optimize your virtualization_efforts_with_a_blade_infrastructure

Executive Brief

Optimize Your Virtualization Efforts with a Blade Infrastructure

a QuinStreet Executive Brief. © 2013

In This Paper•TheincreasedadoptionofvirtualizationisplacingnewdemandsonITinfrastructure

•Organizationsneedanintelligentinfrastructurethatintegrateswithvirtualizationmanagementandeliminatesmanualoperations

•HPbladeserversystemsleveragebuilt-inintelligence,maximizingeveryhour,watt,anddollar

Datamation®

© 2013, QuinStreet, Inc.


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Datamation®

The increased adoption of

virtualization is placing new

demands on IT infrastructure. The

interdependencies between server,

storage, and network elements must

be finely balanced to maximize virtual

machine performance and sizing.

There should be integration with

the virtualization management tool

to ensure efficient use of IT human

resources and optimization of data

center processes. This Executive Brief

summarizes the benefits of using a

converged and intelligent blade-

based infrastructure to support today’s

highly virtualized environments.

Introduction

Virtualization was supposed to be the

disruptive technology that saved IT.

The cost savings from consolidation

and the ease at which applications

can be deployed promised to vastly

improve delivery of IT services, free up

IT staff to work on other projects, and

not strain budgets.

Unfortunately, lack of insight into IT

resource status in highly virtualized

environments and the complexity

of the interactions between server,

storage, and network elements have

added to IT staff manual workloads

and led most companies to dedicate

too much time to operations and

not enough time to innovation. This

basically negates the major benefits of

virtualization.

To avoid these problems and to reap

the full benefits of virtualization,

companies need an infrastructure with

tightly integrated components, built-in

intelligence, proactive and automatic

management, and the flexibility to

automatically tune performance to

application needs. These requirements

are leading companies to adopt a

converged infrastructure based on

smart blade servers. Such solutions

let companies optimize their highly

virtualized operations increasing

hardware utilization, automating

management, and improving the

energy efficiency of the servers.

The need for an optimized infrastructure for virtualization

The increased adoption of

virtualization is placing new

demands on IT infrastructure. The

interdependencies between server,

storage, and network elements must

be finely balanced to ensure efficient

use of all resources and optimization

of computational workflows. Yet, many

companies find their solutions are hard

to optimize because they are difficult

to manage, consuming a great amount

of IT staff time and budget dollars.

In today’s business world, where

budgets are tight and IT staffs are

being asked to do more with fewer

resources, organizations need an

infrastructure that is intelligent, can

be updated with minimal downtime

and that eliminates many manual

operations. At the same time, an

infrastructure must deliver the

performance, scalability, and features

to support current and future server

and client application workload

virtualization efforts. Furthermore,

IT staff must have the capability

to manage both from within the

hypervisor’s console as well as out of

band via a dedicated management



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network, for example, allowing for a

remote cold reboot without having

to set foot into the data center even

when the production network is down.

With more companies moving mission-

critical applications onto virtualized

systems, increased attention is being

paid to infrastructure issues. The

reasons for this increased attention to

infrastructure issues include:

• Companies often run multiple

instances of compute- and data-

intensive applications on a set of

servers sharing common network

elements and storage devices.

These workloads generate

unpredictable performance,

throughput, and IO requirements.

And the interplay between the

various infrastructure elements

under these loads means any

change in one element impacts the

others.

• Virtualization can simplify load

balancing and failover. What is

needed to accomplish this is a

way to automatically identify when

a server is degraded and virtual

machines should be moved. An

infrastructure should be able to

predict impending failures and

initiate the migration of a virtual

instance from one server to another.

• To address data protection

concerns and rein in desktop

support issues, many companies

are moving to a Virtual Desktop

Infrastructure (VDI), which replaces

desktop PCs and workstations

with virtual machines in the data

center. VDI enables the flexibility

new business models require,

yet the infrastructure needs

to be optimized to deliver the

performance users expect and at

the cost points aligned with the

business.

• Given the potential impact on a

business, if any one of its critical

applications were to experience

unplanned downtime, there

would be extreme consequences.

Therefore, companies need

intelligence embedded into every

component of the infrastructure.

IT staff needs the ability to quickly

determine the root cause of

performance issues and fix them

while applications are online.

These application areas highlight the

need for an optimized infrastructure to

run today’s virtualized applications.

“A converged infrastructure based on smart blade

servers lets companies optimize their highly virtualized

environments.”

