winconnections spring, 2011 - constructing a vsphere private cloud: strategies for it...

Constructing a vSphere Private Cloud:Strategies for IT Administrators and Decision Makers

Greg Shields, MVPSenior Partner and Principal Technologist

www.ConcentratedTech.com

Who is this Ponytailed Guy?

• Greg Shields, MVP● Senior Partner, Concentrated Technology

• Over 15 years of Windows administration and engineering experience.

● Consultant – Hands-on and Strategic-level…● Speaker – TechMentor, Tech Ed, Windows Connections, MMS,

VMworld, others…● Analyst/Author – Fourteen books and counting…● Columnist – TechNet Magazine, Redmond Magazine, Windows IT Pro

Magazine, others…● All-around good guy…

2

WARNING: Prepare Yourself!Conversation Ahead!

• Everyone’s requirements are different.• Everyone’s environment is different.

● We need to hear about it. We all learn (even me).

• This is a strategies session.● Later sessions are tech- and demo-heavy.

• Today’s answers to leave with…● How do you best construct the environment?● What are the common mistakes?● How should you connect the pieces?

A Private Cloud in Four Parts

• Part 1: Defining the Private Cloud• Part 2: How Private Cloud Augments “Simple”

Virtualization• Part 3: Constructing the Private Cloud• Part 4: Justifying the Private Cloud Evolution

Part 1Defining the Private Cloud

Lessons from the Past

• Virtualization has been around in some form since the 1960s.● That said, its adoption in the x86 server market did not really take off

until the middle of this decade.




• Multiple virtualization products exist, some you’ve never heard of.• Multiple virtualization approaches exist, some you’ve never heard

of.• In the minds of most IT professionals, the term “virtualization”

immediately invokes “hardware virtualization”.● This approach is the most commonly used today.




• Multiple virtualization products exist, some you’ve never heard of.• Multiple virtualization approaches exist, some you’ve never heard

of.• In the minds of most IT professionals, the term “virtualization”

immediately invokes “hardware virtualization”.● This approach is the most commonly used today.

• Cloud computing as a concept began at the same time as virtualization.

● Arguably more mature than many of us want to believe.

Where We’re At

• Back in 2009, Gartner identified “Virtualization” and “Cloud Computing” as two of the top 10 strategic IT technologies.

● At that time, it predicted that 50% of IT workloads will run inside virtual machines by 2012.

● It also reported that “Cloud Computing” had reached the apex of the firm’s “Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies”

● Cloud Computing expected at that time to be two to five years away from mainstream adoption.

Where We’re At

Gartner’s 2010 Hype Cycle

My Argument: Virtualization is Old News

• By the end of 2010, IDC estimates that more than half (51%) of all IT workloads will be virtualized.

● That number is expected to rise to 69% by 2013.

My Argument: Virtualization is Old News

• By the end of 2010, IDC estimates that more than half (51%) of all IT workloads will be virtualized.

● That number is expected to rise to 69% by 2013.

• These numbers surely lead you to the realization that virtualization is yesterday’s news.

● Today’s real story deals with how best to make it work, and how to gain the biggest benefit out of it.

● Private Clouds are one way to get that benefit.● Biggest limitation: Defining what a Private Cloud really is…

Pop Quiz: What Makes a Private Cloud?

• Someone define Private Cloud Computing.

Pop Quiz: What Makes a Private Cloud?

• Someone define Private Cloud Computing.

• A Private Cloud enables…● …availability for individual IT services.● …flexibility in managing services, as well as deploying new

services.● …scalability when physical resources run out.● …hardware resource optimization, to ensure that you’re

getting the most out of your investment.● …resiliency to protect against large-scale incidents.● …globalization capacity, enabling the IT infrastructure to be

distributed wherever it is needed.

Thanks, but No, Really...What Really Makes a Private Cloud?

• A Private Cloud at its core is little more than…● A virtualization technology…● …some really good management tools…● …and their integration with business processes.

Thanks, but No, Really...What Really Makes a Private Cloud?

• A Private Cloud at its core is little more than…● A virtualization technology…● …some really good management tools…● …and their integration with business processes.

• “While VMs are the mechanism in which IT services are provided, the Private Cloud infrastructure is the platform that enables those VMs to be created and managed based on business drivers.”

Source: My new (and free!) book,

Private Clouds: Selecting the Right Hardware for a Scalable Virtual Infrastructure

http://www.realtimepublishers.com

A Private Cloud is Essentially a Resource Pool

Processing Processing

Processing Resource Pool Processing Resource Pool

Processing Processing

Storage

Storage Resource Pool

SAN Node 1

SAN Node 4

SAN Node 2

SAN Node 3

A Private Cloud is a Further Abstraction from Simple Virtualization

Rather than focusing on virtual machines and virtualizing,

a Private Cloud focuses on the resources.

