Applying Virtualization Across the Datacenter: x86x64 vs' UNIX and Mainframes

1
Applying Virtualization Across the
Datacenterx86/x64 vs. UNIX and Mainframes

• LinuxWorld 2008 Conference Expo
• August 5, 2008

2
Agenda

• IDEAS overview
• Overview of virtualization trends
• Virtualization technology overview
• Business benefits of deploying virtualization
• Server virtualization methods
• Major virtualization platforms
• IBM System z, System p
• HP Integrity
• Sun Microsystems SPARC
• Industry-standard (x86/x64)
• Summary recommendations

3
IDEAS Overview

• IT research firm w/global coverage
• Comparative assessments of datacenter technology
• Systems, software, storage services
• Research disciplines
• Cost of acquisition
• Independent, multi-vendor pricing database in
  multiple currencies
• Produce tools for comparing cost of acquiring
  specific configurations
• Systems performance
• Maintain historical database of industry-standard
  benchmark results
• Produce composite performance metrics
• Technology analysis
• In-depth qualitative comparisons
• Maintain detailed feature/function scorecards
• Perform user studies on technology adoption

4
Virtualization Technology Overview

• Virtualization introduces abstraction layer
  separating processing from physical resources
• Many forms of virtualization possible
• Servers
• Storage
• Network
• Desktops
• Applications
• Related technology trends
• Blade servers
• Multi-core / multi-threading processors
• Grid computing (cloud computing)
• Application translation

5
Business Benefits of Deploying Virtualization

• Consolidation
• Improved resource utilization
• Reduced hardware footprint
• Lower power and cooling requirements
• Improved test and development processes
• Improved responsiveness agility
• Simplified resource provisioning
• Simplified High Availability (HA) / Disaster
  Recovery (DR)
• Legacy application support

6
Server Virtualization Methods
7
Non-x86 Virtualization Platforms

• IBM Mainframes (System z)
• z/OS, Linux
• IBM System p
• UNIX (AIX), Linux
• HP Integrity
• UNIX (HP-UX), Linux, Windows
• Sun SPARC
• UNIX (Solaris)

8
IBM System z Servers (Mainframes)Virtualization
Architecture
Linux
Linux
Linux
Linux
z/OS
z/OS
z/OS
z/VM
z/VM
I/O Network
Memory
Memory
Memory
Memory
IFL Processors
Processors
LPAR
LPAR
LPAR
LPAR
Intelligent Resource Director (IRD)
Processor Resource / System Manager (PR/SM)
9
IBM System p ServersLogical Partitions (LPARs)
UNIX (AIX)
UNIX (AIX)
Linux
Logical Processor
Logical Processor
Logical Processor
Logical Processor
Logical Processor
Logical Processor
Logical Processor
Logical Processor
Virtual Processor
Virtual Processor
Virtual Processor
Virtual Processor
LPAR
LPAR
LPAR
POWER Hypervisor
POWER Processor
POWER Processor
POWER Processor
POWER Processor
Physical Processors
SMT Core
SMT Core
SMT Core
SMT Core
SMT Core
SMT Core
SMT Core
SMT Core
10
IBM System p ServersLive Partition Mobility
11
IBM System p ServersWorkload Partitions (WPARs)
AIX OS Image
Virtual Server
Workload Partition 1
Workload Partition 2
Workload Partition 3
Virtual Server
12
IBM System p ServersLive Application Mobility
AIX OS Image
AIX OS Image
2
1
Workload Partition 1
Workload Partition 2
Workload Partition 4
Workload Partition 3
Workload Partition 5
13
IBM System p ServersLive Application Mobility
AIX OS Image
AIX OS Image
2
1
Workload Partition 1
Workload Partition 2
Workload Partition 4
Workload Partition 3
Workload Partition 5
14
IBM System p ServersLive Application Mobility
AIX OS Image
AIX OS Image
2
1
Workload Partition 1
Workload Partition 2
Workload Partition 4
Workload Partition 3
Workload Partition 5
15
IBM System p ServersLive Application Mobility
AIX OS Image
AIX OS Image
2
1
Workload Partition 1
Workload Partition 2
Workload Partition 4
Workload Partition 3
Workload Partition 5
16
HP Integrity Servers - nPars
Windows
Linux
HP-UX
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
I/O
Memory
I/O
Memory
I/O
Memory
I/O
Memory
nPar
nPar
nPar
17
HP Integrity Servers - nPars
HP-UX
Linux
Windows
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Montecito Processor
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
I/O
Memory
I/O
Memory
I/O
Memory
I/O
Memory
nPar
nPar
nPar
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HP Integrity ServersSoft Partitions / VMs

