Introduction to virtualisation

1. An Introduction to
Server Virtualisation

2. August 22, 2013 2
A loose definition
Virtualisation is a framework or methodology of dividing the
resources of a computer into multiple execution environments,
by applying one or more concepts or technologies such as
hardware and software partitioning, time-sharing, partial or
complete machine simulation, emulation, quality of service,
and many others.

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Some history
−An old concept – first virtual machines
created on IBM mainframes in early ’60s
−Typically, IBM's virtual machines were
identical "copies" of the underlying hardware.
Each instance could run its own operating
system.
−Virtualisation formed the basis of “time
sharing”

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Some virtual machines you may know…
−NT had Virtual DOS Machine (NTVDM) and Windows on
Win32 (WOW)
−Windows 95 used virtual machines to run older (Windows
3.x and DOS) applications

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The old model
−A server for every application
−Software and hardware are
tightly coupled
−Underutilised resources
introduce real cost into the
infrastructure

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The new model
−Physical hardware is abstracted
by a virtualisation layer, or
hypervisor
−Manage OS and application as a
single unit by encapsulating them
into virtual machines
−Separate OS and hardware and
break hardware dependancies
−Optimise utilisation levels

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Increased Hardware Utilisation
•Before Virtualisation •After Virtualisation

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Underutilisation of Resources
•Most organisations over-
provision
−Multiple processors in each
server
−Memory requirements over-
estimated
•Aim to drive up CPU
utilisation
Actual DSS customer data – 120
servers monitored

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Virtual Infrastructure
•Virtual infrastructure brings uniformity
to the data centre
•Dynamically map computing resources
to the business
•Lower IT costs through increased
efficiency, flexibility and
responsiveness
•Provision new services and change the
amount of resources dedicated to a
software service
•Treat your data centre as a single pool
of processing, storage and networking
power

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How is it implemented?
−Typically, in order to virtualize, you would use a layer of software that
provides the illusion of a "real" machine to multiple instances of "virtual
machines". This layer is traditionally called the Virtual Machine Monitor
(VMM) or “hypervisor”.
−The hypervisor could run directly on the real hardware or it could run as
an application on top of a host operating system.

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Type 1 VMM
Hardware
VMM
Guest
VM
Guest
VM
Guest
VM
IBM CP/CMS
VMware ESX
Windows Virtualisation (2008)
Xen
Virtual Iron

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Type 2 VMM
Hardware
VMM
Guest
VM
Guest
VM
Guest
VM
Host OS
VMware Server

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Hybrid VMM
MS Virtual Server
MS Virtual PC
Hardware
VMM
Host
VM
Guest
VM
Guest
VM

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Paravirtualisation
Paravirtualization is a virtualization technique that presents
a software interface to virtual machines that is similar but
not identical to that of the underlying hardware.
This requires operating systems to be explicitly ported to run
on top of the virtual machine monitor (VMM)

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Full Virtualisation
•Provides a complete simulation of the underlying
hardware
•With binary translation, rewrites some x86 instructions
at run time that cannot be trapped and converts them
into a series of instructions that can be trapped and
virtualised
•Capable of running existing legacy operating systems
without modification

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Native Virtualisation
−Leverages hardware-assisted capabilities available in the
latest processors from Intel (Intel VT – “Vanderpool”) and
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD-V – “Pacifica”) to provide
near-native performance.
−Virtual Iron is one of the first companies to offer
virtualization software to fully support Intel-VT and AMD-V
hardware assisted virtualization.

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Native Virtualisation
−Dell
•Precision 380 Intel Pentium D
•PowerEdge 430 Intel Pentium D
•PowerEdge 440 Intel Xeon 3xxx
•PowerEdge 1435 AMD Opteron 22x
•PowerEdge 1950 Intel Xeon 5xxx
•PowerEdge 1955 Intel Xeon 5xxx
•PowerEdge 2950 Intel Xeon 5xxx
−HP
• ProLiant DL140 G3 Intel Xeon 5xxx
• ProLiant DL320 G4Intel Xeon 5xxx
• ProLiant DL360 G5 Intel Xeon 5xxx
• ProLiant DL365 AMD Opteron 22xx
• ProLiant DL380 G5 Intel Xeon 5xxx
• ProLiant DL385 G2 AMD Opteron 22xx
• ProLiant DL580 G4 Intel Xeon 7xxx
• ProLiant DL585 G2 AMD Opteron 82xx
−IBM
• xSeries 100 Intel Pentium-D
• System x3455 AMD Opteron 22xx
• System x3550 Intel Xeon 5xxx
• System x3850 Intel Xeon 7xxx  HS21 Intel Xeon 5xxx
• LS21 AMD Opteron 22xx

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What’s in a Virtual Machine?

