Module 15: Server Virtualization Overview

Module 15: Server Virtualization Overview

• Overview of Server Virtualization

• Overview of Windows Server Virtualization

• Creating a Virtual Environment

Lesson 1: Overview of Server Virtualization

• What Is Server Virtualization?

• Hypervisor Architecture

• Hypervisor Types

• Benefits of Server Virtualization

• Server Virtualization Scenarios

What Is Server Virtualization?

A hypervisor:

•May run on bare metal or within a host operating system

•Can present emulated hardware to guest operating systems

•Isolates operating system instances

Server virtualization enables multiple instances of an operating system to run on a single computer Server virtualization enables multiple instances of an operating system to run on a single computer

Host OS

VMM

Guest 1

Guest 2

VMM

Guest 1

Guest 2

Host OS VMM

Guest 1

Guest 2

Type-2 VMM Type-1 VMMHybrid VMM

Examples: JVMCLR

Examples: Virtual PC and Virtual Server 2005 R2

Examples: Windows Server Virtualization

Hardware Hardware Hardware

Hypervisor ArchitectureHypervisor Architecture

Monolithic hypervisor:

• Simpler than a modern kernel, but still complex

• Contains its own drivers model

Microkernelized hypervisor:

• Simple partitioning functionality

• Increase reliability

• No third-party code

• Drivers run within guests

Hypervisor

VM 1(Admin)

VM 2 VM 3

Hardware Hardware

Hypervisor

VM 2(Child)

VM 3(Child)

Virtual-ization Stack

VM 1(Parent)

DriversDriversDriversDriversDriversDrivers DriversDriversDrivers DriversDriversDrivers

Hypervisor Types

Benefits of Server Virtualization

Simplified support of older operating systems

Reduced hardware costs through more efficient use of hardware

Benefits of server virtualization:

Reduced management costs through less hardware

Simplified maintenance and failure recovery

Server Virtualization Scenarios

The server virtualization scenarios are:

• Server consolidation

• Testing and development

• Re-host legacy applications

• Failure recovery

Lesson 2: Overview of Windows Server Virtualization

• What Is Virtual Server?

• What Is Windows Server Virtualization?

• Windows Server Virtualization Requirements

• Windows Server Virtualization Features

• Windows Server Virtualization Architecture

What Is Virtual Server?

Virtual Server:

• Is a hypervisor that runs parallel to the Windows operating system (hybrid VMM)

• Works with earlier versions of Windows Server

• Stores disks in .vhd files

• Stores configuration settings in .vmc files

• Hardware devices are emulated

What Is Windows Server Virtualization?

Windows Server Virtualization:

• Is a bare metal hypervisor for 64-bit editions of the Windows Server 2008 operating system

• Supports dynamic resource allocation

• Supports 32-bit and 64-bit guests

• Supports live migration of virtual machines

Hardware

Windows Hypervisor

Parent Partition

WindowsServer 2008

ApplicationsApplications Applications

Child Partition Child Partition

OS 1 OS 2

Windows Server Virtualization Requirements

Software Requirements:

• Windows Server 2008 Standard, Enterprise, or Datacenter

• Windows Server 2008 64-bit editions only

• Windows Server 2008 Enterprise includes licenses for up to 4 virtualized servers

• Windows Server 2008 Datacenter includes licenses for an unlimited number of virtualized servers

Hardware Requirements:

• 64-bit x86 processor

• Hardware assisted virtualization

— AMD-V or Intel VT

• Hardware enabled Data Execution Prevention

— AMD NX (no execute bit)

— Intel XD (execute disable)

Windows Server Virtualization Features

Features of Windows Server Virtualization:

• Large memory support in VMs

• Multiprocessor support in VMs

• Support for network offload technologies

• Virtual machine snapshots

• Scripting interface

• Minimum and maximum thresholds for CPU and network

• Offline Virtual Hard Disk manipulation

• Automatic failover to a recovery site

Windows Server Virtualization Architecture

Parent Partition

Child PartitionsVirtualization Stack

VMService

WMI Provider

VM Worker

Processes

VirtualizationService

Providers(VSPs)

Server Core

Applications

Windows Kernel

Virtualization Service Clients

(VSCs)

IHV Drivers Enlightenments

Windows Hypervisor

“Designed for Windows” Server Hardware

User Mode

Windows Kernel

Provided by:

Windows

ISV

OEM

Windows Virtualization

Kernel Mode

VMBus

Lesson 3: Creating a Virtual Environment

• Hardware Considerations for Virtualization

• Software Considerations for Server Virtualization

• Management Considerations for Server Virtualization

• What Is System Center Virtual Machine Manager?

• What Is Quick Migration?

Hardware Considerations for Virtualization

Physical memory must be enough to support all virtual machines at the same time

Processor capacity must be enough to support all virtual machines at the same time

Hardware considerations:

Disk I/O is intensive for .vhd files and memory contents stored on disk

Multiple VMs share the network capacity of the hardware

Software Considerations for Server Virtualization

The guest operating system must be supported

Windows Server virtualization can run operating systems without modification

Software considerations:

Hypervisor aware operating system can make more efficient use of hardware resources

Management Considerations for Server Virtualization

An MMC snap-in is used for management

Physical hardware problems will affect multiple VMs

Management considerations :

Parent partition failure affects child partitions

Virtual machines can be more difficult to monitor

Monitor with System Center Operations Manager 2007

What Is System Center Virtual Machine Manager?

System Center Virtual Machine Manager enables:

• Centralized deployment and management of VMs

• Placement analysis

• Physical to virtual conversion

• Creation of a library of VM components

• Delegated self-service provisioning

What Is Quick Migration?

Planned migration:

•State is saved to disk then restored on standby server

•Downtime depends on memory and speed of SAN

•Downtime can be only several seconds

Quick Migration enables VMs on a SAN to be migrated to a standby serverQuick Migration enables VMs on a SAN to be migrated to a standby server

Unplanned migration

•State is not saved

•Virtual machine is restarted on standby server

•Downtime will be minutes

Module Review and Takeaways

• Review Questions

• Real-world Issues and Scenarios

• Best Practices

Course Evaluation