• Virtual Partitions (vPars)
• Soft Partitions for HP-UX workloads
• Each vPar has subset of CPUs, memory I/O
• Granularity of one or more cores per vPar
• Minimum performance overhead
• Dynamically reconfigurable
• Integrity Virtual Machines
• VM platform hosted on HP-UX
• Can host HP-UX, Linux or Windows operating
  systems
• Shared I/O
• Granularity up to 20 VMs per core
• Greater performance overhead than nPars vPars

19
HP Virtual Server Environment (VSE)

• Tight integration of key system components
• Virtualization functions (nPars, vPars, Integrity
  Virtual Machines)
• Workload management tools (gWLM)
• Serviceguard HA/DR tools
• Utility pricing
• Helps maintain service levels and increase
  business agility
• Admins control which apps are the most important
• Designate how much of available resources apps
  get
• Can automatically / dynamically readjust resource
  allocations in response to changes in workload
  demand or failure conditions
• Goal-based WLM policies

20
Sun Dynamic Domains
Solaris
Solaris
Solaris
Solaris
Solaris
Solaris
Solaris
SPARC Processor
SPARC Processor
SPARC Processor
SPARC Processor
SPARC Processor
SPARC Processor
SPARC Processor
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Core
Memory
Memory
Memory
I/O
I/O
I/O
I/O
I/O
I/O
I/O
Domain
Domain
Domain
21
Sun Dynamic Domains
22
Sun SPARC ServersUltraSPARC T2 CoolThreads
Memory
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
Core
Core
Core
Core
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
Core
Core
Core
Core
UltraSPARC T2 Processor (Niagara)
Hypervisor
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Sun CoolThreads Logical Domains (LDOMs)
Memory
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
Core
Core
Core
Core
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
T
Core
Core
Core
Core
UltraSPARC T2 Processor (Niagara)
Hypervisor
LDOM 2
LDOM 4
LDOM 0
LDOM 1
LDOM 3
LDOM 5
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x86 Server Virtualization Options

• Virtual Machine Platforms
• VMware
• Xen implementations
• Citrix/XenSource
• Virtual Iron
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
• Sun xVM
• Oracle
• Microsoft Hyper-V (July)
• Linux Kernel Virtual Machine (KVM)

• Virtual Server Solutions
• Parallels (Swsoft Virtuozzo)
• Solaris Containers
• Hardware-assisted Partitions
• Unisys ES7000
• IBM X Architecture
• Hitachi Virtage

25
Integrating Virtualization Into Standard
Operating Systems
Xen Hyper-V Device Driver Model
VMware ESX Device Driver Model
26
Summary

• Virtualization adoption patterns different for
  x86 vs. other platforms (UNIX, mainframes etc.)
• x86 virtualization driven primarily by
  large-scale consolidation
• UNIX virtualization driven by workload management
  utilization
• I/O virtualization more robust mature on
  non-x86 platforms
• X86 HW providers face key decisions on device
  driver support

27
Positioning Server Virtualization Options
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Recommendations

• Classify suitability of workloads for
  virtualization
• Measure performance characteristics over time
• Understand dependency on different resources
  (CPU, memory, I/O)
• Choose appropriate virtualization platform
• Match workloads with maturity of x86 vs. other
  platforms (UNIX, mainframes)
• Evaluate different x86 virtualization approaches
  products
• Adapt management procedures tools for
  virtualization
• Provisioning tools
• Create master images, stronger automation true
  zero-touch provisioning
• Lifecycle-based provisioning tools
• Increased visibility of state activity of
  virtual resources
• Better oversight over virtual machine activity
• Map relationships between physical and virtual
  resources
• Focus on deployment of virtual infrastructure
  (long term)

29
Which Virtual Machine Platform Is Best For Your
Needs?
Invitation to beta-test IDEAS Collaborative
Product Evaluation on X86 Virtual Machine
platforms
http//ideasint.eval.com

• Compare quality of products at multiple levels of
  functionality
• Contribute ratings for specific product functions
• Customize evaluations based on your functional
  preferences