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What’s in a Virtual Machine - BIOS
•VM has its own BIOS
•Has everything you would
expect to see in a real
BIOS
•Boot options may include
floppy, CD-ROM, disk drive
and PXE.

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What’s in a Virtual Machine - Networking
•Each VM has a virtual NIC
•Virtual NICs are connected to
virtual switches implemented
in the virtualisation layer
−VMware – vSwitches
−Microsoft - .vnc-files
•Virtual switches have uplink
connections to physical NICs
on the host

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Combining internal and external virtual switches
•Virtual switch with one
outbound adapter acts as a
DMZ
•Backend applications are
secured behind the firewall
using internal-only switches

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What’s in a Virtual Machine - Storage
•To the applications and guest operating
systems inside each virtual machine, the
storage subsystem is a simple virtual
SCSI host bus adapter connected to
one or more virtual SCSI disks
•Virtual disks are files kept on physical
storage.
−VMware – VMDK files
−Microsoft – VDF files
•Virtual disk represents a local drive on a
virtual server, such as a C or D drive in
Windows
•Physical storage could be
−Direct attached SCSI
−SAN attached
−iSCSI
−NAS

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Licensing Considerations
•On host
−Host OS?
−Virtualisation technology?
•On Guest
−Guest OS?
−Guest Applications

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Support Considerations
•Two meanings
−Is it technically possible?
−Will the vendor support a virtual environment?
•The Microsoft position
−“For Microsoft customers who do not have a Premier-level support agreement,
Microsoft will require the issue to be reproduced independently from the non-
Microsoft hardware virtualization software.”
−“Microsoft supports Windows Server System software running within a Microsoft
Virtual Server environment subject to the Microsoft Support Lifecycle policy ... “ “

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Usage Scenarios for Virtualization
Consolidation
Workload Mobility
Business Continuity Management
Development and Test

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1.Logical
2.Physical
3.Rational
Gartner definition
Usage Scenario
Production server consolidation

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Usage Scenario
Production server consolidation
•Consolidate workloads
−Infrastructure applications
−Low-utilization workloads
−Branch office and datacenter workloads
−Efficient use of available hardware resources
•Re-host legacy OS and applications
−NT4 guest applications on virtual platform
•Run on current hardware and current OS
•No application updates required
•Partition resources
−Limit CPU resource per VM

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Usage Scenario
Business continuity management
•Disaster Recovery
−Maintain DR systems as virtual machines
−Eliminate traditional problems associated
with bare metal restores
•OS and application patching
−Deploy and test patches off-production, and
swap
−Eliminate scheduled downtime
•Isolation / sandboxing
−Isolate OS environments for untrusted
applications
−Prevent malicious code from affecting
others

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Usage Scenario
Dynamic datacenter
•Workload mobility
−Package up entire OS environment and move to other
location
−Flexible deployment of workloads

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Usage Scenario
Development and test
•Rapid provisioning of virtual machines
•Create arbitrary test scenarios
•Wider test range for niche scenarios

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Application + OS: Now A Data File
•Server provisioning is similar
to copying a file
•Server migration is now
similar to data migration
•Data management techniques
can be used for server
management
• Server cloning/copying
• Versioning
• Server archival
• Remote mirroring
Entire server – OS, apps, data, devices, and state – is now
simply a file.

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The Role of Shared Storage
•Virtual Machine files are
centrally located.
•Multiple access.
•Virtual Machines can be moved
for DR purposes, system
repair/upgrade, etc.
•Can take advantage of
advanced SAN features such as
snapshots, clones and
replication.

