servers by booting fro" S'5.

Si"plify backups and disaster recovery by eli"inating t!e need to

separately backup local attac!ed server disks

VM-S: (Virtual Machine -ile Syste,( VMware Virtual Mac!ine File Syste" is a

!ig! perfor"ance cluster file syste" w!ic! provides storage virtualization t!at isopti"ized for virtual "ac!ines. Eac! virtual "ac!ine is encapsulated in a s"all set

of filesG and VMFS is t!e default storage "anage"ent interface for t!ese files on

p!ysical S:SI disks and partitions.

Fig1 VMFS allows s!aring of storage for "ultiple ESB servers

-eatures of VM-S:*!e tec!nical features of VMFS t!at "ake it suitable for use in a virtual

environ"ent include1

+ 'uto"ated file syste" wit! !ierarc!ical directory structure

% Apti"ization for virtual "ac!ines in a clustered environ"ent3 Lock "anage"ent and distributed logical volu"e "anage"ent


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0yna"ic datastore expansion by spanning "ultiple storage extents

/ :lustered file syste" wit! 4ournal logging for fast recovery- Encapsulation of t!e entire virtual "ac!ine state in a single directory

enefits of VM-S:

+ 'uto"ated :luster File Syste" :apability

% Apti"izes VM 'ccess3 Encapsulates t!e Entire VM State in a Single 0irectory

Si"plifies rovisioning and 'd"inistration of VMs

/ rovides 0istributed Infrastructure Services for Multi)ESB Servers

- Facilitates 0yna"ic ;rowt!< Intelligent :luster Volu"e Manage"ent

? Enables #' wit! Lower Manage"ent Aver!ead

H Si"plifies 0isaster 7ecovery

VM-S V>S other file syste,s:

:onventional file syste"s allow only one server to !ave read)write

access to t!e sa"e file at a given ti"e. In contrast, VMFS is a cluster filesyste" t!at leverages s!ared storage to allow "ultiple instances of ESB

Server concurrent read and write access to t!e sa"e storage resources.

VMFS also !as distributed 4ournaling to allow fast and resilient recovery

across t!ese "ulti)server resource pools.

An)disk locking in VMFS ensures t!at a virtual "ac!ine is not powered

on by "ultiple installations of ESB Server at t!e sa"e ti"e. Wit! VMware #'

enabled, if a server fails t!e on)disk lock for eac! virtual "ac!ine is released,allowing t!e virtual "ac!ine to be restarted on ot!er p!ysical servers.

Moreover, VMFS provides t!e VM snaps!ot capabilities so necessary for

disaster recovery, and is t!e interface w!ic! VMware :onsolidated @ackup&V:@( leverages to provide proxy backup of virtual environ"ents.

VMFS does not !ave every feature found today in ot!er :FS and :VM

syste"s. #owever t!ere is no ot!er :FS>:VM t!at provides t!e capabilities of

VMFS. Its distributed locking "et!ods forge t!e link between t!e VM and t!eunderlying storage resources in a "anner t!at no ot!er :FS or :VM can

equal. *!e unique capabilities of VMFS allow VMs to 4oin a cluster sea"lessly,

wit! no "anage"ent over!ead.

- etwor2ing in ;S< Server1 5etwork virtual "ac!ines like p!ysical"ac!ines. @uild co"plex networks wit!in a single VMware ESB server oracross "ultiple installations of VMware ESB for production deploy"ents or

develop"ent and testing purposes.

Virtual )0s: :onfigure eac! virtual "ac!ine wit! one or "ore

virtual 5I:s. Eac! of t!ose network interfaces can !ave its own I

address and even its own M': address. 's a result, virtual "ac!ines


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are indistinguis!able fro" p!ysical "ac!ines fro" a networking

standpoint

Virtual switches1 :reate a si"ulated network wit!in a VMware ESB

server wit! virtual switc!es t!at connect virtual "ac!ines.

;!anded ort configuration olicies1 Si"plify port configuration

by utilizing a single configuration ob4ect across large groups of ports.*!e configuration ob4ect specifies all infor"ation needed to enable a

port1 5I: tea"ing policy &now per port instead of per virtual switc!(,

VL'5 tagging, Layer % security, and traffic s!aping.

V=A: Averlay a logical L'5 on top of p!ysical L'5s to isolate

network traffic for security and load segregation purposes. VMware

ESB VL'5s are co"patible wit! standard VL'5 i"ple"entations fro"

ot!er vendors. Modify network configurations wit!out !aving to c!angeactual cabling and switc! setups. VL'5s keep broadcast traffic li"ited

to t!e VL'5, reducing t!e network load of broadcast packets on ot!er

switc!es and network seg"ents.

