1 VT Central Computing Infrastructure Increasing Virtualization William Dougherty Director of Systems Support Network Infrastructure & Services

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/082 Past: Big Blue Mainframe, Mainframe, Mainframe Mainframe, Mainframe, Mainframe –MVS –VM Very small UNIX (mostly DEC VAX) and other proprietary Operating Systems and equipment. Very small UNIX (mostly DEC VAX) and other proprietary Operating Systems and equipment. –Proprietary systems  HP MPEiX  DEC VMS  SGI Irix  Windows NT

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/083 Present: Distributed and Varied Administrative, HPC/Research, and Instructional Computing spread across a variety of vendors’ servers and storage; no common ground. Administrative, HPC/Research, and Instructional Computing spread across a variety of vendors’ servers and storage; no common ground. –Over 350 individual servers and devices, many in load-balanced clusters, dedicated to specific administrative services. –Most major vendors’ equipment represented. –Several Linux/UNIX blends, Windows, and proprietary Operating Systems in play. –Research systems running on Apple (PowerPC), SGI, and Sun.

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/084 Present: Advantages (on the Administrative Side) Plenty of platforms for specific application needs. Plenty of platforms for specific application needs. Similar computing power in different tiers; development, test, pre-production, production. Similar computing power in different tiers; development, test, pre-production, production. Ample cycles for day-to-day operations and cyclical/seasonal peaks. Ample cycles for day-to-day operations and cyclical/seasonal peaks.

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/085 Present: Disadvantages No way to centrally administer servers. No way to centrally administer servers. No way to recover or capture “spare” cycles. No way to recover or capture “spare” cycles. Electric power and cooling = high impacts. Electric power and cooling = high impacts. –Managing power is complicated. Data Center space dwindling. Data Center space dwindling. Specialization required for each server platform. Specialization required for each server platform. Not enough computing resources for research; primarily aimed at Graduate and Faculty needs. Undergrads mostly disenfranchised. Not enough computing resources for research; primarily aimed at Graduate and Faculty needs. Undergrads mostly disenfranchised.

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/086 Current Virtualization Efforts UNIX/Linux environment: UNIX/Linux environment: –Solaris Zones –Linux VServer –Xen –VMWare Server (have started testing ESXi) Windows environment: Windows environment: –Windows Virtual Server 2005 –Windows Hyper-V: can now use multiple processor cores on a “Guest” OS (now only SuSE Linux supported)  Tried VMWare, but potential support issues caused concerns.

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/087 Current Virtualization Efforts; Details: Solaris Zones Solaris Zones – Application: ITA Purchasing and related applications – OS: Sun Solaris 10 – Hardware: Sun V440, Sun V490 – CPU: SparcIII, SparcIV+ – Count: 2 Physical systems, 3 Solaris Zones – Notes: The base systems also run application components. This effort consolidated 5 physical systems into 2.

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/088 Current Virtualization Efforts; Details: Linux VServer (case #1) Linux VServer (case #1) –Application: Middleware Java Servlet Hosting environment – OS: Debian Linux – Hardware: Dell 1850, Dell 1950 – CPU: Intel Dual-core Xeon – Count: 6 Physical systems, 18 Virtual systems – Notes: This is a hosting environment for Java servlets. The goal was to provide in a fashion that protects hosted servlets from one another.

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/089 Current Virtualization Efforts; Details: Linux VServer (case #2) Linux VServer (case #2) –Application: Middleware infrastructure support/Java J2EE – OS: Debian Linux – Hardware: Dell 1950s – CPU: Intel Quad-core Xeon – Count: 3 Physical systems, 10 Virtual systems – Notes: Virtualized development and preprod J2EE services, primarily for server consolidation.

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/0810 Current Virtualization Efforts; Details: Linux Xen Linux Xen –Application: Banner Luminis Portal – OS: RedHat Linux – Hardware: Dell 1950 – CPU: Intel Quad-core Xeon – Count: 6 Physical systems, 9 Virtual systems – Notes: The Banner approach to application reinstall requires a reinstall of the OS. This configuration allows us to quickly deploy a base system preconfigured to our security and management standards.

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/0811 Current Virtualization Efforts; Details: VMWare Server VMWare Server – Application: Learning Technologies Projects/Services – OS: Debian Linux – Hardware: Dell 6950, Dell 2950 – CPU: AMD Dual-core, Intel Dual-core Xeon – Count: 2 Physical, 9 Virtual systems – Notes: Long term, the 2950 will be replaced by another Dell 6950.

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/0812 Current Virtualization Efforts; Details: Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 – Application: Windows Administration support (Domain controllers, CITRIX, etc.) – OS: Windows 2000 Server – Hardware: Dell 1950, Dell 2950 – CPU: Intel Quad-core Xeon – Count: 3 Physical systems, 8 Virtual systems – Notes: Plan to migrate to Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V.

