Private cloud built on Microsoft software

Now, after the cloud has landed, have you ever thought of using the Microsoft System to build a private cloud? Although the use of the latest version of the software is not the most appropriate choice, in general, there are certain risks. But in a recent series of products, Microsoft has added a lot of confidence that it can really meet all the needs of people in the cloud. Here's how to build a private cloud by relying only on the support of Microsoft software.

The crux of the problem lies in the application

In the Microsoft System environment, the first decision that people need to make is the design pattern that should be used to support the infrastructure. If you want to achieve continuous real-time high availability or fault tolerance, you need to determine whether it is provided at the application level or you have to try it out at the infrastructure level.

Application-Level fault tolerance--for example, SQL replication is now able to support replication to Microsoft's Azure cloud--often the preferred choice. In fact, this means that there is more flexibility in the configuration options, and even complex environments such as full hybrid cloud and WAN deployments can be included.

To achieve the goal of turning software into a deliverable, Microsoft has made a great deal of effort--iis8, SQL Server, Hyper-V 3.0, and System Center Virtual Machine Manager make a very good portfolio-making each service a very environmentally friendly and practical choice.

Storage-Side options

Before the virtual machine is officially launched, the first question users need to consider is where they need to be kept. After all, it's only when we understand the actual extent of high availability or fault tolerance that we can make informed decisions to ensure that there are no problems with storage.

As a true fault-tolerant infrastructure, Server 2012 provides cluster shared volume (CSV) functionality. However, although virtual machines on CSV can support automatic thin configuration, they do not contain duplicate data removal processing capabilities.

And if users use server 2012 as a private cloud to support storage, this could be a critical factor, especially in the context of virtual desktop infrastructure.

As Microsoft realizes that it is a compromise that makes some system administrators feel uncomfortable, support for unloading data transfer (ODX) functionality is added to the operating system. In this way, if the user wants to use a Third-party file manager to compensate for the functional gap, ODX can use the command File Manager in the way of internal operations to ensure network bandwidth and CPU time and so save a lot of resources.

Internet Small Computer Interface (ISCSI), Fibre Channel support, and multipath input/output (MPIO) have become built-in features of the operating system; in fact, people can now add virtual Fibre Channel adapters to virtual machines.

These projects not only increase the flexibility of server 2012 to manage hosts as virtual machines in the cloud, but also increase their effectiveness-and degree of support-for allowing virtual machines to use additional redundant configurations in the guest environment.

For those who use the automated compact configuration--I suspect this is the vast majority--disk Defragmenter can already support unmapped and be directly compatible with VHDX files for thin configurations.

This is especially important because the only source of virtual disk fragmentation is the automatic streamlining of configurations, and with a little attention, you can take advantage of the server 2012 setting to minimize the problems that may be involved. In addition, a comprehensive, automated, and streamlined configuration can provide support for disks with virtual Ides and virtual SCSI connections.

As for noncritical workloads, you can choose to use the Hyper-V replica tool to provide support. It can mirror a single virtual machine and copy the makefile to another host.

The next time, it will be able to continue to update the block, to ensure that the virtual machine backup copy in 5-15 minutes with the main system changes, even if the replication over the WAN time is no exception. In addition, replicas can support version control features.

In server 2012, the functionality involved in virtualization is becoming more and more, and service rules are beginning to provide support. For example, the Active Directory domain controller has been able to monitor the cloning of a replica rollback to a previous version or a previous domain controller template.

This greatly improves the effectiveness of utility features such as replicas and reduces the need for truly fault tolerant virtual machines for valuable space such as cluster Shared volumes (CSV).

These virtual machine replicas are a great choice and can be saved on a system that does not have a clustered shared volume. This allows us to make the most of the automated compact configuration and data de-duplication, while the core functionality of virtual machine migration using hyper-v3.0 Live migration technology is still ensured.

The correct answer would be: unless the user does have an urgent need for zero-fault tolerance, it should not be possible to let the Microsoft 2012 family of products achieve the cloud functions of infrastructure, such as services, without shared storage.

In addition, Server 2012 can save virtual machines in an SMB 3.0 sharing environment, allowing related costs and the complexity of deployment measures to fall further. This time, reliability will no longer be a problem: SMB 3.0 already contains a number of practical features, including a MPIO recovery capability and high-speed remote direct memory access.

All of this is based on storage space, and Microsoft is the second to enter the realm of storage virtualization. Because it does get some functionality from the hard disk extender technology that the company once loved as a home server, it makes storage more reliable and can support an enterprise-class application environment. It now allows for the abstraction of the specific process of connecting storage to the host and distributing it to applications as well as to applications such as Hyper-V.

Develop your own solutions

Once you have completed the planning for availability and storage requirements, we can start the System Center SP1. As a plug-in to server 2012, it can implement a variety of features, including, for virtual machine bare-metal provisioning hypervisor, adding newly installed systems to the domain, and making the rest of the cloud take the same initial settings.

The Cluster Awareness Update Tool can be combined with the functionality provided by the System Center, ensure that the problems that occur when a host is interrupted-whether it is a scheduled update process or a temporary failure caused by a power problem-can be effectively addressed to minimize the impact of a running virtual machine.

The coordination function of the System Center can not only be used to control the traffic of the virtual machine through the infrastructure, but also to master the specific contents of the system, so as to break the corresponding level and realize the goal of adjusting the function and service according to the requirements.

In the Microsoft 2012 series, there are many--quite a few--features worthy of user in-depth research. After all, all of this will depend on what people actually need. If users prefer a PowerShell environment, they can use Microsoft's free Hyper-V server to build a private cloud. If you use the most popular car analogy, this system is equivalent to from the part of the state to build their own fleet.

Server 2012 built-in remote server Administration tools can help if users want to use basic virtualization management tools. And it looks like the use of a factory-assembled vehicle to build a fleet.

If the previous two practices were similar to maintaining all vehicles in a fleet, System Center 2012 would be equivalent to monitoring and automatic management of every train in the country. In fact, this is the essential difference between a virtual machine management tool plus a managed solution and a truly private (or mixed) cloud.

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