Windows Server Virtualization Infrastructure Planning and Design Series

What Is IPD? Planning and design guidance that aims to clarify and streamline the planning and design process for Microsoft® infrastructure technologies IPD: Defines decision flow Describes decisions to be made Relates decisions and options for the business Frames additional questions for business understanding Infrastructure Planning and Design (IPD) is a series of planning and design guides created to clarify and streamline the planning and design process for Microsoft® infrastructure technologies. Each guide in the series addresses a unique infrastructure technology or scenario. These guides include the following topics: Defining the technical decision flow (flow chart) through the planning process Describing the decisions to be made and the commonly available options to consider in making the decisions Relating the decisions and options for the business in terms of cost, complexity, and other characteristics Framing the decision in terms of additional questions for the business to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the appropriate business landscape The guides in this series are intended to complement and augment Microsoft product documentation.

Planning for virtualization Getting Started This guide was created to enable infrastructure planners to design virtualization infrastructure solutions. This guide includes specific design information, including: Activities that encourage sound planning. Each activity includes: Prerequisites and background on the activity Tasks that will be performed to complete the activity Reference information regarding the activity’s impact on characteristics such as cost, complexity, and capacity of the solution Questions to ensure business needs are captured and reflected in the solution This guide is written for information technology (IT) infrastructure specialists who are responsible for planning and designing a virtualized server infrastructure. Planning for virtualization

Why Use Virtualization? Here are four virtualization scenarios: Server Consolidation Application Migration Increase IT Agility Software Development and Training <Use this slide to discuss broad justifications for choosing virtual server solutions.> Most organizations explore virtualization for one of the following reasons: Server consolidation – By consolidating multiple server instances on one set of hardware, efficiency is gained by more fully using the hardware. Application Migration – Some applications do not run on newer server operating systems, creating a need for the ability to host virtual instances of legacy operating systems to run these applications. Increase IT Agility – Provide the ability to rapidly add and move servers to respond to changing business needs. Software Development – By saving and restoring a set of template virtual hard drives (VHD), developers can rapidly cycle through test scenarios during software development processes.

Purpose and Overview Purpose: Agenda To provide design guidance for Microsoft® Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 or Windows Server® 2008 Hyper-V™ Agenda Determine Application Requirements Design the Host Infrastructure The purpose of this guide is to focus on the considerations that organizations should take into account when designing a virtualization infrastructure. This will be accomplished by enabling planners to determine application requirements and, using those requirements, design a Microsoft® Virtual Server infrastructure. Details about disaster recovery, server support, and server hosting are outside the scope of this guide.

The Role of Server Virtualization in Infrastructure Optimization <This slide shows the effect server virtualization has on infrastructure maturity as reflected on the Infrastructure Optimization Model> According to the Core Infrastructure Optimization Model (Core IO), organizations that are actively pursuing server consolidation for production workloads with virtualization are meeting one of the requirements to move to the Rationalized level. This guide will assist in planning and designing the infrastructure for virtual workloads using Windows Server® 2008 Hyper-V™ and Virtual Server 2005 R2.

Decision Flow Diagram This slide depicts the entire planning and design flow for server virtualization. This sequence proceeds in a logical order to first determine requirements and then design an appropriate infrastructure. Where a step represents decisions the organization must make, this guide presents a corresponding list of common response options. Other steps in this list represent tasks the organization must complete; they appear in this guide because they are needed to complete the infrastructure design.

Tips for the Planning Process Use a spreadsheet or database to track application and host server requirements Involve the entire organization Ensure management’s commitment to the virtualization project Gather requirements and business input Validate all assumptions with business and technical experts <Use this slide as an opportunity to share best practices for infrastructure planning.> Some tips: Ensure management stakeholders are made part of the planning process. This ensures that there is commitment to successful completion, that business needs are captured and reflected in the plan, and that budgets can be justified. A “Job Aid” spreadsheet or other data capture method is recommended, as most organizations will have many applications and scenarios for virtualization.

Decision Tree Part 1: Determine Application Requirements 1. Determine Virtualization Scope 2. Create the List of Applications 3. Determine Resource Requirements 4. Select the Backup Approach 5. Select a High-Availability Approach 6. Sum and Analyze Application Requirements Part 1 focuses on details related to the applications that will reside on the virtual infrastructure. Emphasize that organizations must consider both business and technical requirements before designing the host infrastructure. By enumerating these requirements, it becomes possible to design infrastructure solutions for the proper scale and availability. At the end of Part 1, the complete requirements should be enumerated and documented.

