Windows Server Virtualization

1
Windows Server Virtualization

• Infrastructure Planning and Design Series

2
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

3
Planning for virtualization

• Getting Started

4
Why Use Virtualization?

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

5
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

6
The Role of Server Virtualization in
Infrastructure Optimization
7
Decision Flow Diagram
8
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

9
Decision Tree Part 1 Determine Application
Requirements
10
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

11
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

12
Determine Resource Requirements

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

13
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

14
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

15
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

16
Decision Tree Part 2 Design the Host
Infrastructure
17
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

18
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

19
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

20
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

21
Design High Availability

• Decisions will be based on application
  requirements

22
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

23
Design the Network Infrastructure

• Translate guest requirements to host

24
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

25
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

26
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

27
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.