consolidation planning: getting the most from your virtualization initiative

Consolidation PlanningGetting the Most from Your Virtualization Initiatives

Mike McKaySolutions [email protected]

© Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.2

Session Overview

Todays Data Center

Virtualization adoption rates

Consolidation ratios

Consolidation Planning

Introduction to consolidation planning

The 4 steps to success

The proof is in the virtual pudding

PlateSpin® Recon Demo

Today's Data Center


Virtulization in 2010

Most of the large and mid-tier enterprises are well along the path to virtualization

Gartner Group stated in the December 2009 Data Center conference “The Global 500 has approx. 25% of x86 workloads virtualized”

2 common methods of implementing virtualization» Over provisioning of the virtual infrastructure (large initial investment) » Pay as you go virtual infrastrcture

(purchase more capacity (nodes) as needed)

Forrester research indicates typical server consolidation ratios of under 10 VM's per host initially.


Virtualization Adoption

<10 Vms perphysical host

10-20 Vms perphysical host

21-30 Vms perphysical host

31+ Vms perphysical host

Firms implementing ITIL

Production systemsvirtualized

Stage 1:Acclimation

Production systemsvirtualized

Stage 2:Consolidation

Stage 3:Process

Improvement

Stage 4:Policies and Automation

Virtual server hostutilization target


Understanding Virtualization Adoption

Stage 1: Acclimation• Get comfortable with it as a concept and tool• Deploy for test/dev• Deploy for non-business-critical DR• Some production deployments – but tactical• No change to operations processes• Limited virtualization tool deployments

Stage 2: Strategic Consolidation• Comfortable with concept, use, maturity, stability• Shift mindset from server to virtual server• Spread production deployments widely• Begin deployment for some business-critical DR• Painfully transition from server sprawl to virtual server life-cycle management• Experimenting with Vmotion and Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)

Stage 3: Process Improvement• Using Vmotion, starting to trust DRS• Can utilization rates be increased?• Deploy for business-critical DR• Begin bifurcating applications between priority and non-priority• Developing new operational efficiencies• Process improvement spreading/butting up against network, storage, security, development

Stage 4: Pooling and Automation• Trust DRS• Implementing production policies for automation

• Some mission-critical DR deploys• Pooling and internal cloud development• Chargeback/utility tracking• SLA and Qos focus


What Is Consolidation Planning?

Planning the move from this (physical)... ...to this (virtual)


How Consolidation Planning Works?

Identify consolidation candidates based on performance criteria

Create consolidation scenarios to distribute workloads across target servers

Evaluate scenarios based on TCO, space, power and utilization

Maximize utilization and adjust resource allocation to meet consolidation goals

Collect data (inventory or performance) for consolidation candidates (workloads)


Workload Profiling?

The workload profile captures information about the

encapsulated data, applications and operating

systems residing on a physical or virtual host.

Data

Applications

OS

Workload ProfileName

Resource ProfileApplication Profile

InventoryCostSLA


One Time vs. Ongoing Consolidation PlanningOne-time

• Aggressive• Try to virtualize as much

as possible at once• Goal – maximum cost saving• One-time project• Low upfront cost

(sometimes free)• Risks• Hardware can’t support the

number of servers virtualized• Hardware can’t support the

type of workloads virtualized

Continual• Conservative

• Multiple rounds of virtualization, select “lowest hanging fruit”

• Goal – successful technology adoption (IT and end-users)

• Persistent software (plan when you walk with the latest information)

• Software has a cost

The 4 Steps to Success



Install: PlateSpin® Recon Enterprise in the data center

Installed on dedicated collector servers

No agents

Data remains on site

1



Inventory: Discover and inventory every physical server, virtual host and virtual machine in the data center

Server type, CPU type, number of cores

Name, IP address, domain

Operating system, patches, hotfixes, applications

Services

Storage (total and available)

2



3 Monitor: The resource utilization of each workload, physical server and virtual host for 30 days

CPU utilization

Storage utilization

Memory utilization

Network throughput

Disk throughput

Complete 24-hour profile, not just peak usage



4 Analyze and Report: Detailed reports and analytics on actual and projected system performance

“Good Consolidation Candidates” report

Create consolidation scenarios with difference virtual host server models

Set performance thresholds: 50% memory usage for example

Project each scenario's server count, rack space usage, power consumption, cooling requirements, etc.

Map physical servers to projected virtual hosts

The Proof is in the Virtual Pudding


Recon Consolidation ReportsInventory Reports


Inventory Facts

Server consolidation projects, tend to focus on Windows based platforms initially.

– Low hanging fruit, servers nearing hardware lease, etc.

Typically, servers with Local attached storage are prime candidates for server consolidation

The smaller the number of cores and CPU's, the higher the consolidation ratio


Recon Consolidation ReportsUtilization Reports


Utilization Facts

Most Under-Utilized resource in the data center is CPU

– Typically, server candidates are running at less then 30 % CPU utilization

Memory is the next most under utilized resource

– Memory Dedupe, available in VMware vShpere, is only the first step.

Network, and disk utilization vary significantly across environments

– Not typically an issue for SAN based virtual infrastructures


Recon Consolidation ReportsConsolidation Candidate Reports


Consolidation Candidate Facts

Attack low hanging fruit first

– CPU percent used less then 50%

– MEMORY percent used less then 50%

– MEMORY Pages/Sec less then 500

– Disk I/O percent less then 50%

– Disk I/O MB/SEC less then 50

– Network I/O MB/SEC less then 10


Recon Consolidation ReportsConsolidation Scenarios


Consolidation Scenario Facts

When attacking low hanging fruit first, typical consolidation ratios are 20:1

Rack, power, and CO2 emissions are key drivers behind server consolidation


Recon Consolidation ReportsValue Add Reports

PlateSpin® Recon Demo


Demo Overview

Inventory and Monitoring

Domain, network, and machine inventory

Monitoring at physical and virtual layers

Inventory and Utilization Reporting

Inventory reports

Utilization reports

Value add reports


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