introduction to server virtualisation planning and implementing a virtualisation project

Introduction to Server Virtualisation and Planning and Implementing a Virtualisation Project

Alan McSweeney

April 8, 2023 2

Agenda

• Solution Requirements• Virtualisation Benefits and Applications• Why Implement Virtualisation• Server Virtualisation Implementation Process• Capacity Planning• Financial and Cost Benefit Analysis• Architecture Design• Monitoring and Reporting• Project Planning and Implementation

April 8, 2023 3

General IT Solution Characteristics

• Resilience− Infrastructure tolerant of failure to reduce the need to invoke

disaster recovery− Reliable underlying hardware and software components

• Scalable− Infrastructure that can grow to meet future requirements

without significant engineering− Platform for long-term growth

• Disaster Recovery− Solution that provides disaster recovery and business continuity

• Manageable− Solution that is easily manageable, supportable

• Secure• Return on Investment

− Delivers a real business benefit

April 8, 2023 4

Server Questions to Ask

Issue Issue/Response Number of Servers Planned Number of New Servers Population of Old Servers Applications Requiring NT4 Servers Delays in Acquiring New Servers Server Resource Constraints Server Space Constraints Server Environment – Power, Air Conditioning – Constraints Development Projects Current and Planned Migration Projects Current and Planned Requirement for Temporary Servers “Desktop” Servers Underused Servers Server Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Issues Server Hardware Maintenance Costs Server Performance Issues Build Move or Server Relocation SAN Model(s), if Applicable

April 8, 2023 5

Virtualisation Benefits

• Consolidate Existing Servers – your existing servers can be consolidated into a reduced number. This recovers floor space and reduces server operating costs and environmental requirements

• Contain Server Growth – server growth is contained as servers are reused and made available to new applications

• Ease of Implementation – Server Virtualisation can be implemented without any application changes unlike application partitioning which requires substantial effort

• Adaptive Flexible Computer Resources – demand for additional computing resources can be addressed easily and quickly. Additional resources can be distributed across all applications

April 8, 2023 6


• Performance Improvement – constrained servers can be allocated more resources

• Ease of Management and Administration – the management of virtual servers is made easier and simpler

• Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery – a simplified server infrastructure and the server virtualisation layer makes recovery to a backup facility quicker and easier

• Capacity Management – improved capacity planning through central performance management, ability to manage service levels and user response times

April 8, 2023 7


• Tangible benefit - reduced costs• Hardware and software costs can be reduced

by 50% to 80%• Operations costs can be reduced by 40% to

90%

April 8, 2023 8

Virtualisation Applications

• Server Growth – contains growth• Server Containment – reuse existing servers

to deliver more by freeing unused resources• Server Replacement – replace existing

servers with new, specially designed virtual server infrastructure

• New Servers – new virtual servers can be created quickly for applications

• Performance – additional resources can be added to virtual servers to meet scheduled or unscheduled demands

April 8, 2023 9

Virtualisation Applications

• Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity – virtualised infrastructure is very easy to recover

• Application Development Projects – new virtual servers can be created quickly for application development and testing

• System and Application Migration Projects– new virtual servers can be created quickly for migrating systems and applications:− ActiveDirectory− Exchange upgrades− SQL upgrades

April 8, 2023 10

Data Centre Costs – Administration and Power

Electricity 13%

Security 10%

Maintenance and

Administration 67%

Rent 4%

Other 6%

April 8, 2023 11

Power and Floor Space Issues Dominate

• Data Centre Issue Ranking

5.78

5.71

5.43

5.14

5.14

4.35

4.02

3.49

3.22

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

PowerProvisioning

Floor Space

PowerConsumption

Integration ofNew Systems

Staff Skills

Capacity

SystemsManagement

Cooling

Reliability

April 8, 2023 12

Data Centre Power and Heat – 25% Annual Growth

• Server blades have had an impact on data centre economics

• Freed budget through cost reduction should focus on power and cooling

25.00%

28.20%

23.00%

24.00%

25.00%

26.00%

27.00%

28.00%

29.00%

How do youexpect your

powerrequirementsto changeover

the next 2years?

