Network Design- A2

7/31/2019 Network Design- A2

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UNIVERSAL COLLEGE OF LEARNING

T301-Network Design

A2- Research Assignment

Abirakavendran Mohankrishnaa

5/27/2012


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Server Virtualization:

Server virtualization is a combination of server resources which includes the name and

number of the distinct processors, OS, Physical servers from the users of main server. It is

technology in which the administrator with the help of an application splits the one main

server into multiple virtual servers in separate environment. These environments are

known as virtual private servers. The contents of the server cant be seen by the user.

There are three different models in server virtualization Virtual machine model, Para-

virtual machine model and Virtualization at OS layer. It can be seen as a new technology in

the field of IT which contains management of workload, storage and network

virtualization . Its an emerging trend in self managing computing model which server is

able to manage itself on the activity which is recognized before (Server Virtualization,

2005).

Figure 1 : (Server virtualization, 2009)


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Server virtualization popularity:

These are the reason for server virtualization getting popular.

Low Cost:

Server virtualization uses less nos. of physical servers which minimize the cost and reduces

the maintenance cost of the hardware. This is one of the best advantage of this technology

(the-advantages-of-using-virtualization-technology-, 2008) .

Disk space:

It allows the administrator to partition a unit of data in a database and increase the space

which are available on servers and other Virtual machines (the-advantages-of-using-

virtualization-technology-, 2008).

System Reliability:

It has the capacity to accommodate more than one OS in a single physical server which has

many benefits for the organization and also help to avoid crash in the system due to error

in memory which is caused by a drivers as its implemented in server on its local machines.

It also helps to maintain the server (the-advantages-of-using-virtualization-technology-,

2008).

Disaster recovery:

Three important components are present in virtualization when it comes to disaster

recovery solution. Firstly, server virtualization offers the capacity to separate the

hardware from same vendor or server model to which its connected, we can be able to

change the dependency from one to another vendor incase of disaster . Its not required for

the disaster recovery site to keep hardware which matches the production environment

and also it saves money by getting a hardware for cheap in disaster recovery site which

rarely uses. Secondly, combining more servers into few physical machine so that a

company can build same sites at low-cost . Finally, virtualization platforms in most of the

firms will have a software which have the capability to switch over automatically to a

redundant or a server when disaster occur, even the same software provides the test

regard to root cause of the failover (benefits-server-virtualization, 2011).

Testing:

We can use virtualization for testing purpose . eg for an software developer, the softwarecan be tested with the help of virtualization by installing it into selected OS and check the

functionality of his software ,it might affect the particular OS not the main OS, this is one of

the main advantage for software industry . Server virtualization is also used to test the

network protocol which helps us to become a network engineer by creating more than one

virtual machines and joining each of this virtual machines in to same network ,as if they are

individual PCs (Advantages of server virtualization, 2010) .


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Snapshots:

Snapshots in virtualization helps to reduce the risks as the server OS is secured in a

hypervisor, so we can take a copy of the current configuration and boost it by updating . If

the update fails ,with the help of the snapshot we can back to the original condition, thus it

reduces the risk level when making a wrong changes to the basic of its structure as its

much easier to rollback (server-virtualization-benefits, 2010).

The above discussed are the reason why server virtualization is gaining popularity.

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

It is the method of hosting the operating system on the desktop based on a server which is

centralized and runs within a virtual machine.VDI is a server based model which resideson server in data center . These OS are accessed by the users from Client PCs or through

thin client by accessing remotely and it offers the features which are available in the server

and it looks as if softwares are installed in the local PCs. It offers features administrating

the desktop, reduces the tasks of management, data ,backup are secured centrally and we

can add, delete, upgrade and patch the applications. In this architecture server contains a

separated hardware layer for virtualization and allows user to run settings, OS and

applications which are loaded in server, as the server acts like each user has their own

interface for desktop (virtual_desktop_infrastructure, 2010) (VDI, 2011).


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Figure 2 : (VDI Structure)

Advantages of VDI:

It allows user to have more customized experience . Users can access different Operating

system at same time ,applications and it allows users to have their own computer interface

as a datas are stored in the server ,it enables each users to access individually (advantages-

virtual-desktops, 2009).

Cost:

One of the best benefits of using VDI is the cost, It reduces the cost of spending more

money in buying a new PCs for the employee who requires one for each operating system,

Instead of this organization can invest in using virtual desktop client and allow users to

access thin clients in a small affordable computer which are developed and designed to run

a desktop virtually. This will help the organization to save more money during the system

up gradation and consumes less power (virtual_desktop_infrastructure, 2010).

Management:

As the desktops are managed centrally it is easier for the administrator to check the

application installed and used in desktop ,monitor the works done by employees and also

we can control which programs can be used by the employees at work. By installing VDI its

more efficient than going around the office to check the employees how they are using the

office PCs (advantages-virtual-desktops, 2009) (virtual_desktop_infrastructure, 2010).