One place to start when trying to

deploy an optimized infrastructure

is the server. Virtualization lets

companies make more efficient use

of server resources enabling multiple

applications to run on a single system.

With multiple applications running

on a shared system, any downtime

can have a significant impact. What

is needed are servers that have

embedded intelligence to monitor,

self heal, and alert IT staff about

potential problems so they can take

steps to avoid outages and disruptions

from happening. For example, an IT

staff needs an infrastructure capable

of minimizing the efforts to restore a

failed server.

Beyond the server itself, more

attention needs to be paid to

the server edge in today’s highly

virtualized environments. The interface

between the server and storage and

networking elements is much more

complex. And as a result, companies

need a solution that simplifies how

the server, network, and storage are

managed and work together.

For example, the approach of some

vendors requires up to six tiers of

network infrastructure (that would

include core, distribution, access, Fibre



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Channel SAN directors, management,

distributed virtual switches). In such

networks, servers must be essentially

hardwired to storage elements.

Making a change, say moving a

workload from one server to another,

would require reconfiguring connections

which involves server, storage,

and networking experts. That, and

management of the infrastructure alone,

is time-consuming and the manual

nature of the work makes mistakes from

human error quite common.

With virtualization’s ability for IT

managers to quickly provision,

deploy, and move virtual machines,

most server environments are highly

dynamic. When each new instance is

created or moved, storage resources

must be allocated. In the constant

process of creating or moving virtual

instances, IT must assign or reassign

associations between applications

and storage resources. In complex

infrastructures, much of this work must

again be done manually by server,

storage, and networking experts,

consuming great amounts of IT staff

time and opening up the possibility of

disruptive errors.

Integration of storage is also a critical

layer in an optimized infrastructure

for virtualization. Many applications

benefit from tiered storage. Here

flexibility and a broad choice of

storage technology can help optimize

performance and cost to match the

data and cache requirements. Thus,

availability of choice and the level

of integration are key factors when

selecting solutions.

Characteristics of an ideal infrastructure solution for virtualization

Taking these points into consideration

can help companies narrow down their

choices for an infrastructure for their

virtualized environments.

Looking at the server, virtualization

will increase utilization of compute,

memory, and IO resources compared

to a non-virtualized environment. With

multiple workloads running on a single

physical device, reliability and uptime

are critical. One trend on the reliability

side to embrace is the embedding

of intelligence into the server itself.

Companies should look for systems

that include self-monitoring and

automated “phone home” capabilities

to minimize downtime caused by

server lockups without having to load

software agents on the server. Solutions

also must offer tools to manage both

physical and virtual elements.

And given that most companies need

to deploy more services to more users

and accommodate the explosion in data

that needs to be analyzed, more servers

and more robust servers will likely be

needed than in the past. So servers also

need to be energy-efficient.

All of these requirements can be

supported with blade servers.

Blade servers allow for high-density

deployments that support the high

performance workloads found in

highly virtualized environments. Blade

systems incorporate high availability

features including redundant power

supplies, fans and other critical

components. And since blade systems

are integrated, more automation

capabilities can be embedded than

in standalone and rack-mounted



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systems. For example, knowing that

the blade server in bay number one is

always wired to switch ports one and

two makes it easier to automate data

center processes since the alternative

with rack servers would be to have an

operator make sure that a given server

is wired to the correct switch ports.

To accommodate the huge power

requirements of high-density,

high-performance blade systems,

some vendors have power supply

configurations that are ideally suited

to today’s more efficient three-phase

power systems.

Additionally, many vendors offer a

price/performance choice in their

blade servers. This allows companies

to match servers to application

workloads.For instance, some vendors

offer a broader range of blades with

increased processor performance and

features, more memory and memory

reliability/availability features, more IO

and slots, new IO technology, more

vendor choices of in-enclosure storage

solutions, and blades with a variety

of Graphics Processing Unit (GPU)

choices for use in graphics-enabled VDI

deployments.

Beyond the server, the blade system

must be tightly integrated with storage

and network elements. At a minimum,

companies should select servers that

are open and that can connect to any

LAN or SAN. Management systems

need to be able to work with all

three elements and provide a means

to better understand relationships

between the various elements. With the

ability to quickly shift virtual machines

to different servers to balance loads,

blade systems must support both the

traditional north/south network traffic

(i.e., client-server data flows out of the

data center to the desktops) AND east/

west traffic, when a virtual machine is

moved from one server to another.

Increasingly, there is interest in

technology that virtualizes the

connections between the server,

network and storage elements.