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Live Migration
•Move running virtual machines from one physical
system to another with no downtime
•Zero downtime maintenance
•Balance resource utilisation across infrastructure

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Hardware Infrastructure – Scale Up or Scale
Out?
•Scaling up means fewer,
larger systems
−Advantages
•Fewer ESX Server images to manage
•Lower infrastructure costs
(Ethernet/SAN switches)
−Disadvantages
•Higher hardware costs (servers)
•Big H.A. impact in case of failure of a
node
•Fewer CPUs supported "per rack“
•Headroom required for HA is
expensive
•Servers may go obsolete
•Locked into server architecture
•Scaling out means more,
smaller systems
−Advantages
•Lower hardware costs (servers)
•Low H.A. impact in case of failure
of a node
•More CPUs supported "per rack“
•Headroom required for HA is less
expensive
•Not locked into obsolete hardware
•More flexible
−Disadvantages
•Many hypervisor (ESX) images to
maintain
•Higher infrastructure costs
(Ethernet/SAN switches)

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What should an enterprise ready virtualisation
platform offer?
•Efficient server partitioning
•SMP support in guest VMs
•Scalable memory in guest VMs
•Fault isolation – a crash in one virtual machine should not
impact other virtual machines
•Security isolation – a virtual machine should never access the
memory or I/O operations of another virtual machine
•Resource isolation – runaway applications in one virtual
machine should not “starve” others virtual machines.
•Non-disruptive addition of capacity
•Scalable management tools

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VMware Workstation
•Desktop Virtualisation
•Run multiple operating systems
simultaneously on a single PC
•Supports Windows, Linux,
NetWare, Solaris
•Software development/test
•Training

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VMware Server
•Free virtualisation platform
•Type 2 “hosted” VMM
•Runs on any standard x86 hardware
•Runs on a wide variety of Linux and
Windows host and guest operating
systems
•Intended as a “step up” to Type 1
hypervisor products.

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VMware Infrastructure 3
•VMware ESX Server 3.0 - Type 1
VMM
•VMware VirtualCenter 2.0
•4-way vSMP / 16GB Virtual RAM
support
•VMware VMotion
•VMware HA
•VMware Distributed Resource
Scheduling
•VMware Consolidated Backup

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Non-disruptive capacity on
demand

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Automate resource assurance for critical
applications

DRS
Dynamic Balancing
Continuous Optimization

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Automatic availability for all
applications
VMWARE HA
X

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Backup anytime
VMWARE
CONSOLIDATED
BACKUP
Decouple backup from production VMs
20-40% better resource utilization
Pre-integrated with 3
rd
party backup products

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Microsoft Virtualisation Products
•Virtual PC
•Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2
•Virtual Machine Manager (in Beta but available for
download)
•Windows Virtualisation (to be released after
Longhorn)

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Virtual PC
•Suited to use in testing on a desktop environment
•Not recommended for production servers
−Single CPU support only
−No remote management possible
−No SCSI support
−Starts as an application not as a service
•Shares disk format with Virtual Server

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Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
•Microsoft’s current offering for
virtualisation in production
environments
•Shares underlying technology
with Microsoft Virtual PC
•Web based management
portal
•Guests supported include:
−Windows (up to Vista with SP1)
−Linux

Virtual Server 2005 R2: Administration Website

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Clustering in Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
Host to Host
Cluster
storage
SAN or iSCSI
connection
Guest to Guest
Cluster
storage
iSCSI
connection

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Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1
•VM Additions
−VM additions provide enhanced performance and additional
functionality to the guest OS
−Additions available for XP, Windows 2003, Vista and Linux
−Windows additions provide:
•Allow for direct mode kernel execution (faster processing of some
commands)
−Linux additions provide:
•Time sync
•Shutdown support
•SCSI disk
•Does not allow for direct mode kernel execution
−Important to update for each new release to maximise
performance benefits

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Windows Virtualisation
•To be released within 180 days after the Longhorn
release (no Beta available as yet)
•Requires Intel VT or AMD Virtualisation hardware
•Uses Hypervisor (a thin layer of software under the
“Host OS”)
Hardware
VMM (Hypervisor)
Guest 1
(“Host OS”)
Guest 2

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Virtual Machine Manager

Virtual Machine Manager: Centralized management view

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Centralized Management: Reports
Full set of Full set of
reports, reports,
integration with integration with
MOM databaseMOM database
Actions one click Actions one click
away in context away in context
sensitive Actions sensitive Actions
PanePane

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Self Service Portal
Ability to control Ability to control
owned virtual owned virtual
machinesmachines
Thumbnails of Thumbnails of
all owned virtual all owned virtual
machinesmachines

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Self-Service Portal
Provisioning
User selects from list User selects from list
of templates of templates
Administrator has Administrator has
associated with that associated with that
useruser

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Self-Service Portal
Provisioning
New virtual machine New virtual machine
ready for use, Terminal ready for use, Terminal
Services connection Services connection
information information
automatically emailed to automatically emailed to
user.user.