How haveyour power

requirementschanged over

the past 2years?

April 8, 2023 13

Reasons for Virtualisation

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5.5

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April 8, 2023 14

Projects Associated With Virtualisation

57%

19%

5%

10%

5%

4%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Disaster Recovery

Storage Virtualisation

Utility Computing

Server Refresh

Migration Initiatives

Consolidation Initiative

April 8, 2023 15

Managing the Virtualised Environment - ITIL

• Configuration Management− VM configuration− CMDB feeder− Charge-back

• Change Management− Audit management and

tracking− VM access control− Provisioning management− Disaster recovery

• Incident and Problem Management− Service desk integration− Root cause analysis− Problem identification− Performance management

• Release Management− Application

mapping/discovery− Code development− Operations/development

process integrations− Scalability testing

April 8, 2023 16

Lessons Learned

• Server blades remain a key platform for future enterprise computing strategies

• TCO is necessitating a push towards IT simplification that drives the server market today and in particular server blades

• Power and cooling issues remain front of mind for IT and data centre managers today and for the near future

• Awareness of internal political struggles critical:− Disparate groups do not share data and probably won't care to

start doing so

• Requires sensitivity to change management challenges• Work in phases - start with small pilot, gradual rollout

− Hidden costs exist as there is no way of knowing what will really be uncovered as work begins

− Undocumented processes are a huge and costly challenge

April 8, 2023 17

Server Virtualisation Implementation Process

Analysis and

Design

Implement Virtualisation

Platform

PhysicalTo

VirtualMigration

VirtualServerBackup

AndReplication

Reportingand

PerformanceMonitoring

Policy-BasedVirtualService

LifeCycle

Management

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

Stage 4 Stage 5 Stage 6

April 8, 2023 18

Stage 1 - Analysis and Design

• Four steps− Inventory− Workload Data Collection− Analyse− Design and Specify

Inventory AnalyseRecord Design andSpecify

April 8, 2023 19

Approach to Capacity Planning

• Two product options available:− VMware Capacity Planner

• Hosted and chargeable service from VMware partner• Data collected from servers via WMI API

− PlateSpin PowerRecon • Product from PlateSpin that provides a local data collection

and reporting client• PowerRecon is very functional tool but it has higher cost that

VMware Capacity Planner

April 8, 2023 20

Capacity Planning Outputs

• Server inventory including hardware specification• Virtualisation exclusions

− Specialist hardware (such as FAX servers)− High paging rates− High I/O− High CPU utilisation− MSCS clusters (not specifically excluded but problematic)

• Multiprocessor imbalances• Server anomalies and alerts• Identify and resolve problems in advance of starting

virtualisation to reduce risk and increase success• Consolidation scenarios

− Multiple platforms

April 8, 2023 21

Sample Server Issues

• Sample analysis output with some potential issues

Server Paging (Pg/sec)

I/O (Trans/sec)

I/O (MB/sec)

Speed (MB/sec)

1. dub-2k-005 2,102.83 528.69 34.00 0.04 2. dub-2k-012 276.17 50,000.56 67.84 0.02 3. dub-2k-018 1,838.97 210.53 7.55 0.03 4. dub-2k-026 2,976.12 254.74 12.26 0.04 5. Dub-2k-050 2,376.27 1,120.73 71.53 0.05 6. dub-2k3-018 1,254.22 82.44 5.16 0.04 7. dub-2k3-024 1,369.40 489.89 9.08 1.58 8. dub-2k3-026 2,839.66 184.38 11.65 0.01 9. dub-2k3-027 1,604.48 421.68 8.34 0.82 10. dub-2k3-040 2,267.86 325.35 9.37 0.02 11. dub-nt-018 1,521.93 0.00 0.00 0.03

