Server virtualization management skills

Virtualization applications solve the huge pressure on enterprises due to massive storage, saving most of the cost for equipment deployment. When servers are combined with virtualization, the benefits brought by virtualization are even more apparent. Server virtualization saves energy and hardware costs, but also brings about management problems. More and more software can help solve this problem.

The benefits of Virtualization in data centers are that, because virtual machines are faster than standard hardware, hundreds of virtual machines can be run on dozens of physical servers, it saves energy and hardware expenses while improving efficiency. However, due to the large scale of Virtualization in some companies, the speed of implementation is too fast, and the management problem is quickly highlighted. The biggest problem is that users do not know whether there will be conflicts between hardware and storage resources between an application and other applications. This will affect the IT Capability of enterprises and the service level.

To alleviate this problem, experts recommend that you use tools to balance workload and application software service levels, such as Akorri's new BalancePoint. BalancePoint can display the time and performance of a specific virtual machine that has not reached the standard. Based on this data, you can allocate the workload to improve efficiency. This tool analyzes performance from the perspective of VMware and the storage area network (SAN), thus avoiding problems caused by unbalanced resource allocation of virtual machines.

IDC analyst Elliot said that almost all companies that carry out server virtualization will encounter management problems, including workload balancing and problems with "Virtual Machine expansion" and disaster recovery plans. VMware Tools and products from more and more third-party vendors can help solve this problem.

Balance enterprise workload

Workload balancing is a complex problem. One of the main advantages of virtualization is that applications can be easily transferred from one server to another. The problem is that it is hard to know that there are already too many virtual machines on a specific server. We can only see the running status of the application software and other factors, such as memory and additional storage. If several key applications compete for the same server resources in a virtual environment, it is difficult for us to identify conflicting application software, which affects the company's operation.

To solve this problem, multiple management tools are required. A Monster company in the United States uses the BalancePoint tool to enhance the capabilities of its two main VMware management products. These two products are: VMotion (this tool increases hardware utilization by moving virtual machines out of servers with low performance and downtime) and Distributed Resource schedted (this tool is used together with VMotion, resources can be allocated to high-priority virtual machines based on preset rules ).

Most importantly, Distributed Resource schedted and VMotion show which servers need to balance the workload, but these two tools cannot analyze and display application software Resource conflicts other than VMware. Because the BalancePoint is not bound to the operating system, it can be displayed whether VMware's performance is affected by other applications on the network in the same storage region. The Distributed Resource schedted can only use the host (CPU, memory and memory) display the performance of the virtual machine, but during the operation of the storage area network, it cannot show which database server is using the same resource.

Knode, computing and communication infrastructure director at San Diego, said that the more virtual machines you use, the more problems you have. Knode requires management tools to deal with problems in the current company's server virtualization environment (50 virtual machines running on three physical servers) and problems that will arise in the future, this is because the company plans to add about 100 virtual machines in the next fiscal year. Knode is considering using the esxCharter management tool of Vizioncore to obtain real-time information on the performance level of VMware ESX servers.

This tool focuses on the performance level and running programs running inside the virtual machine. When you need to adjust the downtime or transfer the virtual environment process, you can adjust the CPU power and the memory allocated to the virtual machine. This function is critical. It allows you to understand the processing process. For example, if a specific virtual machine occupies the processor resources of another virtual machine, you can use Distributed Resource Scheduler and VMotion to transfer the virtual machine to another processor. However, without the Vizioncore tool, it is impossible to know which virtual machine needs to be transferred.

Bishop, chief architect of Wachovia, the fourth largest bank in the United States, used Scalent to balance the workload. in the company's virtual environment, hundreds of servers run 1000 virtual machines, these machines are used for configuration, testing, and background processing. Scalent tools-available for use independently or in combination with VMware-can rapidly reallocate servers. "The other management tools we are considering also offer various forms of functionality, but none of them can implement real-time processing like Scalent," said Bishop ." Managers can flexibly handle resource conflicts in applications.

Disaster Management

Gartner data shows that 70% to 75% of customers who Virtualize enterprise x86 servers also use server virtualization for disaster recovery. They rely on VMotion to transfer servers, greatly reducing downtime.

Miller, CEO of Genesis Multimedia, an independent host company, uses VMotion to increase normal running time and improve the reliability of Enterprise virtual machines. The enterprise's virtual environment is: three physical servers run 55 virtual machines, and VMotion is used for Virtual Machine migration. However, managing these virtual machines is not easy. The initial transfer aims to integrate 12 servers for storing network hosts and two large hosts for running data systems. However, it is difficult to implement virtual machine transfer, install patches, and BIOS upgrades during running. As an infrastructure provider, Genesis must provide high-level services. Therefore, timely upgrade is critical. It is impossible to do this without Vmotion and DRS.

By monitoring the number of virtual machines and the servers on which they are located, additional tools can help solve the "unordered expansion of virtual machines" problem.

Haight, research director at Gartner, said: "This seems ironic: the advantage of virtual machines is resource optimization, But it leads to operational chaos ." Almost all of his customers are troubled by this problem.

Knode from SDDPC said Vizioncore helped him solve the problem. "By determining the benchmark for the virtual environment, we made a plan in advance. With VMware and Vizioncore, I can know how many resources are available on the ESX host, and when we should transfer virtual machines or purchase new servers or storage ."

Users want the server virtualization management provider to take the next step: Integrate existing management software. For example, HP's Mercury Business Availability Center Software Package for enterprise transaction and infrastructure monitoring can be integrated with the BalancePoint tool.

Although server virtualization tools can improve the manageability of virtual environments, CIOs are looking forward to the introduction of overall management tools.