VMWARE

VIRTUALIZATIONA Case Study of

VMWARE

David RamirezPVAMU – Fall 2008

VIRTUALIZATION

HISTORY• Initially developed in the 60’s to leverage

the usage of mainframe computers.• Each user sees the machine as fully

dedicated (timeslot multitasking).• Was deployed from the late 60’s to the mid

80’s, then abandoned in favor of the emerging mini and microcomputer architectures.

VIRTUALIZATION

• VMWARE appears after successful reutilization of the virtualization concept for a (non-standard) multiprocessor prototype. Standard software could be run using middleware. (Stanford University).

• Investigation team founds VMWARE in 1999. First desktop product in the same year, server version in 2001.

VIRTUALIZATION

Concept :

VMware Server

• Becomes the lowest software layer, just above hardware.

VMWare Server

• Alternative architecture (addreses I/O concerns) :

PARADIGM OF VIRTUALIZATION

VIRTUALIZATION

• VMware software provides a completely virtualized set of hardware to the guest operating system.

• VMware software virtualizes the hardware for a video adapter, a network adapter, and hard disk adapters. The host provides pass-through drivers for guest USB, serial, and parallel devices.

VIRTUALIZATION

• VMware virtual machines become highly portable between computers, because every host looks nearly identical to the guest.

• A systems administrator can pause operations on a virtual machine guest, move or copy that guest to another physical computer, and there resume execution exactly at the point of suspension.

VMWARE IN THE ENTERPRISE

• Consolidation of servers• Isolation of applications• Run legacy software• Fast provisioning• Elastic operation• Fail-over• Disaster recovery• Reduced carbon footprint: Green computing

Implementation: Administration Console

PARAMETRIZATION

Guest Boot-up

Installing a new O.S.

Up and running in less than 5’

Instant switchover to any other O.S. in my server

And all this happens on my WinXP desktop…

Taking a snapshot

• Stored as a file : can be archived, copied, transmitted, analyzed.

SERVER OVERVIEW

ADVANTAGES

• Encapsulation : strong isolation, independence between guest machines.

• A VM is a file: can be copied, replicated, transmitted (migrated), stored.

• Complete VM can be deployed from templates, ready with configuration and data.

• Efficient use of resources.• Hardware seen as pool of resources available

on-demand on an arbitrary basis.

ADVANTAGES (2)

• Easy overview - administration

• Consolidation of physical underutilized servers.

• Run legacy applications / platforms.

• Ideal platform for disaster recovery.

• Easy backup

DISADVANTAGES

• Each guest must still be administered.• Inter-guest interactions difficult to monitor.• Licensing compliance for operating

systems / applications must be complied to.

• Compromise of Server can disrupt all the guests.

• Administrative errors on server can disturb all guests.

COMPETITION

• Microsoft HyperV as part of Windows 2008: no need for a separate VM anymore. (Launched 1st week October 2008).

• SUN VirtualBox (xVM)

• CITRIX : XEN open source project.

CASE STUDY: Welch’s$ 700M Foods and Beverages Industry Company

“We migrated a large number of servers into VMware virtual machines. We saw how well the applications performed, and we never looked back. At this point, all new programs are built using VMware software. It’s become our server hosting platform of choice.“

Carmine Iannace, Manager of IT Architecture, Welch’s

WELCH’S

CHALLENGE

• Server consolidation and optimized management

SOLUTION

• VMware virtual infrastructure provides centralized management, reporting, performance and high availability

Welch’s Success Story“We were running too many applications on standalone servers,” says Carmine Iannace,

manager of IT architecture for Welch’s. “CPU utilization was low, and the servers took up too much space and required quite a bit of electrical power and cooling.”

VMware virtual infrastructure at Work:

• A total of 86 virtual machines running on eight physical servers• GSX Server on IBM x350 with 2 CPUs, 16 GB RAM• ESX Server on Dell PowerEdge 6650s, 6600s with 4 CPUs, 32 GB RAM• VMware Workstation on Latitude D600 laptops

• SAN storage: EMC Clariion CX 600• GSX Server host OS: Microstoft® Windows ® 2003 enterprise edition• ESX and GSX guest OSes: 2000, 2003, Linux ® RedHat AS 2.1, AS 3.0, hitebox• Workstation host OSes: 2000 Professional, XP • Guest OSes: Windows 2000 Professional, XP, 2003, • Applications running in virtual machines include: webMethods®, Oracle® 9i, 11i and

10g, Microsoft SQL 2000, Microsoft Exchange, Plumtree® Portal, Computer Associate

WELCH’S

Results• Reduced TCO by 20-30 percent• Saved more than $100,000• Saved $75,000 this year in switch costs• Expect to save $250,000 by the end of the year• CPU utilization increased from 5-10 percent to 50-60 percent• Reduced deployment time from 4-6 hours to 15-20 minutes. Server

procurement also used to take 2-4 weeks• VirtualCenter cut costs and maximized ease of server management• Achieved high availability with VMotion• Implemented effective disaster recovery solution on VMware virtual

machines

The End

Thanks