A Private Cloud is a Further Abstraction from Simple Virtualization

Private Cloud: The User’s Perspective

• A Private Cloud is perhapseasiest explained from theuser’s perspective.

IT ServicesDelivery

Infrastructure

The User

The Internet


• A Private Cloud is perhapseasiest explained from theuser’s perspective.

• Users connect intoa local IT Services DeliveryInfrastructure.

● The Private Cloud

• They also connect to theInternet for IT services.

● The Cloud● Cloud Services

IT ServicesDelivery

Infrastructure

The User

The Internet

The Private Cloud

The Cloud

Why is thisFundamentally Important?

• Because, at the end of the day, your users should care less about how their IT services are delivered.

● They can be delivered locally or remotely.

• As long as those services are delivered securely and in an always-on fashion, users are enabled to accomplish the tasks and activities of business.

• Its our job to manage what’s in the black box.● Availability – Resource Optimization● Flexibility – Resource Quantification● Scalability – Globalization & Failover

Why is thisFundamentally Important?

• Because, at the end of the day, your users should care less about how their IT services are delivered.

● They can be delivered locally or remotely.

• As long as those services are delivered securely and in an always-on fashion, users are enabled to accomplish the tasks and activities of business.

• Its our job to manage what’s in the black box.● Availability – Resource Optimization● Flexibility – Resource Quantification● Scalability – Globalization & Failover

…and, arguably, what’s in “The Cloud” as well.But that’s a topic for another day.

Class Discussion

• Where is Private Cloud Computing most useful today?

• Where will it become useful in the future?

Part 2How Private Cloud Augments “Simple” Virtualization

Private Cloud: Availability

• Live Migration means VMs can run anywhere.

● IT can no longer think of service availability by individual server.

• Users need not worry where services are hosted, only that they’re available.

● The Private Cloud is constructed with the necessary resources to maintain service availability.

Private Cloud: Flexibility

• “Just a few virtual hosts” quickly becomes a Private Cloud as the scale of its hardware increases.

● A Private Cloud is a collection of resources that can be reconfigured at any time

● A Private Cloud is always prepared to incorporate new services immediately.

• IT’s former technical hurdles need are no longer a business agility drag.

Private Cloud: Scalability

• A Private Cloud and its hardware are seamlessly scalable.

● New hardware should trivially “snap” into the environment.

● No operations impact.

● No extra engineering.● No delay. There

before you need them.

• More hardware equals more resources the Private Cloud can use.

Private Cloud: Resource Optimization

• A Private Cloud uses its available resources at a maximum level.

● Hardware utilization is balanced to protect against overuse.

● Policies ensure resource availability for VM needs.

● Resource requirements and capacity are plannable.

Private Cloud: Resource Optimization

• A Private Cloud’s Resource Pools are infinitely malleable.

● “Project X contributed 30% in $$s to buying the hardware, so we’re going to ensure Project X always has 30%.”

● “\\ServerA needs more processing power. Let’s supply that power.”

● “Business Unit Y is about to expand and they anticipate that they’ll need another 20 VMs, we’ll need to expand our environment to suit.”

• Resource Pools bring rationality to IT’s traditional “guess and check” mentality.

● Your gut probably doesn’t like this concept.● But this is a good thing.● Your boss loves it.

Private Cloud: Resource Quantification

• Resources become quantifiable units within the virtual platform.

● Blade Enclosure 1 supplies 40,480 MHz of processing,256 GB of RAM.

● Virtual Machine \\server1 needs 2,048 MHz of processing,4 GB of RAM

● Resource assignment evolves from “gut feeling” to numerical supply and demand values.

Resource Quantification

• Each hardware component in a Private Cloud contributes a finite level of capacity to the Resource Pool.

● Servers contribute processing and memory● Storage contributes disk space● Networking contributes throughput


• Each hardware component in a Private Cloud contributes a finite level of capacity to the Resource Pool.

● Servers contribute processing and memory● Storage contributes disk space● Networking contributes throughput

• Virtual machines assert the quantity of resources they need at every point in time.

● The Private Cloud supplies these resources.● You supply the Private Cloud with hardware.● It tells you when you need more.● You add more, or you restrict VMs (with notable results).


• Exceptionally Important:It is the job of the Private Cloud to abstract each of these contributions and assertions into a numerical value.

● Numerical values represent supply and demand for resources.● Hardware adds to resource supply.● Virtual machines exert resource demand. “You need a VM?

How big?”● Quantitatively meeting supply to demand is what Private Cloud

computing is all about.

● This is simple addition and subtraction.● This should not be an arcane art.