Such virtual connection technology

promises to simplify deployments and

makes replacing a server or adding a

server to a virtualization cluster a snap

because there is no need to involve

networking and storage experts. The

server admin can do it right the first

time all by himself.

Another aspect to consider is

management and how management

traffic is handled. Many vendors run

the network management traffic and

the application traffic on the same

network. A more reliable solution

would be an infrastructure with out-

of-band management, independent

of the application network. This allows

for non-disruptive server maintenance.

HP as your technology partner

Given the characteristics needed in

today’s highly virtualized data centers,

how do you select an infrastructure

partner? There are certainly many

vendor choices for hardware, but few

provide the simplified architecture,

embedded intelligence, proactive and

automated management features,

energy efficiency, and systems

management capabilities to truly

optimize a virtualized environment.

One provider meets these criteria.

HP offers complete solutions for

highly virtualized environments. Prime

advantages of using HP systems are

that they leverage built-in intelligence

and energy savings, maximizing every

hour, watt, and dollar, while delivering

the performance and blade server

portfolio needed to support the wide

range of application workloads found

in most organizations. They also

significantly reduce operating costs.

Going beyond built-in intelligence,

HP solutions are cloud-ready, offering

“Blade servers allow for high-density

deployments that support the high

performance workloads found in

highly virtualized environments.”



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converged infrastructure management

and flat LAN and SAN architectures.

Self-sufficient servers: At the heart of

the offering are the HP BladeSystem

and the ProLiant Gen8 blade servers.

These servers have embedded

intelligence that continuously

monitors conditions and automates

most routine administrative chores.

Specifically, ProLiant Gen8 blade

servers leverage the HP ProActive

Insight architecture to continuously

analyze thousands of system

parameters to optimize application

performance and deliver pre-

failure alerts allowing companies to

proactively improve uptime and give

IT managers insight into every aspect

of their IT infrastructure.

HP ProActive Insight includes

Intelligent Provisioning capabilities

that help bring systems online faster,

thanks to a fully integrated system

and OS configuration tool. Access

to all the necessary firmware, drivers,

and tools is pre-loaded and ready to

deploy. There are no CDs to load and

no software to find.

Other vendors tout their easy setup,

but offer little to help after the first

ten minutes of a server’s operating

life. In contrast, HP ProActive Insight

also includes HP Active Health

technology, which automates

monitoring, diagnostics, and alerting.

It monitors and securely logs more

than 1,600 system parameters and

all configuration changes such as

firmware updates or the physical

movement of memory modules from

one slot to another.

This information can be used to

take actions before a problem

occurs, thus preventing downtime,

and to quickly find the root cause

of a problem, allowing for faster

restoration. In particular, rather than

running diagnostic tools after an

outage or problems occurs and using

that information to try to isolate

the cause, HP Active Health System

automatically and continuously

collects a chronological log of system

events and information so companies

can start problem analysis faster

and spend less time with support,

reproducing, or describing errors.

Addressing another time-consuming

task, HP ProActive Insight incorporates

HP Smart Update Manager, software

that helps simplify and accelerate

system updates. The HP Smart Update

process uses a comprehensive update

package that includes firmware,

drivers, and tools for servers and other

infrastructure elements. The packages

are pre-tested for interdependencies

and allow for fewer, more predictable

updates. Using this approach speeds

server updates and reduces downtime.

Many updates can be done online,

without a reboot.

These elements of HP ProActive Insight

automate and simplify management

aspects, including system provisioning,

troubleshooting, and the handling

of software updates, of the servers

over their entire lifecycle. This lowers

operating costs and reduces downtime,

greatly improving the value of the



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servers to an organization over their

lifetime of use.

In addition to the automation and

time-saving features, HP BladeSystem

solutions include advanced energy

savings technology to help cut the

cost of electricity. HP Thermal Logic

technology lets HP BladeSystems

pool, share and optimize power and

cooling resources. The BladeSystem

is intelligent, automatically adjusting

the speed of each fan (and thus using

electricity more efficiently) based on

each server’s workload. Additionally,

94 percent efficiency power supplies,

intelligent PDUs that measure PSU

power consumption to within 1 percent

accuracy, Dynamic Power Capping,

and other features enable maximum

energy efficiency and control.

Performance to match workloads:

HP BladeSystem and HP ProLiant Gen8

blade servers deliver the performance

needed to support the virtualized

workloads running in businesses today.

In fact,1 HP is the number one platform

for VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, and

Linux KVM hypervisors.