April 8, 2023 22

Server CPU Utilisation

• Extract from an analysis of 117 servers Server CPU

% RAM Avail

Disk Transfer/Sec

Server Bytes/ Sec

Paging Queue Length

CPU Cards

CPU Mhz

Total CPU

RAM

1 dub-2k-001 0.32 592 0 6,064 0 0 2 1,000 2,000 1,024 2 dub-2k-002 2.96 1,741 13 27,789 0 0 2 1,258 2,516 2,304 3 dub-2k-003 1.09 1,639 3 29,010 2 0 2 1,258 2,516 2,304 4 dub-2k-004 7.81 713 10 36,847 118 1 2 1,258 2,516 1,280 5 dub-2k-005 1.43 113 0 35,174 13 0 2 2,399 4,798 2,048 6 dub-2k-006 1.86 143 0 48,827 0 0 2 1,396 2,792 512 7 dub-2k-007 0.71 629 10 25,245 0 0 2 1,000 2,000 1,024 8 dub-2k-008 2.92 142 3 285,857 35 0 2 1,390 2,780 512 9 dub-2k-009 3.83 43 7 330,240 44 0 2 1,390 2,780 512

10 dub-2k-009r2 6.88 481 31 20,712 0 0 2 927 1,854 1,024

Server CPU%

RAM Avail

Disk Transfer/Sec

Server Bytes/Sec

Paging Queue Length

CPU Cards

CPU Mhz

Total CPU

RAM

dub-2k-033 22.38 118 31 28,204 51 0 2 2,780 5,560 2,048 2 dub-2k3-021 20.48 171 56 38,125 321 0 2 2,787 5,574 2,048

3 dub-2k3-031 26.11 1,227 51 15,795 0 11 2 3,200 6,400 3,072 4 dub-2k3-032 23.03 369 0 12,977 0 0 2 3,200 6,400 1,024 5 dub-2k3-040 26.53 362 37 24,091 2,268 1 2 3,000 6,000 2,

dub-2k-033 22.38 118 31 28,204 51 0 2 2,780 5,560 2,048

April 8, 2023 23

Multiprocessor Server Utilisation

Server CPU0 CPU1 CPU2 CPU3 dub-2k-001 0.34 0.32 - - dub-2k-002 3.42 2.51 - - dub-2k-003 0.86 1.33 - - dub-2k-004 6.61 9.01 - - dub-2k-005 1.5 1.38 1.31 1.59 dub-2k-018 0.93 0.62 0.37 1.3 dub-2k-021 8.28 8.46 8.97 10.28 dub-2k-022 4.38 0.61 2.33 2.99 dub-2k-026 0.77 0.7 0.53 1.29 dub-2k-035 0.79 0.38 0.58 0.61 Dub-2k-043 0.83 0.18 0.16 0.32 dub-2k-051 0.62 1.08 1.62 1.38 dub-2k-fs2 0.92 0.11 0.27 0.61 dub-2k-fs3 0.18 0.09 0.18 0.18 dub-2k3-003 0.87 0.76 0.75 0.96 dub-2k3-004 3.94 1.4 - - dub-2k3-005 0.14 0.67 0.24 0.33 dub-2k3-006 0.86 1.68 1.59 1.3 dub-2k3-014 0.7 0.29 0.29 0.41 dub-2k3-037 0.93 0.36 0.3 0.19 dub-2k3-038 0.77 1.33 - - dub-2k3-039 3.42 0.93 1.29 4.15

April 8, 2023 24

Potential Server Performance Anomalies and Alerts

• Potential anomalies in yellow and alerts in redServer %

CPU Available Bytes

Pages/Sec Pagefile % Av.