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/0813 Current Virtualization Efforts; Details: Microsoft Implementation Group Pilot Microsoft Implementation Group Pilot –Virtual Dedicated Windows Servers (VDWS) –Running Windows 2008 Datacenter, System Center Enterprise Suite, and Hyper-V. –One-half of university’s production Active Directory Domain Controllers will migrate. –Base “Guest” systems:  1.86GHz x86 CPU  1GB of RAM  30GB RAID-5 disks  1GB Ethernet NICs –Twenty guests “invited” into Pilot; A.D. Child domain controllers would be best candidates. –Pilot will run from Nov 2008-June –Platform will be a Dell 2960 (Dual Quad core 3.16GHz/64 bit CPU; 32GB RAM; 6X450GB 15K SAS drives in RAID 1+0).

14 The Future: Consolidation and Increased Virtualization

15 Reasons for the Project Resources: Dwindling; more with less. Funds, personnel, space, etc. Resources: Dwindling; more with less. Funds, personnel, space, etc. Research: Increasing need for computing; strategic goal of university, etc. etc. Currently maintaining System X, plus SGI and Sun hosts centrally. Research: Increasing need for computing; strategic goal of university, etc. etc. Currently maintaining System X, plus SGI and Sun hosts centrally. Utilization: Estimates for utilization of admin servers 5-30% leaving 70-95% free cycles, but still paying for electricity and cooling even if the machine is idle. HPC equipment is on average 70-95% busy. Utilization: Estimates for utilization of admin servers 5-30% leaving 70-95% free cycles, but still paying for electricity and cooling even if the machine is idle. HPC equipment is on average 70-95% busy. Virtualization: Already investigating and some in production. Project with IBM would be to broaden scope to support research use. Part of a “greener” data center. Virtualization: Already investigating and some in production. Project with IBM would be to broaden scope to support research use. Part of a “greener” data center.

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/0816 Future: Consolidation and Virtualization Desire to reap spare cycles associated with off-peak operations; dedicate to research applications where possible and practical. Desire to reap spare cycles associated with off-peak operations; dedicate to research applications where possible and practical. Desire to control electrical power and cooling requirements. Desire to control electrical power and cooling requirements. Desire to extend life of Data Center. Desire to extend life of Data Center.

17 Admin Application Servers Research Computing Funds Space/Power Resources Programming / Operations / Maintenance Contribution toward Strategic Advantage And Research Competitiveness Virtualized Architecture jmc under utilized over utilized RESEARCH APPS ADMIN APPS Increased Overall Capacity High Performance Computing And Storage Virtual services for both research and administrative applications. Secure, isolated and insulated. National / International Research Networks – direct connection with specialized access High Performance Storage

18 Virtualization Advantages Most servers do not come close to peak operating capacity on any given day. In fact, according to Gartner’s white paper Data Center Power and Cooling Scenario Options for the World Ahead, (April 2007) during a 24 hour period less than 10% of the typical x86 /x64 server computing capacity is used. Most servers do not come close to peak operating capacity on any given day. In fact, according to Gartner’s white paper Data Center Power and Cooling Scenario Options for the World Ahead, (April 2007) during a 24 hour period less than 10% of the typical x86 /x64 server computing capacity is used. By decoupling the physical hardware from the operating system and applications, virtualization allows server consolidation, thus improving utilization and manageability. This can yield cost savings and benefits including: 1. Reducing server and networking costs; fewer servers, fewer connections. 2. Reducing growing power, cooling, and facilities costs. (Server performance tripling, while energy efficiency only doubling every 2 years.) By decoupling the physical hardware from the operating system and applications, virtualization allows server consolidation, thus improving utilization and manageability. This can yield cost savings and benefits including: 1. Reducing server and networking costs; fewer servers, fewer connections. 2. Reducing growing power, cooling, and facilities costs. (Server performance tripling, while energy efficiency only doubling every 2 years.) 3. Improving business agility; as computing resource needs or an application’s needs change, resources can be more quickly deployed. 4. The possibility of decreasing Disaster Recovery time as less equipment would require replacing and Hot Site/Cold Site setup is simplified.

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/0819 Applications Queued for Virtualization GIS related Google Earth Enterprise- Google Fusion GIS related Google Earth Enterprise- Google Fusion Digital Repository/Image Archive DB Digital Repository/Image Archive DB Sakai instance for Instructional Technologies Sakai instance for Instructional Technologies Web app for communications billing system Web app for communications billing system Center for Creative Technology & the Arts Center for Creative Technology & the Arts

William Dougherty-VT: CSG 01/08/0820 Challenges of Virtualized Environment Migration of existing applications. Migration of existing applications. Need for utilities/tools to aid central management of servers: Need for utilities/tools to aid central management of servers: –Configuration, day-to-day administration, security (both host- based and network related). –Root cause analysis, capacity/performance monitoring and planning, accounting. –Managing a mix of physical and virtual servers. Software Licensing compliance (ORACLE). Software Licensing compliance (ORACLE). Specific requirements of commercial applications and chip architecture. (Power PC versus Intel versus AMD; the Ring 0 issue) Specific requirements of commercial applications and chip architecture. (Power PC versus Intel versus AMD; the Ring 0 issue) Standardization versus Diversification Standardization versus Diversification Overcoming institutional anxiety and “tradition.” Overcoming institutional anxiety and “tradition.” What about cloud services? What about cloud services?