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March 3rd, 2010 by Andrew H.
With all of the talk about virtualization lately, many organizations are ready to pick up everything and virtualize it. After all, it’s the thing to do! Here are some things to keep in mind before virtualizing everything in sight:
1. Don’t virtualize highly utilized servers
One of the biggest benefits of virtualization is being able to make better use of your hardware. Adding virtualization doesn’t add more horsepower to your server; in fact, it’s another layer that can reduce performance. If you have a service that is already using most of the resources on a fairly powerful server, there’s a good chance that it might not be the best candidate for virtualization. If you decide to virtualize a workload that is disk intensive, consider using a raw pass through disk instead of a virtual hard disk to improve disk I/O performance.
2. Don’t cluster a cluster
Many virtualization platforms allow you to provide for some level of high availability for your VMs. Applications can provide a similar feature, but use caution when using them together. Generally speaking, services clustered with Microsoft Cluster Services that use a shared disk should never be configured in a way that makes the virtual machines automatically move from one server to another. Having multiple levels of failover might cause unexpected results and unnecessary disruptions to users.
3. Don’t virtualize everyone’s desktop (and expect to save money)
There are some legitimate benefits to virtualizing desktops, but cost is usually not one of them. No matter where a desktop is, users still need something to access it with. Server hardware is also inherently more expensive than traditional desktop hardware. On the other hand, virtualized desktops can be a great fit for remote employees, as backup workstations, or to ensure standardized desktops. In most cases, however, a Remote Desktop Services session host (previously Terminal Services and available only on Windows machines) can provide a cheaper and more efficient alternative provided that users don’t require administrative privileges.
4. Don’t create conflicting dependencies
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Tags: virtualization
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January 27th, 2010 by Andrew H.
Virtualization offers advantages that take many forms, but with it can come challenges because virtualization lies. The basic premise of virtualization is that the operating system running on a virtual machine is presented with hardware that doesn’t really exist. Performance monitoring on any platform can be complicated and influenced by a variety of factors, but measuring performance on a system that involves lies is even harder. Luckily, most virtualization products have special ways to gather more accurate system performance. This article will focus on Hyper-V, but similar tools are available for other platforms.
Disk
Since Hyper-V supports dynamically expanding disks, the disk capacity of the virtual machine can be misleading. When dynamically expanding disks are used, plenty of free capacity might appear to be available on the virtual machine, but the host’s free space could be very low. For this reason, it’s important to monitor the available capacity of the Hyper-V host as well as the virtual machines. Disk performance can be monitored accurately in Hyper-V virtual machines the same way as physical machines.
Network
Multiple virtual machines can share the same network adapter. Since each virtual machine can only report its own usage, it’s important to watch the usage of all virtual machines. VMs will also report that they are on a 10gbps connection; however, the bandwidth of the link will always actually equal the bandwidth of the external link.
Processor
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Tags: Hyper-V, monitoring, virtual machines, virtualization
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January 6th, 2010 by Scott W.
You can’t open a browser or read a technology magazine without seeing something about the cloud. What is the cloud and what is the big hubbub? I am not able to pinpoint a definition of the cloud, but I think the impact of the cloud is getting clearer. Computing and communication will be sold on a usage basis much like water and electricity. This clarity elucidates a fascinating point that in our future we will buy more services and experiences than products and physical objects. If this comes to fruition, are we losing out on the physicality of life? Or have objects always been a symbol of experience? Because the symbols can be converted into zeroes and ones and sent across the world in seconds, does it mean they are less meaningful than physical symbols?
Computing and communication previously required a significant investment to have useful tools. Today, most mobile phone providers will give you a phone and charge you for the service for committing to a one or two year contract. A good computer system can now be purchased for around $500. Instead of buying shrink wrapped software, you can get your e-mail for free, and pay a monthly or yearly fee for backups, customer relationship management, and home finance software. Companies, of course, love subscriptions for the reoccurring revenue and consumers enjoy fixed rate fees over time instead of large one-time charges.
So with these enablers, we can now send photographs to each other on phones and computers. We can send digital cards and flowers to each other. Music no longer needs to be purchased at a store on a shiny disc of digital data. So what are we buying today? What were we paying for in times past?
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Tags: cloud, virtualization
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December 2nd, 2009 by Patrick M.
SCVMM 2008 (or “System Center Virtual Machine Manager”) is Microsoft’s answer to a “unified, multi-vendor management solution for the virtual datacenter.” SCVMM R2 was released recently, and along with it came the ability to set up a Self-Service Portal. Using a Self-Service Portal, IT professionals can easily allow others to create, manage, and maintain virtual machines through a web-based interface.
Before setting up the Self-Service Portal, you’ll need a fully-configured SCVMM infrastructure. Luckily, that can be done with a single server or a whole server farm.
The primary constituents to setting up the Self Service Portal are:
Hosts and/or Host Groups
Hosts or Host Groups are servers that support running virtual machines within your infrastructure. Its primary requirement is that Hyper-V must be installed, and Self-Service Portals will need Hyper-V R2 installed.
Library Servers
The library servers are servers or file share locations that hold the required pieces for creating and managing virtual machines. Those bits and pieces consist of installation media (such as CD/DVD Images of operating systems), virtual hard drives, or VHDs, and potentially templates.
Templates
Templates are generic, off-line virtual machines that you can configure and redeploy as fully functional virtual machines. One could have a series of templates residing on the Library servers with a different specialization for each (web server, database, etc.).
Self Service Users
Self Service Users are users who are allowed to log into and use the Self-Service Portal. The administrator can define tasks users are allowed to perform, and can range anywhere from simply starting or stopping virtual machines to full control of creating and deleting them.
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Tags: Microsoft, SCVMM 2008, virtualization
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September 9th, 2009 by Patrick M.
Microsoft recently released their newest version in the Windows Server series. This new OS, Windows Server 2008 R2, isn’t simply a feature pack release for the current Windows Server 2008 OS, but is actually an entirely new version which that uses the same codebase as Windows 7. There are a number of new features included in this new release, and many of them are making the IT community very interested in how they can leverage them in their business. Here’s a brief run-down of some of the enhancements you can expect to see.
#1 - Hyper-V R2
The newest iteration of Microsoft’s virtualization offering includes a host of new features. The most intriguing feature we’ve seen so far is the added support for Live Migration Support through the use of Cluster Shared Volumes. This basically means that you can transfer live (read: running, powered on) virtual machines between cluster nodes without any perceived downtime. This feature, combined with improved support for up to 32 logical CPUs and dynamic memory allocation, shape up to make Hyper-V ready for prime-time. If you were considering getting your hands dirty with virtualization, now would probably be a good time to start.
What this means to you: You could run your web applications on virtual machines and be able to perform hardware maintenance without ever letting your users know. (HINT HINT, TWITTER)
#2 - Desktop Virtualization with Terminal Services…er…Remote Desktop Services?
In addition to a name change from Terminal Services to Remote Desktop Services (RDS), several real improvements have been made to Microsoft’s remote server management tools. New capabilities in the Remote Desktop Protocol suite aim to make a remote user’s experience nearly identical to that of a local user. Among these capabilities are:
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Tags: Hyper-V, IIS 7.5, RDS, virtualization, Windows Server 2008 R2
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