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Virtual Server 2005 vs
Windows Server Virtualization
Virtual Server 2005 R2 Windows Server Virtualization
32-bit VMs? Yes Yes
64-bit VMs? No Yes
Multi-processor VMs? No Yes, up to 8 processor VMs
VM memory support? 3.6 GB per VM More than 32 GB per VM
Hot add memory/processors? No Yes
Hot add storage/networking? No Yes
Can be managed by System Center
Virtual Machine Manager?
Yes Yes
Microsoft Cluster support? Yes Yes
Scriptable / Extensible? Yes, COM Yes, WMI
Number of running VMs? 64
More than 64.
As many as hardware will allow.
User interface Web Interface MMC 3.0 Interface

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Xen
•Open source hypervisor
solution
•Installs on bare-metal
•Linux VMs fully supported
−Red Hat
−Debian
−Suse
•Windows VMs require Intel VT
or AMD-V processor
−Microsoft Windows Server 2000
−Microsoft Windows Server 2003
−Microsoft Windows XP SP2

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XenSource

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XenSource Products
User Profile Enterprise IT, system
integrators
Windows IT professionals Developers, testers,
support, IT enthusiasts
Windows guest support Windows Server 2003;
Windows XP; Windows
2000 Server
Windows Server 2003;
Windows XP; Windows
2000 Server
Windows Server 2003;
Windows XP; Windows
2000 Server
Linux guest support Red Hat EL 3.6, 3.7, 3.8,
4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.0;
SUSE SLES 9.2, 9.3,
10.1; Debian Sarge
N/A (Windows guests
support only)
Red Hat EL 3.6, 3.7, 3.8,
4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.0;
SUSE SLES 9.2, 9.3,
10.1; Debian Sarge
Live Migration Mid-2007 N/A N/A
Shared storage Mid-2007 N/A N/A

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Virtual Iron
•An enterprise ready native virtualisation platform
•Uses hardware-assisted virtualisation technologies of
Intel VT and AMD-V processors
•Based on an open source hypervisor derived from the
Xen open source project
•No software need be installed on physical hardware

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Virtual Iron Components
Component License Function
Hypervisor GPL First software loaded when physical server boots.
Manages all hardware resources
Service PartitionGPL Second software loaded when physical server boots.
Manages virtual server creation and configuration
and all I/O.
Virtualisation
Manager
CommercialControls virtual servers through an agent in the
service partition
Guest operating
systems
Varies Operating systems that are fully virtualised on a
physical server

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Virtualization Manager
•Java-based application
•Allows for central
management of
virtualized servers
•A physical server can
have many virtualized
servers, which are run as
unmodified guest
operating systems.

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Virtual Manager Policy-based Automation
•LiveMigration – moves a running virtual server from one
physical server without pausing or impacting running
applications
•LiveCapacity – monitors virtual server CPU utilisation or other
application needs to determine when a workload needs
additional capacity. When a user-defined threshold is met, the
virtual server is LiveMigrated to a physical server that has the
necessary resources
•LiveRecovery – monitors the status of physical resources and
moves virtual servers to maintain uptime in the event of a
hardware failure
•LiveMaintenance – moves virtual servers to alternative
locations without downtime when a physical server is taken
offline for maintenance

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Virtual Iron Architecture

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Supported Configurations
Feature Support
Operating systems 32 and 64-bit Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4
32 and 64-bit SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9
32-bit Windows XP
32-bit Windows 2003
Processors Intel Xeon with Intel VT
AMD Opteron with AMD-V
Virtualised Nodes 100s per virtual data centre
Processors per virtual Server Up to 8
RAM per Physical Server Up to 96GB
Virtual servers per physical server CPU Up to 5
Virtual NIC adapters per virtual server Up to 5
Virtual disks per virtual server Up to 16