Determine Virtualization Scope Which part of the infrastructure will be virtualized? Option 1: Enterprise Option 2: Hub Option 3: Satellite Business Validation Define virtualization goals/benefits Define the scope and timeline for implementation Virtualization technology can apply to all areas of an organization. In this step, businesses should document their primary goals for virtualization. By the completion of this step, an approach to virtualization should be identified and validated with the business. Many organizations will have the need to deploy virtualization using all three options. Specific design decisions in subsequent steps should keep these decisions in mind. For the audience, define or explain: Option 1: Enterprise – The entire organization Option 2: Hub – Centralized location Option 3: Satellite – Smaller location, possibly with limited connectivity to central office resources 1

Create the List of Applications Task 1: Determine Application Compatibility Processor architecture requirements Number of required processors Memory requirements Graphics adapter requirements Special hardware requirements Task 2: Verify Business Requirements Task 3: Document Decisions Application name Application version Is the application supported? Will application be virtualized? Application owner Approved by business Outlook Web Access 2007 Yes Server Admin Microsoft System Center Essentials IT Service Desk Application 3 Application 4 … **ANIMATED SLIDE** <In this slide, we begin to inventory applications and determine whether they are candidates for virtualization.> Step 2 involves determining whether applications should run on a virtual server. Compatibility and availability requirements are documented for each application to be used later on when mapping guests to hosts and determining high-availability needs. The other tasks in this step involve the collection and documentation of business requirements, such as those related to security and performance. 2

Determine Resource Requirements Sources of performance data: Real-world/Historical performance data Specifications and requirements Benchmark/Load-testing results Tasks: Object Counters or Criteria CPU % Processor Time Memory Committed Bytes Disk Space and Performance Network Bytes/sec, bandwidth Backup Backup required? Availability Determine method Coexistence and Isolation Workload segregation Determining expected hardware resource utilization requirements is an important step. Organizations should plan to collect and analyze performance statistics based on available data. Details can be stored in a spreadsheet or database in order to provide easy analysis in future steps. Some example performance counters: Processor (CPU) Process (memory) Committed bytes (memory) Physical disk (disk) Network interface (network) 3

Select the Backup Approach Application Backup Options: Option 1: Per Application Option 2: By Guest Option 3: By Host Considerations: Performance Downtime/availability Storage capacity and limitations Ease of recoverability Complexity of implementation Discuss the implications of various backup methods for disaster recovery and business continuity. Backup requirements should be based on: Data loss limitations (risk tolerance) Recovery intervals (may be typified by Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with the business) Storage limitations (storage infrastructure costs) Organizations will likely use a combination of backup methods based on specific requirements for each application. 4

Select a High-Availability Approach Application Availability Options: Option 1: Network Load Balancing Web servers (stateless) Option 2: Application-Specific Clustering Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS)-aware applications Option 3: Host Clustering Last resort option (host in an MSCS cluster) Characteristics: Availability, manageability, interoperability In this step, map the requirements you identified in Step 3 to specific options for implementing high-availability virtual systems. Option 1: Network Load Balancing Stateless applications such as Web servers can have high-availability support by establishing network load balancing. Option 2: Application-Specific Clustering Many enterprise applications that customers consider to be mission critical have fault-tolerance capabilities built into them through cluster awareness. Option 3: Host Clustering Good faith effort for high uptime. Does not offer fault tolerance beyond what applications may possess. 5

Summarize Application Requirements Purpose: Determine complete requirements for the host infrastructure Tasks: Task 1: Summarize Guest Hardware Resource Requirements CPU, memory, disk (performance and storage capacity), and network Task 2: Group Applications Backup, co-existence, physical isolation, high-availability requirements This step aggregates all of the recorded requirements. This information will be used in succeeding steps to map resources to workloads. By the end of this step, you should have a completed spreadsheet or database that summarizes all the requirements for the applications and operating systems that will move to the virtual infrastructure. 6

Decision Tree Part 2: Design the Host Infrastructure 7. Select a Form Factor for the Hosts 8. Determine Server Placement 9. Map Guests to Hosts 10. Determine the Host Backup Approach 11. Design High Availability 12. Design the Storage Infrastructure 13. Design the Network Infrastructure 14. Validate the Overall Approach Part 2 focuses on using information collected in Part 1 to design the host infrastructure. Details include mapping business, technical, and resource requirements to host resources. Based on host infrastructure design considerations, it is likely that some decisions made in Part 1 will need to be revisited.

Select a Form Factor for the Hosts Begin designing the host infrastructure Options: Option 1: Leverage existing hardware Option 2: Purchase new hardware Characteristics: Cost Performance Availability/Reliability Manageability This is the first step in mapping guest application requirements to the host infrastructure. Decision points will be based largely on the organization’s current technology investments and future directions. Discussion: Using existing servers can be cheaper initially, but this can lead to higher maintenance costs and lack of uniformity. 7

Determine Host Server Placement Determine where servers should be placed based on: Costs Manageability Security Performance Availability Options: Option 1: Data Centers (Centralized) Option 2: Branch or Satellite Offices Based on the scope of the virtualization project, organizations must determine where physical host servers should be placed. Most organizations will deploy some servers to remote locations with the majority of computers placed within centralized data center environments. Discussion: Centralized versus distributed infrastructures and the effects on cost, manageability, security, reliability, and availability. 8

