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.

1. Manage Your Virtualized
Environment
David Babbitt
Software Developer,
Spiceworks

2. What We’ll Be Covering
•Virtualization 101
•Benefits (Community)
•Advanced Uses of Virtualization
•Lessons Learned (Community)
•Managing Virtualization with Spiceworks

3. VIRTUALIZATION 101

4. Physical Servers
Sharepoint
Server 2008
Dell
A/V
Server 2003
HP
Wiki
RHEL
Dell

5. Virtualized Servers
Sharepoint
Server 2008
A/V
Server 2003
Wiki
RHEL
VMware
Dell

6. Physical Networking
192.168.0.10 192.168.0.11 192.168.0.12

7. Virtual Networking
192.168.0.10
192.168.0.11
192.168.0.12
192.168.0.2

8. Physical and Virtual
Hardware
Model: Dell R710
RAM: 32 GB
NIC: Broadcom
MAC: 00:26:B9:5B:E3:08
Controller: PERC
Disk: 1TB
Model: VMware
RAM: 2 GB
NIC: Intel
MAC: 00:0C:29:7F:31:89
Controller: LSI
Disk: 20GB

9. Virtual Machine Layout
.vmx
.xml
.vmdk
.vhd

10. Moving Virtual Machines
Model: Dell R710
RAM: 32 GB
NIC: Broadcom
MAC: 00:26:B9:5B:E3:08
Controller: PERC
Disk: 1TB
Model: HP DL385
RAM: 32 GB
NIC: HP
MAC: 1C:C1:DE:E6:94:B4
Controller: SmartArray
Disk: 1TB
Model: VMware
RAM: 2 GB
NIC: Intel
MAC: 00:0C:29:7F:31:89
Controller: LSI
Disk: 20GB

11. Terms
• Virtualization Host, VM Host, Host
• Virtual Machine, VM
• Guest
• Virtual Server?

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

18. Which is best?? ….

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

20. BENEFITS
(COMMUNITY)

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)

23. Oversubscription
• Memory Oversubscription
– Paging, deduplication, compression, etc.
– Microsoft “any day now”
• Disk Oversubscription
– “Thin provisioning”, “Expanding”

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

26. ADVANCED USAGE

27. Snapshot
.vmdk

28. Snapshot
base
.vmdk
undo
.vmdk

29. Snapshot
base
.vmdk
undo
.vmdk

30. Rollback
base
.vmdk
undo
.vmdk

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"

32. VDI
user1
.vmdk
user2
.vmdk
base
.vmdk

33. Virtual Networking
• Bridged • Host Only

34. DIY Bridge

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

36. Isolated Copy
production test

37. LESSONS LEARNED
(COMMUNITY)

38. Central Storage

39. “Magic SAN Powder”

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

44. Questions?

45. DEMO

46. Scanning
VM Host
Host Configuration
VM Definitions
VM Guest
Addtnl Configuration
Software, etc.

47. Questions?

48. http://tinyurl.com/sw2010v
m