Doing this SuccessfullyRequires The Right Hardware

Doing this Successfully Requires the Right Management Solutions

• Management that spans past just the hypervisor layer.

● …that can peer into hardware, network, storage layers for resource quantification.

● …that includes preconfigured templates for deployment into Resource Pools.

● …that spans The Cloud &The Private Cloud

Doing this SuccessfullyRequires the Right Division of Labor

• IT Architects and External Service Providers define and construct service templates.

• IT Administrators manage resources.• Service Consumers request and deploy templates from

the Service Catalog.

Part 3Constructing the Private Cloud


• Users connect intoa local IT Services DeliveryInfrastructure.

● The Private Cloud

• They also connect to theInternet for IT services.

● The Cloud● Cloud Services

IT ServicesDelivery

Infrastructure

The User

The Internet

What’s in the Black Box?

The User

The Internet

Processing ProcessingProcessingExpansion

Virtual Workloads

Storage

Workload-to-Storage Networking

Workload-to-User Networking

Inter-Workload N

etworking

Management

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

DataBackup

DataArchival

Security Infrastructure

Space / Power / Cooling


Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inte

r-Workloa

d Netw

orking

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

Secu

rity Infra

structure


DisasterOperations

What’s in the Black Box?

Constructing Processing and Memory

• Step one is identifying howmuch processing and memoryyour IT Services will need.

● This is an additive process.

● # Servers *GHz of Processing per Server

● # Servers *GB of RAM per Server

IT ServicesDelivery

Infrastructure

The User

The Internet


• Step 1½ is identifying…● …growth capacity● …burst capacity● …cluster reserve capacity

• VMware recommendationssuggest 75% of capacityas maximum utilizationduring steady state.

IT ServicesDelivery

Infrastructure

The User

The Internet

75% 75% 75%

75% 75% 75%

75% 75% 75%


• Step 2 is converting those numbersinto specifications for serversor blades.

• Example: HP Proliant BL460c G6 blade● 2x Intel Xeon 2.53GHz processors● Up to 192GB (!) RAM● Brocade 8GB FC HBA● Dual-port 10Gig-E● 2x 146GB RAID 0/1 drives

● (Just as an aside, isn’t it crazy that you can nowbuy a server with more RAM than disk???)


• Example…● 2x 2.53GHz processors / blade * 16 blades/enclosure =

40,480 Hz to distribute to VMs● 32GB RAM / blade * 8 blades/enclosure =

256 GB RAM to distribute to VMs.

Class Discussion

• These last few slides have shown us how to measure capacity.

• But, how can we really measure demand?


• Tools exist today for capturing VM demand.● Multiple third-party tools, or…● …consider VMware’s Guided Consolidation...

Constructing Networking

The User

The Internet


Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inter-Workload N

etworking

Management

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

DataBackup

DataArchival




Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inte

r-Workloa

d Netw

orking

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

Secu

rity Infra

structure


DisasterOperations


• Six types of virtual networking● Workload-to-user networking● Workload-to-storage networking● Inter-workload networking● Virtual environment-to-backups networking● Backups-to-archival networking● Virtual environment-to-DR networking

• Combinations of 1Gig-E and 10Gig-E are now becoming the norm.

● More throughput for higher-demands.● Right-size cost to needs.


StorageMulti, 1GbDual, 10Gb

ProductionDual or Multi, 1GbDual, 10Gb (w. Stor)

ManagementSingle, 1Gb(Share with Prod)

Networking Gotcha’s

• ESX networking is per-host.● Ensure that every host is configured correctly.● Changing configuration on one will not affect another.

• ESX network monitoring is per-host.● Network conditions on one host do not impact others.● …except when VMs are interrelated, although this is outside

the ESX layer.

• Balance network segregation with consolidation.● Segregate out traffic by type.● Consolidate traffic within type.● VLANs are your friend.

• CRITICAL: Networking is dynamic.

Class Discussion

• What about NIC consolidation? When is it appropriate to use VLANs?

Class Discussion


● PRO: Reduces NIC count requirements● PRO: Lowers hardware costs● PRO: Reduces network complexity at the ESX layer● PRO: Plays perfectly with 10Gig-E● PRO: Trivial to configure

Class Discussion


● PRO: Reduces NIC count requirements● PRO: Lowers hardware costs● PRO: Reduces network complexity at the ESX layer● PRO: Plays perfectly with 10Gig-E● PRO: Trivial to configure● CON: Increases network complexity at the Cisco layer● CON: Greater potential for network saturation. Excessive

traffic on one VLAN causes problems for all others.● CON: Security concerns. Some (obtuse) VLAN exploits

believed in the wild.● CON: Trivial to misconfigure

Constructing Storage

The User

The Internet


Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inter-Workload N

etworking

Management

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

DataBackup

DataArchival




Virtual Workloads

Storage



Inte

r-Workloa

d Netw

orking

Storage Expansion

Net. Expansion

WorkloadExpansion

Net. Expansion

Secu

rity Infra

structure


DisasterOperations

Class Discussion

• What’s the best SAN for virtualization?

