Implementing vSphere
David J Young
Implementing vSphere
AgendaVirtualizationvSphereESXivSphere ClientvCenterStorageImplementationBenefitsLessons LearnedDemo?
Implementing vSphere
Virtualization
Implementing vSphere
Hosted vs Native
Implementing vSphere
Hypervisor
Implementing vSphere
vSphere
Implementing vSphere
Evolution of vSphere
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vSphere Essentials for SMB
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vSphere for Enterprises
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vSphere Architecture
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ESXi Host
Hypervisor running VMsOrganized into ClustersAccesses shared storage datastores
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ESXi Console
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ESXi Licensing
ESXi -> VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi / VMware vSphere Hypervisor is freeMust be registered to remove nagmsgCan be seamlessly upgraded to take advantage of advanced vSphere features
Implementing vSphere
3rd Generation Hypervisor
Implementing vSphere
vCenter Server
Centralized manager of ESX/ESXi hosts Runs as Windows services on physical or virtual server Connects with:
vCenter database (SQL Server or Oracle) Windows Active Directory (required for Linked Mode)
Integrates with optional server/client plug-ins
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vCenter Licensing
Implementing vSphere
vSphere ClientPrimary interface for administration Runs locally on a Windows machine Connects to vCenter Server or directly to an ESX/ESXi host
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vSphere Client
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vSphere Client Home Menu
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Inventory: Hosts & Clusters
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Inventory: VMs & Templates
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Inventory: Datastores
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Inventory: Networking
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vSphere Web Client
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Virtual motherboard of a VM
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vSphere FeaturesHot Add Virtual Devices
Hot add CPU Memory
Hot add or remove Storage devices Network devices
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Virtual hard disk options
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VM Snapshot
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vSphere Templates
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VM Cloning
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Virtual Networking
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Network Terminology
vmnic: physical NIC in host computervswitch: virtual switchvnic: virtual NIC in the virtual machinevmhba: virtual host bus adaptor for SANvirtual machine port group: a unique concept in a virtual environment. Roughly a port on a virtual switch, but multiple vnics can connect to the same port groupvmknic: virtual NIC in the VMkernel. Used by vMotion, NFS & iSCSI
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vSwitch: Virtual Switch
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Distributed Switch
Aggregated datacenter-level virtual networking (vs. per-host) Simplified management Network statistics follow VMs
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vDS: Virtual Distributed Switch
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Centralized Network Management
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Datastores
VMFSNFSDAS
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VMFS Datastore
Shared VM file system Block-level access by ESX/ESXi Supported devices
Local disk (not shared storage) Fibre Channel SAN iSCSI SAN
HBA ESX/ESXi software initiator via VMkernel network port Formats
.vmdk RDM (raw device mapping) to underlying LUN
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NFS Datastore
Shared directory on NFS server File-level access by ESX/ESXi Limitations
No RDM
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vMotion
Common StorageNetworking
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vMotion
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vMotion
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Storage vMotion
Relocate running VM from one datastore to another datastore with zero downtime Relocate across different storage types Change VM disk format (thick or thin)
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Implementation
3 Dell R610 Servers2 x Quad Core 2.4GHz Xenon CPUs16GB RAM4 Gigabit NICs2 x 160GB SAS Drives
1 Force10 S50V 48 port POE GigE layer 2/3 switch1 NetApp FAS2040
Dual active-active controllers16 x 600GB SAS drives (4.8TB)16 x 1TB SATA drives (8TB)CIFS/NFS/iSCSI (HTTP/FTP/SSH)
vSphere Essentials Plus
Implementing vSphere
VMS2
Implementation
VMS1 VMS2
Force 10 GigEStorage Network
POS2000
TimeForceFlexLM PDC
BarTenderNDS AdminDNC
SAV
GigE LAN
VMS2FlexLM PDC
BarTenderNDS Admin
SATASAS FAS1 FAS2
NIC Team
Multi-Path
NetApp 2040
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Virtual Machines
12 Production VMs5 Admin VMs5 Retired VMs3 Development VMs3 Test VMs1 Misc VMs
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BenefitsSnapshots:
Contingency plan for software upgradesEasy to create development machines
Lower Expenses:OpEx – Less power and cooling costsCapEx – Fewer physical servers required
Deployment – Easier/Faster to deploy machinesEasy to support Legacy Hardware/Apps
Huge Performance BoostUpgrade resources (memory, disk, CPU)
Quality vs Quantity
Implementing vSphere
Lessons Learned
Terminology can be a problemLink Agregation
NetApp: trunkingForce10: port-channelCisco: EtherChannelvSphere: NIC teaming
NICNetApp: vif (virtual interface)vSphere: vnic, vmnic, vmknic, vmhba
Can’t do everything in GUI
Bind HBAs to vmnicsChange MTU for Jumbo frames
Link Aggregation doesn’t work like you thinkDidn’t understand how vLANs really workBlock alignment is very important
Implementing vSphere
File System MisalignmentRead Block 0
Reads 2 VMFS blocksEach VMFS block needs to read 2 LUN blocks
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File System Alignment
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OS Misalignments
All versions of windows misalign filesystem, except:
Vista/Win7Windows 2008 Server +
All versions of RHEL, except:
RHEL 6 +
Best Practices for File System Alignment in Virtual Environments NetApp TR-3747 January 2011
Implementing vSphere
Technology Learned
FTOSLink AggregationMulti-pathingiSCSIvLANsLACPvSphere