# Presentation: 514939

## Lean Green VM Technology

**Lean Green VM Technology**

- Jeremy Allison and Jeremy Baca
- CSU Server Managers

- Sandia is a multiprogram laboratory operated by
- Sandia Corporation, a Lockheed Martin Company
- for the United States Department of Energy’s
- National Nuclear Security Administration
- under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

## A Virtual Machine is software that creates a virtualized environment between the computer platform and its operating system, so that the end user can operate software on an abstract machine.

**What is VM?**

## Types of VM technology

- Emulation
- Virtual PC for Power PC based Mac
- Paravirtualization
- XEN
- “Full Virtualization”
- VMWare, Parallels

## “Bare metal” virtualization
Overhead of host OS kept to a minimum
Takes advantage of Intel and AMD virtualization
VMFS
Cluster file system allowing distributed storage utilization
RAM Over-Commitment
Hedging your memory bet

- “Bare metal” virtualization
- Overhead of host OS kept to a minimum
- Takes advantage of Intel and AMD virtualization
- VMFS
- Cluster file system allowing distributed storage utilization
- RAM Over-Commitment
- Hedging your memory bet

## Memory ballooning
“...artificially induces memory pressure within idle virtual machines, forcing them to use their own paging areas and release memory for active virtual machines “
Virtual Machine deployment
Cloning
VM Templates
Sysprep integration
Consolidated Backup
Centralized backups anytime of day
VMWare Converter
Convert running machines to virtual machines

- “...artificially induces memory pressure within idle virtual machines, forcing them to use their own paging areas and release memory for active virtual machines “
- Virtual Machine deployment
- Cloning
- VM Templates
- Sysprep integration
- Consolidated Backup
- Centralized backups anytime of day
- VMWare Converter
- Convert running machines to virtual machines

## The cluster behind the curtain

## HA
In the event of host failure VI can gracefully shutdown VM’s on the failed host and reboot them on a running host
VMotion
Can move a running machine from one host to another without interuption
DRS
Uses Vmotion to dynamically manager host resources by balancing resource utilization across hosts 

- HA
- In the event of host failure VI can gracefully shutdown VM’s on the failed host and reboot them on a running host
- VMotion
- Can move a running machine from one host to another without interuption
- DRS
- Uses Vmotion to dynamically manager host resources by balancing resource utilization across hosts

**Notes:**
HA: High Availability
Vmotion: used in maintenance, DRS
DRS: equal rights for all!

## Virtualized CPU’s
Allows up to 4 virtual CPU's to be assigned to a machine
Memory

- Virtualized CPU’s
- Allows up to 4 virtual CPU's to be assigned to a machine
- Memory

## VM Data stores
VMFS
Clustered file system
LUN’s can be dynamically added
Supports local drives, NFS, ISCSI and Fiber Channel

- VM Data stores
- VMFS
- Clustered file system
- LUN’s can be dynamically added
- Supports local drives, NFS, ISCSI and Fiber Channel

## VSwitch
Works like a layer 2 switch
Port Groups
Traffic Shaping
NIC teaming for throughput and redundancy

- VSwitch
- Works like a layer 2 switch
- Port Groups
- Traffic Shaping
- NIC teaming for throughput and redundancy

## Slide 11

## Avoiding a big cluster

## Candidates for virtualization
Current server requirements
Current CPU, Memory and Network Utilization
Disk I/O
Projected Growth in storage and utilization

- Current server requirements
- Current CPU, Memory and Network Utilization
- Disk I/O
- Projected Growth in storage and utilization

## Number of Host servers
Memory Requirements
Amount and type of storage
Fiber Channel
ISCSI
NFS
Local Storage

- Number of Host servers
- Memory Requirements
- Amount and type of storage
- Fiber Channel
- ISCSI
- NFS
- Local Storage

## Money
Reduced power costs
Reduced cooling costs
Reduced cost on hardware refresh
Greener datacenter
Reduced power consumption
Reduced cooling requirements
Reduced Hardware refresh waste
The public likes green

- Money
- Reduced power costs
- Reduced cooling costs
- Reduced cost on hardware refresh
- Greener datacenter
- Reduced power consumption
- Reduced cooling requirements
- Reduced Hardware refresh waste
- The public likes green

## 			What a Cluster!

- 			What a Cluster!

## Power Edge 2650
1 GB of RAM
Xeon 2.4 GHz Processor
Windows Server 2003 sp2
Virtual Infrastructure server 2.01
Responsible for HA, DRS and day to day business

- Power Edge 2650
- 1 GB of RAM
- Xeon 2.4 GHz Processor
- Windows Server 2003 sp2
- Virtual Infrastructure server 2.01
- Responsible for HA, DRS and day to day business

## Two Power Edge 2850’s
12 GB of RAM each
Dual, Dual core Xeon processors at 2.8Ghz each
2 onboard Gigabit NIC’s
2 dual port Gigabit NIC’s
4 73 GB 15k RPM SCSI HDD’s
Raid 5 with one hot swap
ESX 3.01

- Two Power Edge 2850’s
- 12 GB of RAM each
- Dual, Dual core Xeon processors at 2.8Ghz each
- 2 onboard Gigabit NIC’s
- 2 dual port Gigabit NIC’s
- 4 73 GB 15k RPM SCSI HDD’s
- Raid 5 with one hot swap
- ESX 3.01

## Power Edge 2950
2 GB of RAM
Dual Core 64 bit Xeon at 3.0 GHz
6 250 GB SATA HDD’s
RAID 5 with one hot swap
Windows Server 2003 Storage Server 64bit

- Power Edge 2950
- 2 GB of RAM
- Dual Core 64 bit Xeon at 3.0 GHz
- 6 250 GB SATA HDD’s
- RAID 5 with one hot swap
- Windows Server 2003 Storage Server 64bit

## Impressions

## NFS...not good except for ISO image storage
ISCSI good and gains VMFS and consolidated backup
Fiber Channel is good and the suggested configuration
Updating is a bit tedious
Very easy to deploy a new server
Permission control on VM’s is handy
Once setup it seems very solid
Alerts can be setup for a number if situations

- ISCSI good and gains VMFS and consolidated backup
- Fiber Channel is good and the suggested configuration
- Updating is a bit tedious
- Very easy to deploy a new server
- Permission control on VM’s is handy
- Once setup it seems very solid
- Alerts can be setup for a number if situations

## Redundancy is important since you now have all of your eggs in only a few baskets
VM Converter is down right cool
Problems with two factor
VM Converter has limitations
VI server requires Cryptocard login
Initial ESX server build only takes about 20 minutes...but then the patching begins
Familiarity with Linux, Perl and bash a plus
automating much of the day to day work with scripting probably a necessity

- VM Converter is down right cool
- Problems with two factor
- VM Converter has limitations
- VI server requires Cryptocard login
- Initial ESX server build only takes about 20 minutes...but then the patching begins
- Familiarity with Linux, Perl and bash a plus
- automating much of the day to day work with scripting probably a necessity

## Things to do

## ISCSI mirroring to second offsite storage server
Setup Consolidated backup
Script Updates
Add adapters to Storage server

- Setup Consolidated backup
- Script Updates
- Add adapters to Storage server

- Questions