Vizioncore Optimizing the Performance of the

Virtual Infrastructure

Scott Herold, Lead ArchitectApril 21, 2023

Vizioncore Strategy

Performance Monitoring for Virtual and Physical Infrastructures

Fundamental ChallengeUnderstanding the impact of resource sharing

CPUMulti-Core Processors

NetworkShared Connectivity

Load Balancing

Redundancy

MemorySharing

Over-commitment

Disk

Shared storage

Fiber, iSCSI, NAS

Core 4 Resources

Clarity

Tracking Prevention

Containment Expertise

Key Challenges

• Existing tools show data in many tabs

• Alarming is simplistic and doesn’t show trends

• Management frameworks require multiple management servers– Administering servers independently

– Missing “single pane of glass” virtualization data views

– Struggling to compare metrics, virtual infrastructure layers

Clarity To see what you need to quickly and easily

• No context around virtualization metrics

• Expert advice not given• Virtual machine metrics inaccurate

– Hypervisor has dynamic resource scheduling

– Live migrations to alternate hardware

– Timekeeping issues inside virtual machines

Expertise To manage new and different technology

• Host issues could impact virtual machines

• Host issues alarm when issue detected

• Each VM on host raises its own alarm

• One single issue can escalate to many– Complicates root-cause

analysis and resolution

– Makes problem appear more significant that it is

ContainmentOf alarm storms and information overload

• VMs moving across hosts due to Live Migration and High Availability technologies

• Could move to more/less powerful systems– May impact overall VM

performance

• Migrations impact resource prioritization

• Need to track migrations to assist with root cause analysis

• Required to meet government regulations

TrackingTo know what happened and why

• Impact analysis prior to migration– For all “Core 4 Resources”

– Understand growth trends

• Ensure service levels are maintained

• Understand “Best Practice” configurations and patterns

• Starting to move toward the fluid datacenter– Predictive

– Automated

PreventionOf future problems

SummaryChallenges of Monitoring a Virtual Infrastructure

Clarity

Tracking Prevention

Containment Expertise

vFoglight Overview

Best-in-class virtualization monitoring to:• Manage the relationships and

interactions between all the components in the virtual infrastructure:

• Detect, diagnose and resolve incidents and problems

• Ensure performance and availability• Perform capacity planning

vFoglight Overview

vFoglight delivers Clarity• Visualize detailed architectural views• Understand relationships and interactions

between infrastructure components• Quickly identify problems with color and

movements to direct attention

vFoglight Overview

vFoglight delivers Expertise• Leverage detailed alarms with

recognized industry expertise– Best Practices– Future Predictions– Deviations from Normal Activity– Specific Operational Problems

• Accurately diagnose the root-cause of incidents and problems

• Speed MTTR for problems

vFoglight Overview

vFoglight offers Containment• Contain alarms from virtual and physical

servers• Turn data into meaningful information• Correlate infrastructure, host and virtual

machine issues

vFoglight Overview

vFoglight provides Tracking• Track movement of virtual machines

and understanding their resource impact

• Correlate the impact on performance and availability on VMs, applications and services

• Understand VM configuration changes from one physical server to another

vFoglight Overview

vFoglight offers Prevention• Summarize performance and utilization

data at all levels of the infrastructure• Identify capacity issues• Visualize underutilized capacity and

predict overutilization for future planning

Optimize Virtualization Management through Automation

Market Background

• Has virtualization technology improved staffing to server/workload ratios?– More than 50% of organizations said, “No”.

• What would have the biggest impact on improving these ratios?– 64% said, “Automating administration activities via

management tools.”

Data Center Conference Survey: Addressing the Operational Challenges of Virtual Server Management

* Source: “Application Management — It's Not Just a Production Problem,” , Gartner

Virtualization MaturityVirtualization doesn’t happen overnight. Organizations pass through several stages as their infrastructures evolve

Types of Automation

Automation

Script-Based Administration Task Automation

Scripts are Executions That Have Raw Logic

Scripts Can Invoke System APIs Scripts are Text-Based Logic Captured in Code Conducive to Individual Authoring Run on the Desktop Scripts are Scalable Across one Desktop

Tasks are Workflows That Link Actions and Scripts

Workflows Can Invoke System APIs Workflows are Visual Logic Captured in Workflows Conducive to Group Authoring Workflows are Catalogued in a Secure Library Workflows Run on Server Workflows Can Be Scheduled Workflows are Scalable Across Many Servers