Pdsk % busy

Pdsk Av. Queue

Bytes Tot/s

CPU Queue

Industry Average

4.6 0 19.09 6.8 3.98 0.36 60,001 1.15

dub-2k-002 2.8 1,728 0.21 0.29 11.57 0.12 28,460 0.05 dub-2k-003 0.9 1,637 0 0.2 3.2 0.03 28,433 0 dub-2k-004 15.09 692 224.18 0.62 17.14 0.37 35,323 0.76 dub-2k-005 1.44 111 27.56 8.83 0.43 0.02 36,189 0.01 dub-2k-006 1.98 146 0 75.17 0.03 0 45,959 0.17 dub-2k-007 0.61 631 0.35 0.18 15.94 0.17 24,580 0.02 dub-2k-011 1.24 183 1.51 19.61 0.11 0 41,382 0.9 dub-2k-019 1.67 395 0 2.06 0.05 0 36,897 4.31 dub-2k-026 0.8 514 0.07 21.24 2.03 0.02 31,720 0 dub-2k-031 0.37 253 0 8.6 1.15 0.01 25,508 0 dub-2k-032 0.26 1,627 0.06 0.17 3.06 0.75 30,775 0 dub-2k-033 8.74 110 0.02 2.78 6.15 0.52 27,303 0 dub-2k-035 0.84 1,624 34.75 0.32 0 0 7,915 0 dub-2k-040 0.76 63 0.04 1.27 0.06 0 27,996 3.18 dub-2k-041 0.25 164 0 0.75 0.03 0 20,872 3.21 dub-2k-042 0.39 110 0 2.44 0.03 0 24,237 3.2 dub-2k3-003 0.82 323 0.28 14.14 4.71 0.05 15,159 0.03 dub-2k3-004 2.91 1,457 24.06 1.58 0.88 0.02 538,318 0

April 8, 2023 25

Consolidation Scenarios

• Identify target server type• Identify the number of servers required to support the virtualisation

workload• Number of processors• Number of cores• Typical target servers

− Dual processor, dual core− Dual processor, quad core− Quad processor, dual core

Capacity

Processors Memory Disk Network Physical

Make/Model Count

Speed (MHz)

Word Length

Size (MB)

Size (GB)

I/O (MB/sec)

I/O (Trans/sec) Count

Speed (MB/sec)

Rack Units

Weight (lbs)

Power (W)

Thermal (BTU/hr)

4P 2C 24 GB RAM

8 3,400 32 24,000 1,000 320 141,000 6 1,000 3 80 1,000 5,457

Utilisation Limits

Processor Memory Disk Network

% Used Queue

per CPU % Used File Sys

Cache (MB) Page

File % Paging

(Pg/sec) I/O

(Trans/sec) I/O

(MB/sec) Speed

(MB/sec)

75 4 75 2,048 70 1,000 10,000 250 200

April 8, 2023 26

Consolidation Scenario

• Results of consolidation scenario• Consolidate 117 servers on to six servers

Capacity Estimated New Utilisation

Processors Memory Disk Network Physical Processor Memory Disk Network

Target System Name

Source System Name(s) Count

Speed (MHz)

Size (MB)

Size (GB) Count

Speed (MB/sec)

Rack Units

Weight (lbs)

Power (W)

Thermal (BTU/hr)

% Used

Queue per CPU

% Used

File Sys Cache

(MB)

Page File

% Paging

(Pg/sec) I/O

(Trans/sec) I/O

(MB/sec) Speed

(MB/sec)