Map Guests to Hosts Goal: Determine the optimal allocation of workloads based on application requirements Tasks: Task 1: Determine Target Host Resource Utilization Goals Task 2: Draw a Host/Guest Plan Task 3: Re-evaluate Infrastructure Capacity Process will likely be iterative and can require trade-offs Mapping guests to hosts can be a complicated process due to the number of variables involved. Organizations should plan to spend significant time and effort in determining the optimal mappings. It is likely that some business requirements will need to be revisited at this point. Discussion: If possible, discuss some examples of guests that should not be placed on the same host. (Examples: Guests participating in an MSCS cluster or guests that intensively use the same resources, such as CPU, disk, or memory.) 9

Determine the Host Backup Approach Option 1: Guest-Level Backups Treat virtual machines (VMs) as physical machines (use of backup agents) Pros: Reduces storage requirements; more control over backups Cons: Requires guest operating system support; recovery can be complex and time-consuming Option 2: Host-Level Backups Back up entire VMs from the host file system Pros: Rapid recovery from failures; consistent backup method Cons: Can require third-party hardware and software; requires large amounts of storage capacity Host backup selections are often based on application backup requirements. Discuss requirements of specific applications for backup and restoration. Emphasize that point-in-time recovery usually requires special agents or snapshot services and is easier to achieve with Option 1. Specific goals, such as quick recovery or the maintenance of a disaster recovery site, will lead to Option 2. 10

Design High Availability Decisions will be based on application requirements Option 1: Host Clustering Option 2: Other Clustering Options Protects against VM and hardware failures Network clustering Requires shared storage Guest clustering Requires additional reserved capacity for failovers Application-specific clustering For each application identified in Step 5 that requires network load balancing, determine how many additional VM instances of the application are needed, and then map them onto physical host systems. In Step 9, you mapped all the applications onto physical servers. Count the number of physical servers that have applications requiring an MSCS cluster or host cluster as defined in Step 5. This number represents the number of active cluster nodes required. 11

Design the Storage Infrastructure Tasks: Task 1: Design for Parallelism Task 2: Evaluate Direct-attached Storage Task 3: Evaluate Network-based Storage Network-attached Storage Storage Area Networks (SAN) iSCSI Task 4: Evaluate Virtual Hard Disk Types Fixed-size versus dynamically expanding VHDs Undo disks and differencing disks Storage design involves many considerations, including the organization’s current investments. Network-based storage can be accessed from host systems or from within virtual machines through the SMB or iSCSI protocols. VHD decisions will be based on functional requirements (for example, VM rollbacks), as well as storage space versus performance trade-offs. 12

Design the Network Infrastructure Translate guest requirements to host Task Strategy Determine VM Network Requirements No connectivity VM-only networks Guest-Host connections Physical network access Host Bandwidth Requirements Summarize VM bandwidth requirements Public/Private/Internet network access Plan for Reliability & Availability Network adapter teaming Switch and NIC redundancy Load balancing and automatic failover Standard network design approaches can be leveraged in virtual environments. Specialized options, such as VM-only networks, can offer interesting options for communications between guest systems. Network security options for the physical network include: Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN) Firewalls Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) Intrusion Prevention Systems (IPS) Network Traffic Monitoring and Analysis Solutions Discussion: Discuss the process of mapping guest networking requirements. Will this change guest to host mapping? 13

Validate the Overall Approach Goals: Verify that all decisions are aligned with business requirements Validate changes to initial requirements Tasks: Task 1: Validate Application Requirements Task 2: Validate Host Infrastructure Design Decisions This step will require input from all areas of the organization. Keeping track of changes to requirements definitions can be helpful in identifying areas that should be reviewed. If necessary, organizations should iterate over all of the primary guest and host decision points, based on new information that has been collected. Discussion: Review entire plan. Does it satisfy all stated business goals? Does it achieve required criteria for availability, capacity, and cost? 14

What’s Next? Implement your design Quantify return on investment Repeat as appropriate for: Enterprise Hub Satellite Provide feedback on the documentation to satfdbk@microsoft.com Repeat for other sections of your environment. Repeat as appropriate for: Option 2: Hub Option 3: Satellite

Summary and Conclusion Organizations should base the design of their Virtual Server infrastructure on business and technical requirements Considerations should include: The scope of virtualization Technical requirements and considerations Additional business requirements Designing a host infrastructure to meet those requirements Validating the overall approach Stress the need for ensuring that a virtualized infrastructure serve the requirements of the business. It should not be virtualized for the sake of virtualization, but should solve some need for reducing cost, improving performance or reliability, or reducing complexity.

Find More Information The Microsoft Solution Accelerators Web site microsoft.com/technet/SolutionAccelerators Contact the IPD team satfdbk@microsoft.com Download the full document http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=100915 Online resources: The Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Home Page provides a central location for information about the Virtual Server platform. The Virtual Machine Technology FAQ provides answers to commonly asked questions about Virtual Server functionality, licensing, and deployment options. The Microsoft TechNet Server Virtualization Forum provides a location in which architects, implementers, and end users can discuss issues related to designing and deploying Microsoft Virtual Server. The Technical White Paper, Improving IT Efficiency at Microsoft Using Virtual Server 2005, provides details on how Microsoft has implemented a Virtual Server infrastructure. An associated Webcast is also available. Microsoft TechNet Radio: How Microsoft Does IT: The Future of Server Virtualization.