1. Virtualization Terminology and Concepts

2. Agenda
Virtualization Overview
vSphere / Virtualization Concepts

3. Virtualization Overview

4. Virtualization Overview – Resource Optimization
Physical World
Virtual World
VM density matters!
1:1
1:1
1:1
1:1
1:1
Many:1
1:1
1:1 relationship between applications and hardware
No resource optimization
Many:1 relationship between applications and hardware
Densities are increased improving resource optimization without sacrificing performance

5. Virtualization Overview – Advantages to Virtualization
CPU Optimization / Scheduling VMware can account for CPU and I/O needs of virtual machines by dynamically allocating more resources and larger processor timeslices to VMs. Based on this technology, a single vCPU virtual machines can operate better than an oversized multiple vCPU VMs.
Memory Oversubscription / Optimization
More efficient use of physical RAM by reclaiming unused physical memory and consolidating identical memory pages among VMs on a host.
DRS with Resource Pools
Dynamically load balance VMs across a cluster so applications get required resources when they need them – a “safety net” that lets administrators run individual servers at higher utilization levels while meeting service level agreements.
Direct Driver Model
VMware ESX can achieve very high I/O throughput and can handle the I/O requirements for more VMs simultaneously requesting hardware resources.
Support for Large Memory Pages and Nested/Extended Page Tables
Optimize memory access and can provide substantial performance benefits for mission critical, memory-intensive applications, can reduce CPU resource consumption by up to 15%. 5 5

6. Virtualization Overview – Capacity versus Overhead
32 vCPU
1 TB of RAM 6 6

7. vSphere / Virtualization
Concepts

8. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts - Glossary of Terms
Datacenter: A required structure under which hosts and their associated virtual machines are added to vCenter Server. vCenter Server supports multiple datacenters. A host can be managed under only one datacenter.
Cluster: A server group in the virtual environment. Clusters enable a high-availability solution.
Resource pool A division of computing resources used to manage allocations between virtual machines.
Datastore: Virtual representations of combinations of underlying physical storage resources in the datacenter. A datastore is the storage location (for example, a physical disk, a RAID, or a SAN) for virtual machine files.
vDS: A distributed virtual switch (vDS) is an abstract representation of multiple hosts defining the same vSwitch (same name, same network policy) and port group. These representations explain the concept of a virtual machine being connected to the same network as it migrates among multiple hosts.
dvPort group: A port group associated with a vDS. The port group specifies port configuration options for each member port. A dvPort group defines how a connection is made through the vDS to the network. See also vDS (distributed virtual switch).
dvPort : A distributed virtual port on a vDS that connects to a host’s service console or VMkernel or to a virtual machine’s network adapter. See also vDS (distributed virtual switch).
Host: A computer that uses virtualization software to run virtual machines. Also called the host machine or host computer. The physical computer on which the virtualization (or other) software is installed.
Hypervisor: A platform that allows multiple operating systems to run on a host computer at the same time.
VMware Technical Publications Glossary: 8 8

9. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts - vSphere
Application Services
vSphere / Virtualization Concepts - vSphere
Infrastructure Services
Host Profiles
Linked Mode
Orchestrator
Update Mgr
vCenter Server
VMsafe APIs
vShield Zones
Hot Add
# of Hosts, VMs HA FT
vMotion/S vMotion
Data Recovery
Availability
Security
Scalability
VMware vSphere 4.1
Compute
Storage
Network
vSphere 4.1 enabled higher consolidation ratios with unequaled performance by providing groundbreaking new memory management technology and expanding its resource pooling capabilities with new granular controls for storage and the network. The platform also offers dramatic “cloud scale” to support even the largest environments.
Compute/Performance
-Memory Compression – Reclaim application performance by up to 30% by reducing memory contention as a bottleneck
Storage
- Storage I/O Control – Set storage quality of service priorities per virtual machine for guarantee millisecond access to storage resources
-Performance Reporting – Deliver key storage performance statistics regardless of storage protocol.
Network
- Network I/O Control – Set network quality of service priorities per flow type for guaranteed access to network resources.
Scalability
-vSphere 4.1 –Fully virtualize the data center and scale at least 2x more than ever before.
 VMs per Cluster – 3,000 (3x vSphere 4.0)
Hosts per vCenter – 1,000 (3x vSphere 4.0)
Virtual Machines per Data Center – 5,000 (2x vSphere 4.0)
vSphere 4.1 extends its award winning availability and security capabilities with the world’s fastest live migrations and the ability to respond in parallel to any business need or change. Application services enhancements deliver new status details for high availability, tighter integration with an existing directory service, and new granular policies for virtual machine load-balancing.
 Availability
- vMotion – Speed and scale enhancements to vMotion deliver superior platform response and availability by migrating virtual machines up to 5x faster and enabling up to eight vMotion events in parallel.
- VMware High Availability (HA) – Deeper diagnostic and health check for VMware High Availability (HA) further enhances the already high levels of availability for virtual machines.
Security
Active Directory integration –Seamless user authentication at the ESX or ESXi host (rather than vCenter Server) for centralized user management. Easily assign privileges to users or groups plus roll out permission rules across hosts.
vShield Zones (new version available in Q3’10
Control
-DRS Host Affinity – Set granular policies for virtual machine movement (for example, restricting a virtual machine to a specific host due to licensing impact).
vSphere 4.1 builds on the VMware ecosystem not only in terms of increased hardware and software support but also by opening new possibilities for tie-in with cloud computing.
Open and Interoperable Architecture
– vSphere 4.1 enables partners to leverage new storage APIs for array integration (for availability requirements). The vSphere platform can also be leveraged through the new vCloud API for an open and interoperable computing model in the cloud.
Expanded Support
– The vSphere 4.1 latest hardware compatibility list (HCL) expands the platform to support more operating systems, devices, applications, and service providers than any other virtualization platform. This also now includes new support for 3rd party serial port concentrators (for enhanced management) and the latest x86 processors on the market.
Distributed Switch
Network I/O Control
VMFS
Thin Provisioning
Storage I/O Control
Storage APIs
ESX/ESXi
DRS/DPM
Memory Overcommit

10. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts - VMware vCenter Server
There is a limit of 500 Hosts per DataCenter, so 2 datacenter groups would be required to reach the 1,000 ESX host maximum.
vCenter Server v5 Scalability
Hosts per vCenter Server: 1,000 Powered‐on virtual machines per vCenter Server: 10,000
Concurrent vSphere Clients: 100 Registered virtual machines per vCenter Server: 15,000
vSphere v5 Configuration Maximums Link:

11. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – VMware vCenter Server
Scalability
vCenter Server Linked Mode
Standard vSphere Client can access inventory across multiple vCenters
View and search across a group of VC Servers
Visibility
Host Profiles
Simplified setup and change management for ESX hosts
Easy detection and remediation of non-compliance with standard configurations
Automation
vCenter Orchestrator
Workflow engine for orchestrating virtualization
Automate manual, repeatable steps by drag and drop interface
VMware vCenter Server provides greater operational control of vSphere environments through automation and deep visibility into every level of virtual infrastructure. It scales to manage large environments and integrates with industry-leading systems management solutions for enterprise-wide system management.
VMware vCenter Orchestrator is an automation orchestration tool that enables you to put together, via an easy drag & drop interface, automated workflows of tasks and processes specific to your needs and environment. All the ~800 operations in vSphere environments are represented as workflow elements and through simple drag & drop you can create automated workflows and orchestration of execution sequence across many different elements.
For example, one advanced VMO user created a workflow that enabled datacenter migration in the click of one button. This was a workflow that performed a number of VC operations on each VM in a cluster, including a VMotion, until the entire set of VMs had been migrated to a cluster in another datacenter.
vCenter Orchestrator will ship with at least 3 canned workflows (10-15 more are in the pipeline):
Workflow to snapshot all VMs in a DRS cluster – which is typically executed prior to patching VMs
Workflow to rescan the HBAs on all hosts when a LUN is added
Send to admin when a VM is powered on
vCenter Server Linked Mode – allows vCenter Servers in a multi-datacenter environment to join a group, allowing the sharing of roles and permissions. A single vSphere client (formerly VI Client) can be used to log into many VCs – and inventory across many VCs can be managed from this single pane of glass. This improves the scalability of vCenter Server.
vCenter Server 4 introduces the ability to join multiple vCenter Servers into a linked‐mode group. Then you can use the vSphere Client to log on to any single instance of vCenter Server and view and manage the inventories of all the vCenter Servers in the group. Each user sees only the vCenter Server instances for which they have valid permissions.
There are several reasons why you may want to link vCenter Servers. For example, you may want to simplify management of inventories associated with remote offices or multiple datacenters. Likewise, you could use Linked Mode to configure a recovery site for disaster recovery purposes.
vCenter Server Linked Mode allows for:
Global role definitions
Searches for inventory items across multiple vCenter Server instances
And a license model across multiple vCenter Servers
Linked Mode uses Microsoft Active Directory Application Mode (or ADAM <Adam>) to store and synchronize data across multiple vCenter Server instances. ADAM is an implementation of Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (or LDAP <el dap>). ADAM is installed automatically as part of the vCenter Server installation. Each ADAM instance stores data from all vCenter Servers in the group. Using peer‐to‐peer networking, the ADAM instances in a group replicate shared global data to the LDAP directory. The global data for each vCenter Server instance includes:
Connection information (that is, IP addresses and ports)
Certificates and thumbprints
Licensing information
And user roles
All vCenter Server instances in a linked‐mode group can access a common view of the global data. The vSphere Client can connect to other vCenter Servers using the connection information retrieved from ADAM.
vCenter host profiles simplify and standardize ESX host configuration. This feature in vCenter Server 4.0 allows the creation of a “golden profile” from an existing host and using this as a template to configure other hosts
Host profiles can be associated with other hosts/clusters and compliance to these profiles can be monitored and enforced automatically
This is a powerful capability – especially when used in conjunction with the vNetwork Distributed Switch, reducing considerably the time spent in making sure of ESX host configurations
In large scale environments, when ESX hosts are being added every day or every hour, standardizing the storage, network and security configurations of these hosts becomes really important. Managing change can also be complex especially when the same change needs to be applied to many hosts (example – array goes through firmware upgrade, and multipathing settings need to be changed across all hosts in a cluster)
The Host Profiles feature allows you to export configuration settings from a gold reference host and save them as a portable set of policies, called a host profile. You can then use this profile to quickly configure other hosts in the datacenter. Configuring hosts using this method drastically reduces the setup time of new hosts: 10’s of steps reduced to a single click. Host profiles also eliminate the need for specialized scripts to configure hosts. Additionally, vCenter uses the profile as a configuration baseline, so you can monitor for changes to the configuration, detect discrepancies and fix them.
Host profiles eliminate per-host, manual, or UI-based host configuration and efficiently maintain configuration consistency and correctness across the entire datacenter.
VMware vSphere 11

12. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – VMware Update Manager
Update Manager is a simple patch management solution for the virtual infrastructure. It applies security updates and bug fixes to reduce risks from vulnerabilities.
Update Manager is a vCenter Server plug-in that allows you to apply updates and patches across all ESX/ESXi hosts. It is used to install and update third-party software on hosts and it is used to upgrade virtual machine hardware, VMware Tools, and virtual appliances.
It enables centralized, automated patch and version management from within VMware vCenter Server. Security administrators can compare ESXi hosts, as an example, against baselines to identify and remediate systems that are not in compliance.

13. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – Hypervisor (Compute)
VMware Architecture
True thin hypervisor (ESX 4i = 70 MB Foot Print)
No general-purpose OS
Direct driver model = I/O scaling
Drivers optimized for VMs
Page Sharing = Greater Density
Hypervisor owns the resources
ESX w/ Console has been depreciated in vSphere v5.

14. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – DRS (Compute)
VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) aggregates computing capacity across a collection of servers into logical resource pools and intelligently allocates available resources among the virtual machines based on pre-defined rules that reflect business needs and changing priorities.

15. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – DRS Host Affinity (Compute)
Host Affinity rules sets constraints that restrict placement between a group of virtual machines and a group of hosts in a VMware DRS enabled cluster.
Host Affinity rules are useful for enforcing host-based ISV licensing models, as well as for keeping sets of virtual machines on different racks or blade systems for availability reasons.

16. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – DPM (Compute)
VMware Distributed Power Management (DPM), included with VMware DRS, automates power management and minimizes power consumption across the collection of servers in a VMware DRS cluster.

17. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – Memory (Compute)
Transparent Page Sharing (TPS)
In ESX / ESXi, the redundant VM memory pages are identified and only stored once in physical memory. This means that pages with identical content can be shared regardless of when, where, and how those contents are generated. ESX scans the content of guest physical memory for sharing opportunities. Instead of comparing each byte of a candidate guest physical page to other pages, an action that is prohibitively expensive, ESX uses hashing to identify potentially identical pages.
Memory Ballooning
Due to the virtual machine’s isolation, the guest operating system is not aware that it is running inside a virtual machine and is not aware of the states of other virtual machines on the same host. When the hypervisor runs multiple virtual machines and the total amount of the free host memory becomes low, none of the virtual machines will free guest physical memory because the guest operating system cannot detect the host’s memory shortage. Ballooning makes the guest operating system aware of the low memory status of the host utilizing the Host Ballooning driver in the VMware Tools on the Guest OS.
Memory Compression
The idea of memory compression is very straightforward: if the swapped out pages can be compressed and stored in a compression cache located in the main memory, the next access to the page only causes a page decompression which can be an order of magnitude faster than the disk access. With memory compression, only a few uncompressible pages need to be swapped out if the compression cache is not full. This means the number of future synchronous swap-in operations will be reduced.
vSphere v4.1 Memory Performance Best Practices:

18. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – VMFS (Storage)
VMware® vStorage Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) is a high-performance cluster file system that provides storage virtualization optimized for virtual machines. Each virtual machine is encapsulated in a small set of files and VMFS is the default storage system for these files on physical SCSI disks and partitions.
Key Benefits
Greatly simplify virtual machine provisioning and administration by efficiently storing the entire virtual machine state in a central location.
Run multiple instances of VMware ESX™ to access the same virtual machine storage concurrently.
Support virtualization-based distributed infrastructure services using VMware vCenter Server, VMware VMotion™, VMware DRS and VMware HA.

19. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – Thin Provisioning (Storage)
VMware vStorage Thin Provisioning dramatically increases virtual machine storage utilization by enabling dynamic allocation and intelligent provisioning of physical storage capacity.
Key Benefits
Increase storage utilization
Enhanced application uptime
Simplified management

20. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – Storage I/O Control (Storage)
Storage I/O Control (SIOC) monitors the latency of I/Os to datastores at each ESX host sharing that device. When the average normalized datastore latency exceeds a set threshold (30ms by default), the datastore is considered to be congested, and SIOC kicks in to distribute the available storage resources to virtual machines in proportion to their shares. This is to ensure that low-priority workloads do not monopolize or reduce I/O bandwidth for high-priority workloads. SIOC accomplishes this by throttling back the storage access of the low-priority virtual machines by reducing the number of I/O queue slots available to them. Depending on the mix of virtual machines running on each ESX server and the relative I/O shares they have, SIOC may need to reduce the number of device queue slots that are available on a given ESX server.

21. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – Storage APIs (Storage)
vStorage APIs takes the benefits of Consolidated Backup and makes them significantly easier to deploy, while adding several new features that deliver efficient, scalable backup, and restore of virtual machines. vStorage API make it possible to offload backup processing from ESX servers, ensuring that you deliver the best consolidation ratios without disrupting applications and users. The vStorage API for Data Protection enables backup tools to directly connect the ESX servers and the virtual machines running on them without any additional software installation. They add the ability to enable backup tools to do efficient incremental, differential, and full-image backup and restore of virtual machines.

22. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – vDS (Network)
vNetwork Distributed Switch (vDS) - Datacenter-level Virtual Networking
Aggregated view of virtual networking
Datacenter level networking (versus host level)
Historical statistics follow the VM
A unified infrastructure for networking services (monitoring, filtering, mgmt via PVLANs)
Simplified setup and change; seamless addition of capacity
Easy troubleshooting, monitoring and debugging
Enables new security services
App OS
vNetwork Distributed Switch
vSwitch
vSwitch
vSwitch 22 22 22

23. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – Network I/O Control (Network)
VMware Network I/O Control (NetIOC) provides users with the following features:
Isolation: ensure traffic isolation so that a given flow will never be allowed to dominate over others, thus preventing drops and undesired jitter.
Shares: allow flexible networking capacity partitioning to help users to deal with over-commitment when flows compete aggressively for the same resources.
Limits: enforce traffic bandwidth limit on the overall vDS set of dvUplinks.
Load-Based Teaming: efficiently use a vDS set of dvUplinks for networking capacity

24. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – HA (Availability)
VMware High Availability (HA) provides easy to use, cost-effective high availability for applications running in virtual machines.
Key Benefits include:
Minimize unplanned downtime and IT service disruption.
Eliminate the need for dedicated standby hardware and the installation of additional software.
Enable affordable uniform high availability across the entire virtualized IT environment.

25. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – FT (Availability)
VMware Fault Tolerance (FT)
Single identical VMs running in lockstep on separate hosts
Zero downtime, zero data loss failover for all virtual machines in case of hardware failures
Integrated with VMware HA/DRS
Zero downtime, zero data loss
No complex clustering or specialized hardware required
Single common mechanism for all applications and OS-es
App OS
App OS
App OS FT
VMware ESX
VMware ESX X 25 25

26. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – vMotion (Availability)
VMware vMotion enables the live migration of running virtual machines from one physical server to another with zero downtime, continuous service availability, and complete transaction integrity. VMotion is a key enabling technology for creating the dynamic, automated, and self-optimizing datacenter.
Key Benefits
Improve availability by conducting maintenance without disrupting business operations.
Ability to move virtual machines within server resource pools to continuously align the allocation of resources to business priorities

27. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – Storage vMotion (Availability)
VMware Storage vMotion enables live migration for running virtual machine disk files from one storage location to another with no downtime or service disruption.
Key Benefits:
Simplify storage array migrations and storage upgrades.
Dynamically optimize storage I/O performance.
Efficiently utilize storage and manage capacity.

28. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – vDR (Availability)
VMware Data Recovery (vDR) enables quick, simple and complete data protection for your virtual machines. vDR is a disk-based backup and recovery solution and is fully integrated with VMware vCenter Server to enable centralized and efficient management of backup jobs and also includes data de-duplication to save on disk storage for your backups.
Key Benefits:
Provides fast and efficient data protection for all your virtual machines, even those powered off or migrating between physical hosts.
Reduces the cost of backing up virtual machines and minimizes the backup window using a snapshot based (agentless) approach.
Simple configuration and management of backup jobs through a central interface within VMware vCenter Server.
Reduces disk space consumed by backup data with built in data de-duplication technology

29. vSphere / Virtualization Concepts – vShield Zones (Security)
VM-level Security for Your Private Cloud
Self-learning, self-configuring firewall Service
VMotion and network- configuration aware trust zones
Dynamic firewall policy using application protocol awareness
Dynamic security capacity using infrastructure services
Security policies auto-adapt to network reconfiguration or upgrades 29

30. Questions ?