How to migrate server workloads to virtual machines

Migrating physical loads to virtual machines (P2V for short) is a microcosm of server virtualization. Migration of such workloads brings countless benefits. The most obvious thing is server integration. This article describes two methods to convert physical loads into virtual loads. It also involves the challenges encountered in the process and the management skills in the migration process.

Hot Cloning and Cold Cloning

These are two basic methods for converting physical loads. They are all about compressing physical servers into Virtual Disk Images-converting management systems, drivers, application files, and user data into separate file formats, to be compatible with specific virtualization platforms, such as Hyper-V or VMware.

In the conversion step, install VMware's vCenter Converter Standalone or Novell's PlateSpin Migrate on the physical server. These tools create a virtual machine, copy all the disk blocks from the physical server, and then create and assign them to the Virtual Hardware. Nowadays, most virtualization vendors have completed the conversion steps and organized them into a simple step wizard and click interface.

The main difference between Hot cloning and Cold Cloning is that Hot Cloning performs the conversion step while the physical server is still working, while Cold Cloning requires the physical server to stop working and offline before conversion.

Therefore, the Cold Cloning ensures that all files under physical loads are closed and stable during the conversion process, without any problems that may affect the generation of virtual machines.

Any P2V load conversion may be CPU-intensive and may require a large amount of time to complete the transfer of block data. This is not a problem for Cold Cloning, because the load is offline, but Hot Cloning may weaken the performance and user experience of the load. Some experts compare the Hot Cloning steps with the backup cycle. We recommend that the manager arrange all the switching tasks during off-peak hours because the user requirements and server activity are the lowest.

P2V challenges

Plan P2V migration to encounter some potential difficulties. Scott Roberts, IT director, said: "Make sure that resources are necessary for the virtual environment to run everything on this integrated server. And make sure that your SAN can process IOPSInput/Output Operations Per Second, read/write Operations Per Second )."

Ensuring that the CPU, RAM, and network bandwidth can support the expected total number of virtual machines for the host server is a challenge. In addition, the performance and stability of virtual machines may be challenged. Novell's PlateSpin Recon tool can help address resource requirements and availability.

One of the main advantages of virtualization is that administrators can monitor the computing resources required by each virtual machine, adjust resource allocation to add resources to the virtual machine, or reduce unnecessary resources, then they are allocated to other virtual machines.

The Administrator must avoid accidentally copying the MAC address of the physical server to the virtual machine. If you do this by hand, network traffic may become blurred and strange, leading to serious application problems.

Even if the original physical server is no longer in use, once the NIC of the server is re-used on other hardware, problems may occur. If you assign a MAC address to the Organization Unit Identifier) or OUI as the front level of the virtual machine, you can prevent problems and facilitate the management of various virtual machines.

How to manage Loads

Migration between physical servers and virtual environments has a profound impact on the way load is managed. Managers should be alert to prevent problems.

When switching physical loads to virtual machines, experts found significant management plan defects, including capacity planning, configuration management, and lifecycle management. These neglected problems will eventually lead to low efficiency, errors, and even unplanned capital costs, increasing the cost of virtualization.

Chris Wolf, a senior analyst at the Burton Group, believes that an enterprise may find that the first half of the year of virtualization migration may not know what virtualization is. "In the end, they may have to invest money in management software ." Management plans and budgets are often the key factors for successful virtualization.

Virtualization to virtualization V2V) Migration also has similar problems, requiring new tools to deal with different management programs. If you plan to completely change the management program, there will be a new learning curve-and price-to purchase related management tools. If an organization chooses to maintain a large number of management programs for a long time, it may bypass the management tools of specific vendors. It is more cost-effective to choose a third-party management tool that supports multiple management programs.

This situation may be the most difficult for virtualization to physical V2P conversion, and the given virtualization management tool is invalid. In this case, managers need to use the old management tools in the original physical environment.