4P 2C 8 3,400 24,000 1,000.00 6 6,000.00 3 80 1,000 5,457 11.71 0.03 56.63 1,664.84 1.19 947.75 284.16 10.56 0.32

4P 2C 8 3,400 24,000 1,000.00 6 6,000.00 3 80 1,000 5,457 16.92 0.59 40.33 1,490.63 1.41 963.22 504.95 12.75 0.60

4P 2C 8 3,400 24,000 1,000.00 6 6,000.00 3 80 1,000 5,457 9.78 0.61 20.88 1,479.18 4.33 985.84 506.15 4.11 2.72

4P 2C 8 3,400 24,000 1,000.00 6 6,000.00 3 80 1,000 5,457 16.57 0.38 29.56 1,487.49 1.70 989.17 624.11 10.19 1.40

4P 2C 8 3,400 24,000 1,000.00 6 6,000.00 3 80 1,000 5,457 31.93 0.32 73.10 4,050.63 7.45 946.57 485.54 13.59 2.94

4P 2C 8 3,400 24,000 1,000.00 6 6,000.00 3 80 1,000 5,457 15.34 0.81 74.96 3,144.40 5.21 940.59 395.35 17.77 1.43

April 8, 2023 27

Virtualisation Resource Allocation and Configuration Analysis

• How much resources to leave free to cater for server failure?

VM1 VM2 VM3 VM4

Limit Threshold

Reservation Threshold

Actual Usage

VM5 VM6 VM7 VM8

Server 1 Server 2HA Cluster

April 8, 2023 28

Virtualisation Resource Allocation and Configuration Analysis

• Critical (or all virtual servers) will be restarted on other physical server(s)

VM1 VM2 VM3 VM4 VM5 VM6 VM7 VM8

Server 1 Server 2

VM1 VM2 VM3 VM4

HA Cluster

April 8, 2023 29

Stage 2 - Implement Virtualisation Platform

• VMware ESX Server - Platform for virtualising servers• VMware VMFS - High-performance cluster file system

for storage virtualisation• VMware Virtual SMP - Multi-processor support for

virtual machines• VMware VirtualCentre - Centralised management,

automation and optimisation for IT infrastructure• VMware HA - Cost effective high availability for virtual

machines• VMware DRS - Dynamic balancing and allocation of

resources for virtual machines• VMware VMotion - Live migration of virtual machines

without service interruption

April 8, 2023 30

VMware Platforms and Options

• VMware Infrastructure 3 Starter NAS or local storage− No HA, DRS, VCB− Restrictions

• 4 processors• 8 GB RAM

• VMware Infrastructure 3 Standard− HA, DRS, VCB available as separate options

• VMware Infrastructure 3 Enterprise− Includes virtual SMP, VMFS, VMotion, HA, DRS,

Consolidated Backup

• VirtualCentre

April 8, 2023 31

VMware Sample Costs

Product Rough Cost Annual Software Subscription and

Support

Year 1 Total Year 2

VMware Infrastructure 3 Starter for 2 processors €781.25 €697.27 €1,478.52 €697.27

VMware Infrastructure 3 Standard for 2 processors

€2,929.69 €615.23 €3,544.92 €615.23

VMware Infrastructure 3 Enterprise for 2 processors

€4,492.19 €943.36 €5,435.55 €943.36

VMware VirtualCenter Management Server 2 €3,906.25 €625.00 €4,531.25 €625.00

VMWare Enterprise for two 2-processor servers and VirtualCentre

€12,890.63 €2,511.72 €15,402.34 €2,511.72

VMWare Enterprise for four 2-processor servers and VirtualCentre

€21,875.00 €4,398.44 €26,273.44 €4,398.44

VMWare Enterprise for four 4-processor servers and VirtualCentre

€39,843.75 €8,171.88 €48,015.63 €8,171.88

April 8, 2023 32

Sample Configurations

• Two ESX Servers, VirtualCentre, Backup to Disk, Tape Backup

• Two ESX Servers, VirtualCentre, Backup to Disk, Tape Backup, Virtualised DR Facility with Replication

• Very Large Scale Implementation

April 8, 2023 33

Two ESX Servers, VirtualCentre, Backup to Disk, Tape Backup

1. Two servers running ESX Server – provides resilience in the event of server failure

2. SAN to store data

3. VirtualCentre to administer and manage virtual infrastructure

4. Backup to disk using low cost disk

5. Tape backup unit

April 8, 2023 34

Two ESX Servers, VirtualCentre, Backup to Disk, Tape Backup

1. Primary SAN data copied to inexpensive disk – fast backup

2. Disk backup copied to tape/autoloader

April 8, 2023 35

Two ESX Servers, VirtualCentre, Backup to Disk, Tape Backup, Virtualised DR Facility with Replication