'erfor,ance and Scalability:

VMware ESB delivers unparalleled perfor"ance and scalability. Wit! VMware ESB,

even t!e "ost resource intensive production applications suc! as databases, E7

and :7M can be virtualized.+ ;nhanced virtual ,achine erfor,ance1 @enefit fro" better virtual

"ac!ine perfor"ance in VMware ESB. erfor"ance i"prove"ents !ave been

ac!ieved t!roug!1

etwor2ing erfor,ance oti,iation1 7educe t!e :8 over!ead

associated wit! processing network i> Suort for hardware nested age tables1 Apti"ize "e"ory

translation ti"e between guest operating syste"s and p!ysical

"e"ory

Suort for large ,e,ory ages1 I"prove "e"ory access

efficiency for guest operating syste"s and t!e #ypervisor

Suort for 'ara virtualied =inu! guest oerating syste,s

&Linux kernel %.-.%+ onwards(. 7un !ig!er levels of perfor"ancet!roug! virtualization)aware operating syste"s

+ Advanced ,e,ory ,anage,ent:

/AM over$co,,it,ent1 Increase "e"ory utilization by configuringvirtual "ac!ine "e"ory t!at safely exceeds t!e p!ysical server

"e"ory. For exa"ple, t!e su" of t!e "e"ory of all virtual "ac!inesrunning on a server wit! ?;@ p!ysical "e"ory can be +-;@

Transarent age sharing1 8tilize available "e"ory "ore

efficiently by storing "e"ory pages identical across "ultiple virtual

"ac!ines only once. For exa"ple, if several virtual "ac!ines are

running Windows Server %993, t!ey will !ave "any identical "e"ory


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pages. *ransparent page s!aring consolidates t!ose identical pages

into a single "e"ory location.

Me,ory ballooning1 S!ift "e"ory dyna"ically fro" idle virtual

"ac!ines to active ones. Me"ory ballooning artificially induces

"e"ory pressure wit!in idle virtual "ac!ines, forcing t!e" to use

t!eir own paging areas and release "e"ory for active virtual"ac!ines.

3 ),roved ower ,anage,ent1 Lower t!e data center utility bill wit!

i"proved power "anage"ent. VMware ESB enters a low power !altJ statew!en a :8 is not sc!eduled.

%$Way Virtual SM'(Sy,,etric ,ultile rocessor*1 Enable a single

virtual "ac!ine to use up to four p!ysical processors si"ultaneously. VMwareESB extends t!is unique feature fro" two to four processors. Wit! )way

Virtual SM even t!e "ost processor intensive software applications like

databases and "essaging servers can be virtualized.

/ #% /AM for virtual ,achines1 7un t!e "ost "e"ory)intensiveworkloads in virtual "ac!ines wit! a "e"ory li"it extended to -;@.

- Suort for owerful hysical server syste,s1 *ake advantage of verylarge server syste"s wit! up to 3% logical :8s and %/-;@ 7'M for large

scale server consolidation and 07 pro4ects.

< Suort for u to 1+" owered$on virtual ,achines1 *ake advantage of

very large server syste"s for enterprise)class server consolidation and

contain"ent wit! support for up to +%? powered on virtual "ac!ines on a

single server.

? -le!ible virtual switches1 Scale up to !andle "ore virtual "ac!ines.

Virtual switc!es can be created wit! any nu"ber of ports fro" ? to +9+-,

and up to %? virtual switc!es are supported per !ost.

H Wa2e$on =A: Enable !ig!er consolidation ratios by allowing virtual

"ac!ines to go on stand)by "ode w!en not used.

)nteroerability:

VMware ESB is t!e only virtualization platfor" opti"ized, rigorously tested and

certified across t!e co"plete I* stack of servers, storage, operating syste"s, and

software applications allowing for enterprise)wide standardization.

+ Hardware: VMware ESB !as been certified wit! industry)leading rack, tower

and blade servers fro" 0ell, Fu4itsu Sie"ens, #, I@M, 5E:, Sun


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Microsyste"s and 8nisys as well as servers t!at confor" to Intel w!ite)box

standard specifications.VMware ESBi is integrated into server !ardware guaranteeing t!at

virtualization works out of t!e box.

% Storage: VMware ESB is certified wit! a wide range of storage syste"sfro", 0ell, EM:, EqualLogic, Fu4itsu, Fu4itsu Sie"ens, #, #itac!i 0ata

Syste"s, I@M, 5E:, 5etwork 'ppliance, Storage*ek, Sun Microsyste"s and

3'7 and "any ot!er vendors.

Heterogeneous storage arrays1 8tilize a wide variety of

!eterogeneous storage devices in t!e sa"e VMFS volu"e

AS and iS0S) SA suort1 @y supporting lower)cost, "ore easily

"anaged s!ared storage, VMware ESB furt!er reduces total cost of

owners!ip of I* environ"ents. 'dvanced VMware Infrastructurefeatures like VMotion and VMware #' are fully supported wit! 5'S and

iS:SI environ"ents

% -ibre 0hannel SA suort1 :entralize "anage"ent and

configuration of all VMware ESB servers in Virtual:enter. =ocal SATA storage suort1 8se select servers wit! local S'*'

storage to furt!er lower total cost of owners!ip w!ile consolidating

workloads

3 etwor2ing:8se !ig! perfor"ance networking suc! as +9 ;ig E and

Infiniband wit! VMware ESB 3./ and VMware ESBi 3./ for t!e "ost network

intensive workloads

8erating syste,s1 7un any software application in VMware virtual

"ac!ines.