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Security:

It is the Key factor of VDI, user have control over how to secure the desktop and allows the

ability to lock the image of the desktop from copying the data in the image to local PCs or

from the external devices. This is advantage for the remote user as the important

information are stored in servers and not in any devices, even if the device is stolen the

datas are secured (benefits-of-virtual-desktop-infrastructure, 2009).

Utility:

It comforts its users in some cases like providing access to the any PCs inside a building

for its employees or management, administrators can control and decide what application

are allowed on the PCs for the use of employees , can check the works done by employees.

Before the implementation of virtual desktop it was difficult for the companies to manage

if any one of its Pcs goes down but now even any PCs shuts down other system are able to

perform the functions done by the fault system.

Disadvantages of VDI:

Users are not able to install their own application and have less ability to customize the

PCs .It occupies more disk space as it need to store the changes made for the users. It

consumes more memory space as the system uses many individual copies of OS at the

same time (group-policy-for-vdi, 2011).

Biggest challenge of VDI is printing a document remotely to a PC attached locally.

Synchronization of PDA is not supported ,For better functioning they require VDI skilled

staff and knowledge with terminal services and RDP is not encouraged. Graphics designdoesnt support some display protocols . It has difficulty in running some application like

multimedia, flash based web pages and designs aided by computer (research-vid-or-not-to-

vdi, 2010).


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Major Vendors:

These are some of the major vendors of VDI

Figure 3 : (Vendors of Virtualization, 2011)

VMware:

It is the global leader in virtualization technology and it offers customer-proven solution

which speed up the IT by providing more flexibility and reduces the complication. It is the

dominating vendor not only in server virtualization ,also in desktop level virtualization too.

It enables the organization to adopt cloud model which speaks about individual business

challenges. VMwares working quicken the passage to cloud computing which conserve the

already existing investment and increase the control and data security (Vmware, n.a).Its

still remain dominant because of its new ideas ,products and strategic partnership(Virtualization-Technology, 2010) . strengths of using VMware are Low total cost of ownership

is the main advantage and merge easily with most of the IT infrastructure. Deployment is easy and

it incorporates active directory (desktop_virtualization_top_vendors, 2010).It enables to use more

than one CPU on a SMP system and also to start/stop/pause the virtual machines from local PCs.


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Figure 4: (virtualreality, 2009)

Citrix:It is one of the major application of virtualization and also runs the most used cloud software XEN,

which uses Xen server. Xen Desktop is the main product of Citrix which creates virtual desktop. Itchanges windows desktops and applications completely into most important service needed to the

clients on any device by authenticating through a smartcard support. They can access their desktop

in any devices, doesnt matter about the capacity of the end device . If any thin client didnt support

to run the desktop they can run remotely and sent it through screen scraping technology. It enables

to deliver its application safely to Virtual desktops, PCs, Macs ,tablets smart phone s and laptops

(Virtualization-Technology, 2010).Strengths are flexible, ecosystem , multiple virtualization servers

and different endpoint of operating systems are supported, Wide area network Performance is

strong (desktop_virtualization_top_vendors, 2010).

Figure 5 : (Citrix Infrastructure)


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Microsoft :

Microsoft is one among the major vendors in virtualization. It presents a Virtual software

as free ware to run in windows platforms and other OS as virtual machines. VDI inMicrosoft is an stand-in delivery model which offers a safe access and a desktop which is

managed centrally form a data centre. It allows users to access the desktop from any

secured end device, and have the capacity to be rich even at the time of disaster (windows

enterprise_products-and-technologies_virtualization, 2010). Strengths , Microsoft makes VDI

more adaptable to work anywhere from the world by serving an centrally managed server and

allowing to access through authorized system, Easy to manage, offers quick switching of OS,

Compatibility and easy to manage.

Figure 6 : (Microsoft vdi-diagram, 2010)

Microsofts Hyper-V vs VMwareESX/vSphere

Hyper-V :

Its a Virtualization technology introduced by Microsoft and supported by License Metric

Tool application. Its an server hypervisor which allows the combination of a physicalserver into multiple virtual servers and enables the host server to share its hardware

resources (MS-hyper-v, n.a).Hyper-V provides virtualization of Management software and

Microsoft virtualization which makes the job easier for the customers to view the present

hardware assets of server and to carry them whether to a public cloud or private cloud

(Microsoft-Hyper-V-, 2009). It is available as standalone or in addition with Windows


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server 2008, Microsoft developed this software to reduce the cost of buying an whole

physical server and to improve the use of server.

Figure 7 : (Hyper-V Architecture, 2008)

VMware ESX/vSphere:

It is an enterprise level product of VMware to manage the data centers. This platform has

two version ESX server and ESXi server . The main feature of this product is that it enables

customers to have many branches of server by installing this software in virtual machines

or on servers (VMware_ESX, 2009). It helps the small number of system to improve their

functionality by increasing the volume of its network and range of available services ,on the other

side by reducing the quantity of hardware required (vmware-esx-host, 2011).