1. Two servers running ESX Server – provides resilience in the event of server failure

2. SAN to store data

3. VirtualCentre to administer and manage virtual infrastructure

4. Backup to disk using low cost disk

5. Tape backup unit

6. Link for data replication

7. Backup virtual infrastructure for recovery

April 8, 2023 36


1. Primary SAN data copied to inexpensive disk – fast backup

2. Disk backup copied to tape/autoloader

3. Disk to disk copy to DR location

4. Move tapes to backup location

April 8, 2023 37


April 8, 2023 38

Very Large Scale Implementation

April 8, 2023 39

Very Large Scale Implementation

April 8, 2023 40

Cost Benefit Analysis

• Tangible savings− Server purchases− Operational costs− Administration costs− Power, HVAC− Deferred cost

• Intangible savings− Faster server provisioning− Better utilisation− Reduced floorspace− Improved business continuity and disaster recovery

April 8, 2023 41

Server Operation AssumptionsServer Environmental DetailsServer Watts/Hour 600UPS Watt/Hour 25Server BTU/Hour 2000Server Operational Hours 8760kWh Cost €0.10Total kWh/Server/Year 7227Total Electricity Cost (Server, UPS, HVAC) €722.70Maintenance/Server €350.00Operation Costs Per Server/Year €1,072.70

Server Tasks - Per Server Hours Before Virtualisation

Hours After Virtualisation

New Server Deployment 16 2Build / Installs 40 10Change / Upgrade 12 3Configuration Changes 2 0.1Problem Resolution 2 0.1Rebuilding Test Servers 2 0.1Installing Software 2 0.1Rebooting System 2 0.1Testing 10 0.5Recovery 8 1

April 8, 2023 42

Sample Project Costs and Savings 1

• 16 servers to be virtualised• Avoid 4 new servers a year

Virtualisation Project Initial Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 TotalSoftware €21,900.00 €6,100.00 €6,100.00 €6,100.00 €6,100.00Hardware €16,000.00Procurement €800.00Project Costs €25,000.00Server Operation €3,489.40 €3,489.40 €3,489.40Maintenance and Support

€12,000.00 €12,000.00 €12,000.00

Server Administration €573.73 €573.73 €573.73Total €63,700.00 €22,163.13 €22,163.13 €22,163.13 €130,189.38Saving €120,171.68

Existing Servers Initial Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 TotalNew Server Purchases €32,000.00 €32,000.00 €32,000.00Procurement €1,600.00 €1,600.00 €1,600.00Server Operation €22,798.00 €22,798.00 €22,798.00Server Administration €27,055.69 €27,055.69 €27,055.69Total €83,453.69 €83,453.69 €83,453.69 €250,361.06

Return on Investment 39 Months

April 8, 2023 43



Virtualisation Project Initial Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 TotalSoftware €29,900.00 €8,300.00 €8,300.00 €8,300.00 €8,300.00Hardware €32,000.00Procurement €1,600.00Project Costs €50,000.00Server Operation €6,978.80 €6,978.80 €6,978.80Maintenance and Support

€20,000.00 €20,000.00 €20,000.00

Server Administration €1,147.45 €1,147.45 €1,147.45Total €113,500.00 €36,426.25 €36,426.25 €36,426.25 €222,778.75Saving €221,107.16



April 8, 2023 44



Virtualisation Project Initial Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 TotalSoftware €45,900.00 €12,700.00 €12,700.00 €12,700.00 €12,700.00Hardware €64,000.00Procurement €3,200.00Project Costs €75,000.00Server Operation €13,957.60 €13,957.60 €13,957.60Maintenance and Support

