This document discusses managing a virtualized environment. It begins with an introduction to virtualization and describes the benefits such as agility, reduced downtime, and Windows licensing flexibility. It then covers advanced uses like snapshots, virtual disks, and networking. Lessons learned are shared around using central storage and virtualizing IT resources gradually. It concludes with a demonstration of scanning and monitoring a virtualized environment.
2. What We’ll Be Covering
•Virtualization 101
•Benefits (Community)
•Advanced Uses of Virtualization
•Lessons Learned (Community)
•Managing Virtualization with Spiceworks
12. Types of Virtualization
• Desktop
– VMware Player
– VMware Workstation
– VMware Fusion
– Parallels Desktop
– MSFT Virtual PC
Host OS:
Windows 7,
Linux, etc.
Virtualization S/W
13. Types of Virtualization
• Server
– VMware Server
– Parallels Server
– Oracle VirtualBox
– MSFT Virtual Server 2005
Host OS:
Windows Server,
Linux, etc.
Virtualization S/W
14. Types of Virtualization
• Hypervisor
– VMware vSphere
– MSFT Hyper-V
– Xen
Host “OS” is the
Hypervisor
Parent Partition,
Dom0,
Console OS
15. Microsoft Hyper-V
• Standalone (Hyper-V Server), or
• Windows Server 2008 (x64) Hyper-V
Role
• Hyper-V Server is FREE
• Manage with System Center Virtual
Machine Manager (SCVMM)
• H/W: Intel-VT + XD, AMD-V + NX
• Guest support: Windows, RHEL, SuSE
16. VMware vSphere
• aka ESXi, ESX, Virtual Infastructure, VI3
• VMware vSphere Hypervisor is FREE
• Paid versions have more features
• Manage with VMware vCenter
• H/W: Consult HCL
• Guest support: Almost anything
17. Citrix XenServer
• FREE
• Paid versions have more features
• Manage with XenCenter
• H/W: Intel-VT, AMD-V (Windows guests)
• Guest support: Windows, Linux
19. Define “Is”
• vSphere
– Most third party tools and vendor partnerships
– Leading in advanced features
– Can quickly get expensive
• Hyper-V
– Familiar management for Windows people
– More features for free (Live Migration)
– Less VM density
• XenServer
– Familiar management for Linux people
– Most features for free
– Better density with Linux guests
21. Agility
• A new VM is a few clicks away
• Add as many VMs as host capacity
allows
“Think about trying to get the OK to
purchase a physical server for
something that only benefits IT.”
22. Windows Licensing
• Server 2008 Enterprise license allows for
4 VM instances on same host
• Server 2008 Datacenter license allows
for unlimited VM instances on same
host (license per host CPU)
• Applies to any virtualization platform
• Additional benefit for Hyper-V Role:
Host license includes guest license(s)
24. Backups
• VMs are just files
• copy, rsync, scp works for these too
• Veeam FastSCP
• Veeam Backup
• Trilead VMX
25. Reduced Downtime
• VMs are portable between hosts
• Storage shared across VM hosts
• Restore backup to another VM host
• Run from backup using VMware Player
31. Non-Persistent
• I install Spiceworks in a VM 5-10 times
per week.
• Every “Power Off” or “Restart” performs
automatic Rollback
scsi0:0.mode = "independent-nonpersistent"
35. Lossy Network
# ipfw pipe 1 config plr 0.1 delay 150ms
# ipfw pipe 2 config plr 0.1 delay 50ms
# ipfw add 1 prob 0.3 pipe 1 ip from any to any
# ipfw add 2 pipe 2 ip from any to any
40. Put it into Practice
• Start Free, Educate Yourself
– VMware Go, Hyper-V server, VMware
Player
– VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace
– MSFT Product Trials at Technet
41. Put it into Practice
• Virtualize IT Resources, Gain
Confidence
– WSUS, A/V
– Conversion Tools
– Learn how to monitor resources, errors
42. Put it into Practice
• Opportunity and Argument to virtualize
the rest
– Warranties expiring, Hardware refresh
– Future capacity via more CPU and RAM
– Savings on Windows Licensing
– Limited downtime DR no-brainer
43. Special Thanks
• Bob Beatty
• Justin Davidson
• Limey
• Martin9700
• Scott Alan Miller
• Orl
Licensing for vsphere ramps up after 3 hosts x 2 sockets each
Hyper-V still does not have memory overcommit (page dedup, etc.)
XenServer most popular for paravirtualization