Vizioncore Automation Approach

Our Automation Products

Virtualization EcoShell vControl (Mid-May 2009)

A desktop application that enablesSCRIPT-BASED ADMINISTRATION

A solution that enables TASK AUTOMATION

Out-of-the-box Library of Scripts Out-of-the-box Library of Actions and Flows

Configuration Reporting Virtual Machine High Availability

Intelligent User Interface Script Editor Self-Service Provisioning

Data Gather, Filter, Remediate Web Services Interface

Scalable Grid Architecture

Online Community: www.theVESI.org Online Community: www.VMAdmin.org

Community Support Vizioncore Support

Free $399 / socket

Individual Buyer Management Buyer

What is Virtualization EcoShell?

Freeware desktop application for administrators• Streamlines the management and automation of multi-platform

environments

• Leverages Windows PowerShell to deliver daily cost-savings opportunities for administrators

• Enables IT processes to become more efficient while reducing errors and lowering costs of administration

• Utilizes the VMware VI Toolkit (for Windows) and the engine of the award winning PowerGUI application from Quest Software.

• Beta release date was April 15, 2009

• Download and install from www.theVESI.org

Virtualization EcoShell – Benefits

Flexible and Robust User Interface• Simultaneously manage multi-platform virtual environments

• Microsoft applications and other Windows PowerShell supported technologies

Streamline Automation• Reduce errors from manual script-based administration processes

• Address repetitive and complex tasks

Valuable Administrative Reports and Maps• Provide pre-defined, customizable

reports and automated maps

• Save to HTML, CSV and Microsoft® Visio

Benefits (continued)

Powerful Script Assistance • Integrated Development Environment (IDE) with IntelliSense for code

completion

• VESI – Online community encouraging users to share and enhance the capabilities of the Virtualization EcoShell at www.theVESI.org

Too Much Time Provisioning VMs

Increasing Administration Costs

More VMs Per Admin

ApplicationApplication

OSOS

ApplicationApplication

OSOSApplicationApplication

OSOSApplicationApplication

OSOS

Problem Space

Many Manual &Repetitive Tasks

Ideal Solution

Self-Service Provisioning

Task Automation

Multi-VM Control

ApplicationApplication

OSOS

ApplicationApplication

OSOSApplicationApplication

OSOS

vControl

Self-Service Provisioning

Task Automation

Multi-VM Control

Solution Overview

ApplicationApplication

OSOS

ApplicationApplication

OSOSApplicationApplication

OSOS

Multi-Hypervisor VM Management

Economic Value Proposition

More VMs Per Admin

Reduced Errors

License and Maintenance

Costs

Uptime

Multi-Hypervisor VM ManagementvControl

Hard Savings Soft Savings

Multi-Hypervisor VM ManagementvControl

Self-Service Provisioning: A system for consumers to build and deploy VMs for themselves.

Key Capabilities:• Web Interface for Consumers• Customizable VM Templates• Workflow to Build and Deploy VMs• VM Approval Process for IT

Self-Service Provisioning

Multi-Hypervisor VM ManagementvControl

Multi-VM Control: An interface for task-based administration of VMs.

Key Capabilities:• Control Multiple VMs Simultaneously

(e.g. Create, start , clone, edit, move, delete….)

• Easy to Trigger Workflows• Support for VMware, Hyper-V, Xen,

and Solaris Zones• Browser-Based for Global Access

Multi-VM Control

Multi-Hypervisor VM ManagementvControl

Task Automation: A workflow system to automate manual and repetitive tasks.

Key Capabilities:• Visual Workflow Editor• Out-Of-The-Box Workflows and

Actions• Combine Actions and Homegrown

Scripts• Web Services Interface and SDK

Task Automation

Multi-Hypervisor VM ManagementvControl

Task-Based HA: Identify failures and restart VMs from a single console.

Key Capabilities:• VM HA Failover• Primary and Secondary Failover• Mixed Infrastructure Failover for

VMware• Rapid VM Recovery

Task-Based HA

Vizioncore Strategy

How It Ties Together

Virtualization EcoShell vControl

Vizioncore Automation Approach

Virtualization EcoShell

vControl “vFutures”

Q&A

Thank You.