€25,000.00 €25,000.00 €25,000.00

Server Administration €2,294.90 €2,294.90 €2,294.90Total €188,100.00 €53,952.50 €53,952.50 €53,952.50 €349,957.51Saving €424,141.93



April 8, 2023 45

Stage 3 - Physical to Virtual Migration

• Two principal Physical to Virtual Server conversion tools available− PlateSpin PowerConvert – this is a very functional tool but

it has a cost− VMware Converter Enterprise – this is a new product from

VMware. It is available at no additional cost to existing and new VirtualCentre Management Server customers who have valid support and subscription contracts

• The selected servers are migrated to the previously installed and configured server virtualisation platform

• Windows, Netware, Linux Sun, etc. servers can be migrated

• Migrations will be performed and tested incrementally

April 8, 2023 46

Testing

• Testing will consist of:

− User Acceptance Testing – to ensure that the application functionality is unaffected

− Operations Acceptance Testing – to ensure that the virtual platform can be operated and supported

April 8, 2023 47

Operations Acceptance Testing

• Stability / Robustness - Verification of continuous operation over extended period

• Resilience - Ensure the system will operate continuously through failure or controlled shutdown of individual components

− Ensure the system will have sufficient levels of redundancy to ensure committed availability targets are maintained

• Systems Monitoring - Ensure that error reporting / reactive alerting allows effective trouble shooting and problem diagnosis

• Performance Management / Service Level Reporting - Ensure that performance monitoring data allows detection of performance issues, and measurement against agreed service levels

• Systems Operations - Ensure that support and maintenance processes and procedures are operable

• Security Manageability - Ensure that the systems can be managed and administered and that correct procedures and training are in place

• Backup and Recovery - Ensure that reliable automated backup solution in place including failure notification

• Performance - Ensure that the observed performance matches what is expected and committed to

April 8, 2023 48

Operations Acceptance Testing – ITIL Checklist

Capacity Management Infrastructure has capacity to accommodate new serviceCapability to monitor capacity for service going forward proactively

Change Management Compliance with Change Management processesOwnership handover to ensure change is managed going forward

IT Service Continuity Management

Project compliance with Disaster Recovery Standards.

Backup and archiving sufficient to meet Business recovery and DR requirementsAvailability Management No single point of failure within the Production infrastructure to support high availability

All solutions function without operator or manual interventionService Delivery team has ability to monitor and measure service availability. This must include End to End Service availability, (including Hardware and Software components).No manual intervention should be required for batch processingComply with all Security policies and guidelines. Security processes to be operated by UAM are manageable.

Service Level Management All Business service level requirements and support responsibilities are agreed and are compliant with standards and guidelines.SLA documented and agreedAny new roles and responsibilities of the Customer relationship manager are agreedPerformance management mechanism is provided, including measurement of end to end performanceBenchmark applications for performance.Required SLA, Business and PSS Support Reports are in place and automated.

Release Management Demonstrate readiness to enter OATComplete OATPilot capability providedRequirements and constraints agreed for initial pilot.Adhere to Release Management standards and guidelines.Ensure Software Release Levels meet standards

Incident Management Alerting in place to notify application or infrastructure incidents.Procedures are documented for any operator control intervention.User error notification built in to notify of service outages.Support Model documented and agreedConformance to Incident Management standards and guidelines

Configuration Management Asset Management database is updated.Test room and computer room facilities requirements agreedOAT environment provided to match production.Server management tools in place

Service Desk Service Desk Take-on checklist completeDevelop a training plan for support areas.