Since both Hyper-V and ESX are based on hypervisor they are implemented straightly on

the hardware and it doesnt require any OS to perform properly. In ESX, the hypervisor is

established on the hardware which is between the virtual machines and hardware which

acts like a server. Hardware used in this model is known as direct driven model. In Hyper-v

hypervisor is set up in bare metal, root partition which manages the entry and functions to

the hardware runs in the server 2008.Here , it install above the hardware and the original

Operating System are places in the special virtual machine i.e root partition. The root

partition can choose either Server core or Windows server 2008 and its main function is to

check the hardware input/output request received from child partition, this type of model

is known as indirect driven model (comparison-between-vmware-esx-and-microsoft-

hyper-v, 2011).


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Similarities and Differences

1. Microsofts Hyper-v is microkernalized so it has greatly advanced hypervisorwhere as ESX is only monolithic hypervisor ,so Hyper-V has greater performance

than VMwares ESX/Sphere as it has more influence on hardware emulation ,which

makes it slower.

2. Both ESX and Hyper-v supports 32bits and 64bits hosts (difference-between-vmware-and-hyper-v, 2010).

3. 64GB Memory per guest OS can be used in both ESX and Hyper-v (comparison-between-vmware-esx-and-microsoft-hyper-v, 2011).

4. Both supports Raw device mapping (difference-between-vmware-and-hyper-v,2010).

5.

Single management console is not possible for VMware servers as it requiresmultiple console, single console can be achieved through hyper-v using Hyper-v

manager.

6. VMware ESX/vSphere server has high power and stability when comparing toHyper-v. (Microsoft-hyper-v-vs-vmware-esx, 2011)

7. Maximum memory supported for the host in ESX is 256GB whereas in Hyper-V its2TB (difference-between-vmware-and-hyper-v, 2010).

8. Considering about price , hyper-v is much cheaper than VMware ESX/vSphere. Toset up ESX/vSphere will cost around $27,000 where as to implement MicrosoftsHyper-V it cost around $9500 which includes 4 guest server 2008 licenses and a

Microsoft system center (Strategy_Virtualization, 2011).

9. In Hyper-v Virtually switches are unlimited, ESX/vSphere has only 248 switches10.Hyper-V holds up through third party drivers ,in ESX its present originally.11.Vmware ESX/vSphere is software based technology and Hyper-V is software based

technology


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Advantages that Citrix offers overWindows Server 2003 Terminal Services

Terminal services is offered by Microsoft server version and it have the proficiency to host

more than one client session remotely, uses remote desktop protocol. Citrix is an

application similar to terminal services but offers more functionalities and features than

Microsoft, It uses ICA protocol. Let us see advantages of citrix over terminal service.

Citrix supports features like load balancing, compressing the data and managing efficiently

which is needed for the big firms whereas Microsofts Terminal Service offers less features

so it is suitable for small firms (windows-terminal-server-2003-and-citrix-comparison,

2009). Citrix can easily use applications or published desktop through a web interface but

Terminal services needs an add-on program to use this. One of the best advantage of citrixis that the it can publish an application on the client desktop and it provides the same user

experience as if an application is installed on their own desktop but actually it runs from

the server user, it also offers users to copy and paste the data from local and published

applications. On the other hand terminal service offers only RDP capabilities (difference-

between-the-terminal-server-and-citrix-server, 2012). Pass through authentication is possible in

Citrix where as in Terminal service validation is possible only in Vista OS, if the user uses other than

vista in terminal service requires to sign manually. Installing Terminal services to other Operating

system is not supported by Microsoft but it has client support to Mac and Linux where as Citrix

provides services to Solaris, UP-UX and IBM-AIX and has wide range of client support. Microsofts

RDP protocol doesnt support the high frame rate and displaying full-motion video but citrix ICAprotocol supports the application which have high data frame rate even it supports CAD

applications. In Windows Terminal service user can access all the application but in citrix users

cannot access every application as we can assign security to selective users. Citrix provides good

technological support than Microsoft terminal service for the devices like ActiveSync and TWAIN

which are present in clients hardware. Citrix and Terminal services has the capacity to support any

number of users rely on the platform used. Citrix has added two new technology they are Memory

Optimization which helps to use the memory anywhere in the system and CPU management which

helps the user to manage CPU utilization. Terminal services support single sign-on technology but

its a challenging one to install and make it function properly as it doesnt support the needs of the

enterprise where as Citrix is far away from TS , along with sign-on technologies it has support to

access smart-cards in more matured manner (terminal-services-vs-citrix, 2011).

Thus , the above discussion proves how citrix is more advantageous than Windows server

2003 terminal services.


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