Windows%20Server%20Virtualization

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Windows Server Virtualization

• Infrastructure Planning and Design Series

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What Is IPD?

• Planning and design guidance that aims to clarify
  and streamline the planning and design process
  for Microsoft infrastructure technologies
• IPD
• Defines decision flow
• Describes decisions to be made
• Relates decisions and options for the business
• Frames additional questions for business
  understanding

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Planning for virtualization

• Getting Started

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Why Use Virtualization?

• Here are four virtualization scenarios
• Server Consolidation
• Application Migration
• Increase IT Agility
• Software Development and Training

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Purpose and Overview

• Purpose
• To provide design guidance for Microsoft Virtual
  Server 2005 R2 SP1 or Windows Server 2008
  Hyper-V
• Agenda
• Determine Application Requirements
• Design the Host Infrastructure

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The Role of Server Virtualization in
Infrastructure Optimization
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Decision Flow Diagram
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Tips for the Planning Process

• Use a spreadsheet or database to track
  application and host server requirements
• Involve the entire organization
• Ensure managements commitment to the
  virtualization project
• Gather requirements and business input
• Validate all assumptions with business and
  technical experts

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Decision Tree Part 1 Determine Application
Requirements
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Determine Virtualization Scope

• Which part of the infrastructure will be
  virtualized?
• Option 1 Enterprise
• Option 2 Hub
• Option 3 Satellite
• Business Validation
• Define virtualization goals/benefits
• Define the scope and timeline for implementation

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Create the List of Applications

• Task 1 Determine Application Compatibility
• Processor architecture requirements
• Number of required processors
• Memory requirements
• Graphics adapter requirements
• Special hardware requirements
• Task 2 Verify Business Requirements
• Task 3 Document Decisions

Application name Application version Is the application supported? Will application be virtualized? Application owner Approved by business
Outlook Web Access 2007 Yes Yes Server Admin Yes
Microsoft System Center Essentials 2007 Yes Yes IT Service Desk Yes
Application 3
Application 4

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Determine Resource Requirements

• Sources of performance data
• Real-world/Historical performance data
• Specifications and requirements
• Benchmark/Load-testing results
• Tasks

Object Counters or Criteria
CPU Processor Time
Memory Committed Bytes
Disk Space and Performance
Network Bytes/sec, bandwidth
Backup Backup required?
Availability Determine method
Coexistence and Isolation Workload segregation
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Select the Backup Approach

• Application Backup Options
• Option 1 Per Application
• Option 2 By Guest
• Option 3 By Host
• Considerations
• Performance
• Downtime/availability
• Storage capacity and limitations
• Ease of recoverability
• Complexity of implementation

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Select a High-Availability Approach

• Application Availability Options
• Option 1 Network Load Balancing
• Web servers (stateless)
• Option 2 Application-Specific Clustering
• Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS)-aware
  applications
• Option 3 Host Clustering
• Last resort option (host in an MSCS cluster)
• Characteristics
• Availability, manageability, interoperability

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Summarize Application Requirements

• Purpose Determine complete requirements for the
  host infrastructure
• Tasks
• Task 1 Summarize Guest Hardware Resource
  Requirements
• CPU, memory, disk (performance and storage
  capacity), and network
• Task 2 Group Applications
• Backup, co-existence, physical isolation,
  high-availability requirements

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Decision Tree Part 2 Design the Host
Infrastructure
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Select a Form Factor for the Hosts

• Begin designing the host infrastructure
• Options
• Option 1 Leverage existing hardware
• Option 2 Purchase new hardware
• Characteristics
• Cost
• Performance
• Availability/Reliability
• Manageability

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Determine Host Server Placement

• Determine where servers should be placed based
  on
• Costs
• Manageability
• Security
• Performance
• Availability
• Options
• Option 1 Data Centers (Centralized)
• Option 2 Branch or Satellite Offices

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Map Guests to Hosts

• Goal Determine the optimal allocation of
  workloads based on application requirements
• Tasks
• Task 1 Determine Target Host Resource
  Utilization Goals
• Task 2 Draw a Host/Guest Plan
• Task 3 Re-evaluate Infrastructure Capacity
• Process will likely be iterative and can require
  trade-offs

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Determine the Host Backup Approach

• Option 1 Guest-Level Backups
• Treat virtual machines (VMs) as physical machines
  (use of backup agents)
• Pros Reduces storage requirements more control
  over backups
• Cons Requires guest operating system support
  recovery can be complex and time-consuming
• Option 2 Host-Level Backups
• Back up entire VMs from the host file system
• Pros Rapid recovery from failures consistent
  backup method
• Cons Can require third-party hardware and
  software requires large amounts of storage
  capacity

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Design High Availability

• Decisions will be based on application
  requirements

Option 1 Host Clustering Option 2 Other Clustering Options
Protects against VM and hardware failures Network clustering
Requires shared storage Guest clustering
Requires additional reserved capacity for failovers Application-specific clustering
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Design the Storage Infrastructure

• Tasks
• Task 1 Design for Parallelism
• Task 2 Evaluate Direct-attached Storage
• Task 3 Evaluate Network-based Storage
• Network-attached Storage
• Storage Area Networks (SAN)
• iSCSI
• Task 4 Evaluate Virtual Hard Disk Types
• Fixed-size versus dynamically expanding VHDs
• Undo disks and differencing disks

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Design the Network Infrastructure

• Translate guest requirements to host

Task Strategy
Determine VM Network Requirements No connectivity VM-only networks Guest-Host connections Physical network access
Host Bandwidth Requirements Summarize VM bandwidth requirements Public/Private/Internet network access
Plan for Reliability Availability Network adapter teaming Switch and NIC redundancy Load balancing and automatic failover
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Validate the Overall Approach

• Goals
• Verify that all decisions are aligned with
  business requirements
• Validate changes to initial requirements
• Tasks
• Task 1 Validate Application Requirements
• Task 2 Validate Host Infrastructure Design
  Decisions

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Whats Next?

• Implement your design
• Quantify return on investment
• Repeat as appropriate for
• Enterprise
• Hub
• Satellite
• Provide feedback on the documentation to
  satfdbk_at_microsoft.com

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Summary and Conclusion

• Organizations should base the design of their
  Virtual Server infrastructure on business and
  technical requirements
• Considerations should include
• The scope of virtualization
• Technical requirements and considerations
• Additional business requirements
• Designing a host infrastructure to meet those
  requirements
• Validating the overall approach

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Find More Information

• The Microsoft Solution Accelerators Web site
• microsoft.com/technet/SolutionAccelerators
• Contact the IPD team
• satfdbk_at_microsoft.com
• Download the full document
• http//go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId100915
• Online resources
• The Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Home Page
  provides a central location for information about
  the Virtual Server platform.
• The Virtual Machine Technology FAQ provides
  answers to commonly asked questions about Virtual
  Server functionality, licensing, and deployment
  options.
• The Microsoft TechNet Server Virtualization Forum
  provides a location in which architects,
  implementers, and end users can discuss issues
  related to designing and deploying Microsoft
  Virtual Server.
• The Technical White Paper, Improving IT
  Efficiency at Microsoft Using Virtual Server
  2005, provides details on how Microsoft has
  implemented a Virtual Server infrastructure. An
  associated Webcast is also available.
• Microsoft TechNet Radio How Microsoft Does IT
  The Future of Server Virtualization.