Financial Management for IT Services

Financial Impact signed off

Problem Management Management of Discrepancy Notices / Risks into production

April 8, 2023 49

Stage 4 - Backup and Recovery

• Hot backups, restores and disaster recovery of the virtual servers can be performed over the LAN or WAN

• Consolidated backup− No agents on virtual servers

• Server replication− Virtual machine replication using third-party products such as

VizionCore− Virtual server replication using third-party products such as

DoubleTake, WANSync, Replistor• Disaster Recovery• Business Continuity• Two options (not mutually exclusive)

− Existing (virtual) server backup • NetBackup• Tivoli Storage Manager• Data Protector• CommVault

− Virtual server consolidated backup• Third-party tool - esxRanger

April 8, 2023 50

Option 1 – Existing Backup Tool

• Each virtual server is just another Windows server instance and it can be backed-up using existing backup and recovery tools

April 8, 2023 51

Option 2 – Consolidated Backup

• Protection of virtual is based on three separate technologies that are integrated− VMware

Consolidated Backup

− esxRanger Professional with VCB Plugin

− Backup software

April 8, 2023 52

Stage 5 - Reporting and Monitoring

• Reporting options− VirtualCentre− VirtualCentre SQL database reporting− Third-party tool – VizionCore esxCharter, PlateSpin

PowerRecon

• Monitoring− Virtual servers− Underlying physical hardware

April 8, 2023 53

VMware VirtualCentre

April 8, 2023 54

VMware VirtualCentre

• Performance Charts− CPU Usage− Memory Usage− Disk I/O Usage− Network I/O Usage− System Usage

• System Mapping− Global Maps − Inventory Maps − VMotion Resource Maps

April 8, 2023 55

esxCharter

• esxCharter is a real-time management and reporting tool that provides key information for managing VMware ESX Server systems

• esxCharter rolls up key performance metrics to a root level spreadsheet type view

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esxCharter

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Monitoring

• Monitoring will arise in two areas− Monitoring virtual servers (and their applications)− Monitoring underlying hardware

• Tools such as HP Systems Insight Manager and Dell OpenManage run in the virtual server− Cannot provide hardware alerts in a virtual

environment

• Can use monitoring tools such as Microsoft Systems Center Operations Manger (SCOM) or HP OpenView− Monitor entire environment

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SCOM VMware Management Pack Integration

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SCOM for Virtual Infrastructure Monitoring

• VMware integration via SCOM Management Pack− eXc VMWare

Management Pack− Quest Management

eXtensions for SCOM − nWorks VMWare

Events MP for SCOM

• nWorks VMWare Events MP for SCOM is the best

• SCOM also monitors virtual servers

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MOM and nWorks Management Pack

• nworks Collector is referred to as VEM (Virtual Enterprise Monitor)

• The VEM server can be a virtual server to reduce cost

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Server Patching

• Patching issues arise in two areas:− VMware Software Patching – the VMware software

platform must be patched− Virtual Server Patching – the underlying virtual

servers must be patched as normal

• VMware patching− Esxupdate tool to apply software patches - a version

of RPM (RedHat Patch Manager)− Esxupdate is a single update mechanism for both

software upgrades, drivers and patches

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VMware Software Patching

• Upgrades and patches are distributed as bundles. Bundles are classified as security, critical or general

• You must subscribe to receive VMware patches. They are distributed monthly

• Esxupdate allows patches to be installed from a centralised server

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Virtual Server Patching

• Windows (and other) servers will be required to be patched as normal

• VMware can assist in a server patching strategy− Allow server

snapshots to be taken before patching takes place

− Reduce the testing effort by allowing an element of “implicit” testing where, unless problems occur, the patches remain applied

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Stage 6 - Server Virtualisation Processes

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Stage 6 - Policy-Based Virtual Service Life Cycle Management

• Policies for− Archiving unused test and development

environments− Quiescing enduring test environments− Server patching

• Implicit UAT/OAT

− Reacting to requests for new servers− Adding physical capacity− Monitoring compliance with SLA− Reporting performance

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Project Implementation Process

• Structured process to deliver operational solution that meets requirements and that delivers on commitments

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More Information

Alan [email protected]

introduction to server virtualisation planning and implementing a virtualisation project

Technology

virtualised

sample project

virtualisation

server failure

store data

virtual server

functional

party products