STORAGE ARCHITECTURE/ EXECUTIVE: Virtualization It’s not what you think you’re buying. John Blackman Independent Storage Consultant

Agenda Defining virtualization Layers of virtualization Storage virtualization techniques Bringing it together Summary

Definition of virtualization “To virtualize” To separate or abstract the physical from the logical things that mimic their “real” equivalents Why virtualize? To simplify the complexities of an environment To create a flexible and responsive environment

Virtual examples Virtual team Virtual office Virtual machine Virtual datacenter

Layers of virtualization Application File system Server Network Storage fabric Storage array

Application virtualization “Terminal Services” virtualizes the application for the user Using “Web services” or common binaries to scale an application across multiple servers Writing applications at a layer so it can be executed across servers of differing operating systems Requires special skills to manage

File system virtualization Clusterable file systems Multiple servers accessing common data simultaneously SAN file systems Multiple servers using a common method of “laying down” the data regardless of OS Not necessarily being accessible by multiple systems simultaneously Global NameSpace Grouping multiple filesystems to act as a common filesystem. Not Clustering. Is it managed by server or storage group?

Server virtualization Running multiple instances of the same or different operating systems on a single hardware platform Well known on the mainframe Well resisted in the distributed systems groups Thought of as a technology decision not a business decision Requires special skills to manage

Network virtualization Sometimes known as load balancing Scales horizontally, not vertically Enables multiple servers running same application to act as one Requires special skills to manage Is it managed by network or application group?

SAN fabric virtualization In-Band vs. Out-of-Band Heterogeneous vs. homogeneous solutions No standardization in solutions Greatest skill set required – Storage group and maybe network group

Array virtualization Traditional way of storage virtualization Performed by point tools without aggregation Management stack moving up – SMI-S

Let’s bring it together End-to-End view Architecture, engineering and implementation/support groups need to work together Tools need to support end-to-end views CIM (Common Information Model) may enable view Utilitarian processes need to be developed in IT

Bring it together (2) 3 C’s to standardization Conformance Consistency Cooperation Vendor differentiation Intellectual property Commoditization of infrastructure

Adaptive, just-in-time and on-demand Does your culture inhibit providing services as you need? Do your processes and procedures inhibit providing services as your customers need them? Does your technology deployed inhibit being flexible and scalable?

Making your storage organic Define your services to offer Data protection Information management Infrastructure management Define your processes Standardize enterprise management first

Products fit the services Services and processes define the products Simplify end-to-end Unobtrusive to the customer Vendors fit services to the products

Summary Virtualization isn’t simple There are many layers being virtualized Not a business service There are no standards yet

0/0 How do you deploy virtualization? 1.By the service offered? 2.By the application? 3.By the infrastructure?