Deploying Moodle with Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization

Brian McSpaddenDirector of Network OperationsRemote-Learner.net

Traditional Web Hosting – it works, but...

Consists of single servers: Some shared, some dedicated

Limited flexibility

Data “stuck” on a single server – limits scalability, upgradability and disaster recovery

More difficult to manage and maintain consistency

Difficult to fully utilize hardware

What is Cloud Hosting?

It depends on who you ask

Most would define it as computing on the “grid”

Pooled resources – but not necessarily shared

Underlying infrastructure is abstracted from the application layer

Typically more green

RL is not simply cloud hosting

Generic cloud hosting doesn't fit

Host in an optimized environment

Hosting in an optimized cloud

Entire stack designed for eLearning

Unique hardware for unique needs

Flexibility while maintaining consistency

Grows with you

Keeps up with the pace of eLearning innovation

What makes an optimized cloud different

System resources are based upon eLearning's needs

CPUDisk I/OMemory

Application Stack (LAMP, Java)Provider keeps up with Moodle's changing needs

Designed to handle peak loads – such as finals week

Remote Learner Cloud design principles

Separate the user data from the OS image

Design to handle failuresRuns at 60% of capacity – handles minimum of two server failures – not oversold

Designed to scale

Consistent and well managed

Visualized

Major advantages over traditional hosting

Built to scale – handles peak usage times

Server hardware maintenance is a thing from the past

Data stored on HA storage apart from server

Disaster recovery simplified – easier to rebuild than fix

Hardware can be fully utilized

High levels of reliability for hosting big and small

Advantages of the RHEV Platform

KVM Virtualization – Linux kernel as hypervisor

Virtualization gets everything the kernel getsKSM (Kernel SamePage Merging)Live MigrationDrivers/Modules (Hardware and Virtio)

Extremely low overhead – outperforms bare metal in some cases with lower cost over VMWare

Simplified/Unified Management Tools

Best in class applications: Meet best in class infrastructure