CIO Roundtable

Introduction to VirtualizationMay 14, 2009

Jeff Reid

VirtualizationBefore Virtualization – IT Resources Model – Bind a given software application or service to a specific Operation System (OS) which had been developed to run on a particular hardware platform

Virtualization – IT Resources Model – Decouple the components from the earlier model and make them available from a common resource pool

Why Virtualize? – -Resource utilization increases- Management overhead is lessened (But still absolutely necessary)

- Capacity planning is called out as needing major attention- Decreases costs through consolidation and containment (future costs)- Promotes resource consolidation- IT “green” by reducing power consumption etc.- Automation (Examples) –

- Load Balancing and provide capacity on demand- Template creation allows for new Virtual servers in 30 mins or less

Virtualization TermsVirtualization focus areas – Servers, storage, desktop,

applications, and network

Virtualization Model – VMs turn hardware into software instances which the Hypervisor then maps to the physical server, router, switch, or storage device.

Hypervisor – Also called the virtualization layer. Special software/firmware component that performs mapping between virtual and physical resources

Connection Broker – (Desktop Virtualization) – A software component that allows a user to connect to his or her virtual desktop – to the data and services associated with that user – in ways like thin client, existing desktop, laptop, and/or remote desktop protocol (RDP)

Virtualization offeringsSome examples of Virtualization Software with my comments –

1. VMWare – Widely considered to be the market leader with first to market functionality but also most costly (focus of this introduction)

2. Microsoft Hyper V – Relatively new to the market. Currently offering zero percent financing on entire virtualization package including storage etc.

3. Citrix Xen – Capitalizing on their previous thin client experience

4. Virtual Iron – Estimated by one VAR to be half the price of VMWare and with a smaller feature set (Announcement from Oracle on 5/14/2008 on acquisition)

Virtualized Servers Break dependencies between OS and hardware

Increases utilization and decreases operating costs by sharing server hardware resources across a large number of virtual machines.

Treat data center as a single pool of server processing, storage and networking power

Virtualized Storage (I used Compellent as the model – verify by supplier)

Break dependencies between servers and storage

Increases utilization and decreases operating costs by virtualizing all disks into one pool of storage, accessible by any server

Provision storage for hundreds of virtual servers without wasted storage capacity

Mix drive capacities and speeds within volumes

Get servers and applications online faster

VirtualVolumes Vol 2 Vol 1 Vol 3

Dynamically prioritize compute resources based on business needs

Dynamic balancing of computing resources across resource pools

Intelligent resource allocation based on pre-defined rules

Add hardware dynamically to avoid over-provisioning to peak load

Dynamically prioritize storage resources based on business needs

Thin Provisioning and Automated Tiered Storage put storage resources where they are needed

Additional drives add to capacity and performance

Re-balancing is automatic and requires no planned outage

VMware® Distributed Resource Scheduler

Tier 2Tier 2

Tier 1Tier 1

Tier 3Tier 3

SATAMid-Tier FC

RAID 10 RAID 5-5 RAID 5-9 RAID 10

RAID 5-5 RAID 5-9

RAID 10 RAID 5-5 RAID 5-9

FC

Setup and Test DR Plan with no Downtime Live migration of virtual machines – no

downtime

Data is replicated at the file level

Production site and DR site can use disparate server and storage hardware

Implement Robust Disaster Recoverywithout the Cost or Complexity

Local

12:00

12:15

12:30

Remote

12:00

12:15

12:30

changesonly

datade-dupe

VMware® VMotion

Easily replicate virtual machines - set-up in 6 clicks, validate online without downtime

Customize transfer rates based on link speed, time and priority (Quality of Service or QOS)

Only changed data blocks are replicated after initial synchronization

Production site can employ disparate hardware and can be tested any time (Compellent to Compellent)

Cost effective high availability forapplications on virtual machines File-based snapshots can be mapped to any

server for recovery

Automatic restart of virtual machines (VM) in case of server failure

Cost effective high availability for all applications

No need for dedicated stand-by hardware

Cost effective data protection and recovery Space efficient snapshots can be mapped to

any server recovery

More granular protection (additional recovery points) of VM images and data

Rapid provisioning from golden images or base datasets

Sales Network Drive 1.5 TB volume

11:45

11:50

11:55

12:00

1:00

1:05

1:10

1:15

Oracle2TB volume

Exchange1.5 TB volume

8:00

8:30

9:00

9:30

VMware® High Availability (HA)

Server Consolidation Results with VMware

BEFORE VMware AFTER VMware

1,000

Direct attach

3000 cables/ports

200 racks

400 power whips

80

Tiered SAN and NAS

400 cables/ports

10 racks

20 power whips

Servers

Storage

Network

Facilities

Servers

Storage

Network

Facilities

Copyright © 2004 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved.