As companies are virtualizing and

running a variety of enterprise

applications (web servers, messaging

and email, virtual desktop

infrastructure, database and other

data-intensive applications), HP offers

a wide range of blade servers to

match the configuration and price/

performance needs of an organization.

For running heavy workloads, HP

offers both Intel performance-based

E5 and E7 based architectures and

AMD high core count and lower cost

architectures. Companies have a

choice between 2-socket and 4-socket

Intel and AMD blades that optimize

workload performance through

balanced architectures of processor

capabilities, memory, and IO.

Many enterprises are looking to

consolidate databases on a virtualized

platform. HP also has purpose built

Reference Architectures for Oracle

that enables consolidating the myriad

databases with one high-performance,

virtualized environment engineered

and tested expressly for Oracle.

The offering enables increased

performance and reduces deployment

time from weeks to hours. HP has

Reference Architectures for a single

database stack, for several database

stacks (each with several thousand

users), and for very large database

requirements that could include

multiple consolidated databases.

Today, VDI is extending the breadth

of clients that can be virtualized and

thus enabling new business models

and solutions for managing end-user

compute devices. HP already has

tested/proven Reference Architectures

for Enterprise and Mid-market

deployments of VMware View, Citrix

Xen Desktop, and Microsoft solutions.

HP recently extended its solution of

graphics-enabled workstation server

blades with the industry’s leading GPU

density of 64 GPUs per 10U enclosure.

This enables virtualization to support a

range of user needs from the media-

rich PC to high-end 3D delivering a

discounted ROI of over 100 percent and

a payback period of less than a year.

For integrated storage, HP offers

specialized storage blades (supporting

spinning disks and SSDs), array

controllers optimized for SSD

performance, bladed IO accelerators,

DAS, and flat FC SAN enable tiered

storage architectures. These solutions

are optimized to the performance

needs of the type of data and cache

used by an application; they also offer

a most cost-effective price point.

The storage blades are ideal for

applications requiring large data sets

where the traditional SAN alternative

might be too expensive.

“Virtual connection technology

promises to simplify deployments

and makes replacing a server or

adding a server to a virtualization

cluster a snap.”



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Datamation®

A complete solution: As noted above,

today’s virtualized environments

require a tight integration of server,

storage, and network elements.

To that end, while HP servers are

based on open technologies and

can work with any standards-based

equipment, HP offers all the needed

elements for a complete infrastructure

for virtualization. That includes a

complete line of HP Networking

switches and Fibre Channel SAN

storage solutions.

Compared to its leading competitors,

HP uses a flat network architecture,

called the HP FlexFabric architecture,

that requires fewer tiers of switches.

This saves in costs compared to other

vendor architectures that require

more ports.

The FlexFabric architecture is

enabled through the use of HP Virtual

Connect technology. Virtual Connect

is part of the server infrastructure

and provides a virtualization layer

between the servers and the Ethernet

and SAN networks. This enables HP

BladeSystem Flat LAN and Flat SAN

scenarios where, for example, servers

are directly connected to Fibre

Channel SAN storage arrays without

the need for an intermediate layer of

infrastructure in the form of a Fibre

Channel switches. Thus, the server

edge is simplified.

New HP Virtual Connect 4.0, coming

soon, offers improved network

intelligence and integration. This

includes expanded quality of service

capabilities, real-time network

flow monitoring, and the ability

to implement a more simplified

infrastructure using dual-hop Fibre

Channel over Ethernet (FCoE).

With this architecture, a complete

infrastructure solution for

virtualization requires fewer switches,

cables, and adapters. This reduces

management chores and reduces

the chance of human error (e.g.,

plugging in a cable incorrectly), thus

helping to decrease downtime. Other

solutions require more tiers, adding

management complexity, more

devices, more cables, more points of

failure, and more chance of human

error leading to downtime. Virtual

Connect 4.0 also extends the already

industry leading integrated physical

and virtual machine management

with automated profile mapping of

Virtual Connect networks to vSwitches

in vCenter.

Taken together, the HP intelligent

blade servers and simplified server

edge provide the performance,

simplified management, and energy

efficiency needed for today’s variable

and demanding virtualized workloads.

Using HP solutions can reduce the

time IT staff must spend on day-

to-day chores and cuts recurring

management, electricity, and other

operating costs freeing up resources

for innovation.

For more information about HP

blade-based infrastructure solutions

for virtualized environments, visit:

www.hp.com/go/blade-servers

1 Source: WW IDC ISS CQ312 Virtualization Market Share Report: HP is the number one x86 virtualized server hardware vendor with 36.2

percent share.

http://www.hp.com/go/blade-servers

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