-)bit guest operating syste" suppor Solaris +9 operating syste" suppor

Windows Vista operating syste" support

8buntu guest operating syste" support

/ Software alicationswit! t!ird party syste"s "anage"ent productst!roug! Web services 'Is provided by t!e VMware Infrastructure S0K.

- Suort for other virtual ,achine for,ats1 VMware ESB can run virtual

"ac!ines created in non)VMware for"ats. 8sing t!e free VMware VirtualMac!ine I"porter users can run Microsoft Virtual Server and Virtual :,

and Sy"antec LiveState 7ecovery virtual "ac!ines in VMware ESB.

Manage,ent:

+ /e,ote 0o,,and =ine )nterface. Manage VMware ESBi t!roug! a re"oteexecution environ"ent t!at can run VMware ESB co""and scripts.


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% Advanced ,anageability and usability features1 VMware ESB enables"anage"ent of entire virtualized I* environ"ent.

3 SM)$S$0o,liant Manage,ent )nterfaces1 Monitor virtual storage using

any standard SMI)S)aware storage "anage"ent tool.

Virtual )nfrastructure 0lient1 Manage VMware ESB, virtual "ac!ines, and

&optionally( VMware v:enter Server wit! a co""on user interface.

/ Virtual )nfrastructure Web Access1 Manage VMware ESB wit! si"ple

Web interface &for"erly known as t!e Manage"ent 8ser Interface, or M8I(.

- Virtual ,achine shortcuts:Enable self)!elp for end users wit! directaccess to virtual "ac!ines t!roug! a Web browser.

< /e,ote devices: Install software in a virtual "ac!ine running on a server

fro" t!e :0)7AM of a desktop wit!out leaving your desk.

? Agent$less Hardware Manage,ent with 0)M1 *!e :o""on Infor"ation

Model &:IM( provides a protocol for "onitoring !ardware !ealt! and status

t!roug! Virtual:enter or :IM)co"patible 3rd party tools.Fig1 ESB)Virtual :enter


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/esource 8ti,iation:

It defines advanced resource allocation policies for virtual "ac!ines to i"prove

service levels to software applications. Establis! "ini"u", "axi"u", andproportional resource s!ares for :8, "e"ory, disk and network bandwidt!.

Modify allocations w!ile virtual "ac!ines are running. Enable applications to

dyna"ically acquire "ore resources to acco""odate peak perfor"ance.

+ 0'5 caacity rioritiation1 :8 capacity is assigned to virtual "ac!ines

on a fair s!areJ basis and :8 resource controls also allow an absolute

"ini"u" level of :8 capacity to be provided to critical virtual "ac!ines

% Storage )>8 traffic rioritiation: Ensure t!at critical virtual "ac!ines

receive priority access to storage devices. I>A traffic fro" virtual "ac!ines to

disk can be prioritized on a fair s!areJ basis.

3 etwor2 Traffic Shaer1 Ensure t!at critical virtual "ac!ines receive

priority access to network bandwidt!. 5etwork traffic fro" virtual "ac!ines

can be prioritized on a fair s!areJ basis. 5etwork *raffic S!aper "anages

virtual "ac!ine network traffic to "eet peak bandwidt!, average bandwidt!and burst size constraints.

/esource 'ool: 'ggregate collections of !ardware resources virtualized by

VMware ESB into unified logical resources t!at can be allocated to virtual"ac!ines on)de"and. 7esource pools increase flexibility and !ardware

utilization.

Security:

+ 0o,atibility with SA security ractices1 Enforce security policies wit!

L85 zoning and L85 "asking.

% V=A tagging1 En!ance network security by tagging and filtering network

traffic on VL'5s. Li"it t!e scope of broadcast do"ains.

3 =ayer + networ2 security olicies1 Enforce security for virtual "ac!inesat t!e Et!ernet layer. 0isallow pro"iscuous "ode sniffing of network traffic,

M': address c!anges, and forged source M': trans"its.

;S< V0(VMware 0onsolidated bac2u*:

V:@ is a group of Windows co""and line utilities, installed on a Windowssyste", t!at !as S'5 connectivity to t!e ESB Server VMFS file syste". Wit!


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V:@, you can perfor" file level or i"age level backups and restores of t!e

VM guests, back to t!e V:@ server. FFf

Fig1 ESB)V:@

;S


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'rc!itecture Hyervisor

8S /e9uire,ents 5one

Tyical 5se 0ases roduction, *est D 0ev

7edicated Server

/e9uired

=es

0entralied

Manage,ent 8tion

=es

;ase of 5se #ig!

'erfor,ance @est

0o,arison between VMware ;S< Server and VMware Server using V$Mar2:

7unning VM"ark using ESB Server on an # 0L/?/ wit! four %.%;#z dual)coreprocessors and t!en ran VM"ark on VMware Server using a si"ilar # 0L/?/ wit!

four %. ;#z dual)core processors. *!e result is as below1

*!ese results s!ow t!at ESB Server not only ac!ieves !ig!er t!roug!put t!anVMware Server for a single VM"ark tile &- workload VMs( but also ex!ibits better

scalability w!en a second tile is added


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Virtualization Interview Q & A

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