Example: Server Consolidation Cost Savings

Servers 1000 80 $5.35MFC HBAs 500 160 $0.38MFC SAN Switches 22 8 $0.12MNetwork Switches 84 10 $0.18MPower (kWh) 407 52 $0.27MCooling (kWh) 509 64 $0.42MReal Estate (Sq ft) 2053 257 $0.77MTotal Savings(Over 3 years)

$7.49M

Without VMware

WithVMware

SAVINGS

* Note: Savings include estimated cost of VMware licenses, Support and Subscription* Note: Savings include estimated cost of VMware licenses, Support and Subscription

Before After

Instant Provisioning

• Build and configure hardware• Load operating system• Load configuration tools (Backup, Resource

Kit, Monitoring, etc…)• Assign 2 IP addresses• Build 3 network connections, copper or fiber• Turn over to applications team to re-load and

re-configure software• Test applications• Coordinate outage/data migration

From 20–40 hrs tobuild a server andre-load application…

…To 15–30 min tocopy a virtual machineand restart

333 servers replaced per year = ~ 10,000 man/hrs saved

It is possible to run multiple desktop Operating Systems (Apple Mac OS and Microsoft Windows XP or Vista OS) on the same computing device

Allows for a user’s own data and services to reside on a computer shared by other’s data and services

Allows for centralized management and administration

Advantages

User’s client device becomes just an access device eliminating potentially sensitive data that could easily be comprised by loss or theft (think China)

Virtual desktops will likely share server hardware with virtual servers, potentially resulting in 30-40 desktops being consolidated on a single piece of hardware

Improved business agility with faster provisioning and user flexibility. Much quicker rollout of remote and overseas offices

Desktop Virtualization

Cisco has started letting workers choose from a handful of laptops, including an Apple MacBook Pro.

So far a pilot program

By the end of next year Cisco plans to give everyone eligible a gadget allowance for a PC or laptop from an expanded list of devices.

Cisco’s expectation

Reduce costs associated with tracking and replacing lost hardware

Employees become responsible for add-ons such as home broadband service or fees for hooking up to cellular data networks

Employees choosing Macs are pretty much on their own for tech support (roughly a quarter of chosen devices in the pilot program)

Desktop Virtualization Example

Desktop Virtualization Expected Benefits:

Improved Software deployment and patching

Desktop Security and compliance

Refresh and lifecycle management process

Reduced desktop maintenance and support costs

Training labs, Engineering labs, Remote offices – immediate refresh

Remote Location

A virtual management tool is required to manage the VM environment. VMWare’s is now called VCenter

Get some of your staff certified. Currently the VMWare certification class is just under $4,000.00 and the test needs to be passed after the class

VM’s whether servers, desktops, storage, routers, or switches each have their own CPU, memory, and power source. They are logically completely separated even though they share the same hardware

One of the issues that needs consideration when you virtualize is that Information workers that operate in silos will need to work more closely together and the processes required will change and need to be tested and implemented for a successful virtualization experience

Some general thoughts

Do an Assessment – (don’t forget datacenter infrastructure)

- Like any project or effort understand what you are dealing with before you start.

- What do you want to virtualize and in what order? Do you want to do Servers and storage first and together, followed by desktop, and where does network fit in?

What are the current utilization baselines? There is a need to monitor and measure. The best candidates for virtualization are those that are significantly underutilized resources.

One paper reported some utilization increased from 3% to 70% (their extreme case) reducing management cost, expenses, and eliminating the need to upgrade replaced hardware in future capital years

Allow for cyclical changes. Did you take into account the cyclical Holiday load? This may not be an issue if you have everything working for dynamic allocations but consider it.

Considerations for getting started

- Review your data backup and recovery processes to guard against performance issues or issues that will impede recovery when the virtualization changes are made. Take into account the new opportunities virtualization brings for back up and recovery

Are you going to do this “in-house” or use partners? How are you going to evaluate the partners?

HTTP://www.vmware.com/calculator is the link for the vmware online ROI/TCO calculator

Considerations for getting started

With Virtualization, Power consumption and Cooling requirements may be reduce overall, unfortunately there is the potential of Power and Cooling issues due to the change in footprint density.

‘Rack power of 10 kW per rack or more can result from the deployment of high density information technology equipment such as blade servers. This creates difficult cooling challenges in a data center environment where the industry average rack power consumption is under 2 kW.’

APC Whitepaper #46 by Neil Rasmussen, CTO American Power Conversion

Infrastructure Considerations

Conventional or legacy datacenter infrastructure may not be sufficient at some point of deploying virtualization. The key is to understand the trigger points and have a plan to address them if and when they arise.

Power Considerations: Virtual Servers and Blade Servers increase the number of kilowatts per rack.

Recommendation: Implement power monitoring by using either automated infrastructure tools or metered power distribution.

Cooling considerations: Traditional raised floors may not provide adequate cold airflow to Blade Servers or larger servers configured for virtualization.

Recommendation: Seek alternative/supplemental cooling methods, examples: specialized airflow devices, load spreading throughout the datacenter or revised cooling strategies/layouts

Hot Air Removal: The more power that is consumed within a given density, the more heat is generated, thereby requiring improved heat removal and improved hot air/cold air isolation.

Recommendation: Utilize available air removal techniques, examples include rack blanking panels, air removal units or hot aisle containment.

Infrastructure Considerations

Note: All infrastructure specialized vendors will have whitepapers on these specific subjects

There are compelling cost and energy savings reasons to virtualize some or all of a computing infrastructure resulting in significantly more efficient utilization of resources. Some of the things to be gained (In no specific order):

1. Conserve energy and data center real estate

2. Boost business continuity

3. Serve high priority applications and users

4. Service rollout can be much quicker than the traditional rollout.

5. Easier management (still requires you to manage)

6. Reduces unplanned downtime and even planned downtime

Do an Assessment, choose a partner, plan carefully, begin with non-mission critical, prove it out, and then go

Conclusion