Constructing Storage

• Selected SAN medium does not appear to be based on virtual platform construction.

● Result: You’re probably stuck with what you’ve got.

Source: http://www.emc.com/collateral/analyst-reports/2009-forrester-storage-choices-virtual-server.pdf

Five Capabilities to Lookfor in a SAN

ESX Server

ESX Server

SAN Storage Device

2. Processing Redundancy

3. Networking Redundancy

4. Cross-node Disk Redundancy

1. Disk Redundancy,a.k.a RAID

Five Capabilities to Lookfor in a SAN

PrimaryESX Server

PrimaryESX Server

SAN Storage Device SAN Storage Device

BackupESX Server

BackupESX Server

Backup Site

5. Site-to-Site Replication

Nice Features

• Storage-level thin provisioning.● This is different (and augments) ESX-level thin-provisioning.

• Storage-level snapshots.● Can be useful for data backup and replication

• Storage-level volume replication & cloning.● Ensure that storage-level management activities are

completed on storage processors.● Eliminates impact on ESX processors.

• Trivial scalability.● You want to “snap-and-go” additional storage as needed.● Yesteryear’s big iron storage is waning in popularity

everywhere except where already invested.

But Irrespective, a SANs a SAN.

• ESX treats most SAN connections pretty much the same.

● SCSI● Block SCSI● iSCSI

SAN Connections, are aCompletely Different Story

• Your goal: 100% SAN Uptime.● Redundancy in the SAN itself● Redundant connections to storage● Redundant paths to storage● Verification that paths exist on all ESX servers

• LIVE DRAW: Sketching out a SAN design.● Who would like to offer theirs up as an example?

Common Storage Bottlenecks

\\server1 \\server2

Network

iSCSI Storage

Clients

Type and Rotation

Speed of Drives

Spindle Contention

Network

Contention

Connection Medium

Connection Redundancy

& Aggregation

Administrative

Complexity

Class Discussion

• How do you resolve these common bottlenecks?● Network contention● Type and rotation speed of drives● Connection redundancy and aggregation● Spindle contention● Connection medium● Administrative complexity

Part 4Justifying the Private Cloud Evolution

Class Discussion

• How has virtualization changed your IT processes?

• How do you expect Private Cloud to further change those processes?

Questions to Ask Yourself

• What are your reasons for virtualizing?● Datacenter automation? Speed of service delivery?

• How many physical servers are virtualized?● What is your rate of new servers?

• What are your expectations for VM consolidation ratios?● 5:1● 10:1● 15:1● Greater?

The Classic Cost Savings

• Reduced purchasing rate for new servers• Reduced electricity consumption

● Both for servers, and for cooling

• Reduced hardware maintenance and management costs• Termination of hardware leases• Reduced cost of downtime• Reduction in count of OS licenses• Reduction in space/power/cooling costs

Potentially Unexpected Costs

• Geometrically increasing rate of new server creation (VM sprawl).

● New license costs.● New hardware costs.● Scaling the environment

• Complexity● Internal IT process complexity.● Monitoring complexity.● Problem resolution complexity.● Why-does-processor-overuse-cause-a-network-issue

complexity?

Quantifiable Success Measurements

• Maximize hardware utilization● Recognize an X:1 consolidation ratio atop virtual hosts.● Recognize an X% resource utilization atop virtual hosts.

• Reduce server sprawl● Reduce servers under management by X%● Reduce new server purchase rate by X%

• Consolidate administrative touch points● Reduce administration time per server by X%● Reduce number of administrators by X%

• Minimize downtime● Reduce workload downtime to X%

Finally: How Do You Get There?

• Remember: A Private Cloud at its core is little more than…

● A virtualization technology…● …some really good management tools…● …and their integration with business processes.

Finally: How Do You Get There?

• Remember: A Private Cloud at its core is little more than…

● A virtualization technology…● …some really good management tools…● …and their integration with business processes.

• You’ll need those three things.• You’ll also need a set of hardware that is designed with

virtualization and Private Cloud computing in mind.• “You don’t want to be ‘white boxing’ your virtual

environment, do you? That was a bad idea the last time!”

Constructing a vSphere Private Cloud:Strategies for IT Administrators and Decision Makers

Greg Shields, MVPSenior Partner and Principal Technologist

www.ConcentratedTech.com

winconnections spring, 2011 - constructing a vsphere private cloud: strategies for it...

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