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Virtuozzo
−Operating System–Level
Virtualisation
−Creates multiple, isolated virtual
environments (VEs)
−Whereas VMs attempt to virtualize
"a complete set of hardware," VEs
represent a "lighter" abstraction,
virtualizing instead "an operating
system instance"

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Parallels Workstation
•Test/Development solution
aimed at desktop market
•Uses hypervisor technology
•Wide guest OS support
−Entire Windows family - 3.1,
3.11, 95, 98, Me, 2000, XP and
2003
−Linux distributions Red Hat,
SuSE, Mandriva, Debian and
Fedora Core
−FreeBSD
−“Legacy” operating systems
e.g. OS/2, eComStation and
MS-DOS.

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HP Virtual Server Environment
•Implemented on HP Integrity and HP 9000 systems

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Physical to Virtual (P2V)
•P2V is the term used to describe the process of
converting physical servers into virtual machines
•Can be performed while server is live
•Some operating systems require cold migration
•Process:
−Analyse source
−Create a target VM
−Transfer data from physical source to virtual target
−Transform VM

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VMware Converter
•Replaces P2V Assistant
•Wizard based conversion
process
•Can convert physical
machines, virtual machines or
third party system images (e.g.
Symantec Ghost, Backup Exec
LiveState Recovery)
•Source physical machines:
−64-bit Windows XP/2003
−WinNT SP4+
−Windows 2000
−Windows XP
−Windows 2003

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Platespin PowerConvert
•“Anywhere to anywhere”
conversion
−Peer-to-Peer
•Physical to Virtual (P2V)
•Virtual to Virtual (V2V)
•Virtual to Physical (V2P)
•Physical to Physical (P2P)
−Image Capture
•Physical to Image (P2I)
•Virtual to Image (V2I)
−Image Deployment
•Image to Virtual (I2V)
•Image to Physical (I2P)
−Disaster Recovery
•Physical to Virtual (P2V)
•Virtual to Virtual (V2V)
•Windows and Linux sources
can be converted

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Platespin PowerConvert

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Portlock Storage Manager
•Third-party NetWare data
management product
•Can be used for P2V
conversions of NetWare
servers
•Requires some manual
reconfiguration of VM

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Capacity Planning
•Important first step in any server consolidation project
•Aims:
−Understand server performance and utilization rates of a
group of servers
−Identifying servers that are good candidates to be migrated
into virtual machines
−Size virtual environment accurately
•Statistics are gathered and processed
•What-if scenarios can be run to examine different
possible approaches

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VMware Capacity Planner

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Inventory AnalyseWorkload
Data
Collection
Recommend
Platespin PowerRecon
•Onsite data collection and analysis
•Scenario modelling (what-if)
•Agentless operation

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Some additional products…

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VMware Lab Manager
•Create centralised pools
of VMs, storage and
network components
•Rapid setup and tear
down of test/dev
environments
•Maintain library of
customer and production
system environments

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VMware ACE

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VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

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Dunes VS-0
http://www.dunes.ch/content/view/82/157/
Dunes VS-O

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−esxRanger Professional
•LAN/WAN backups
•Backup active servers
•Database of backup activity
−esxReplicator
•Replicate changes to remote
location – “chunked” by time or data
change volumes
•Effective business continuity
Virtual Machine Backup and Replication

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Virtual Machine Backup and Replication
•esXpress
−Virtual Backup Appliance
runs backup jobs within a
VM
−Offloads CPU and memory
utilisation from VMware
ESX console
•Virtual Solution Box
−Also implemented as a
virtual machine appliance

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esxCharter
A Windows based esxtop and more…

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esxMigrator
•Assists customers upgrading
from VMware ESX 2.X to
VMware ESX 3.0
•Uses data manipulation
strategies that can copy virtual
disks much faster than allowed
by the VMware console
•Enables failback contingency

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Best Practice Recommendations
•Explore your options.
•Evaluate your applications for potential
consolidation.
•Understand the differences between various
virtualization solutions.
•Look closely at the licensing and support policies of
your software vendors.
•Start small.

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Best Practice Recommendations
•Manage expectations.
•Beware of “virtual sprawl.”
•Consider blades as a complementary consolidation
strategy.
•Integrate server consolidation with a broader
consolidation strategy.
•Develop a framework for continuous consolidation.