Vmware Building Virtualized Enterprise

8/6/2019 Vmware Building Virtualized Enterprise

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Building the Virtualized Enterprise withVMware Infrastructure

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ex cutiv Summ yIT organizations are still grappling with the legacy of the IT explosion of the 1990s, which left many of them with highcosts, slow response times, and an inconsistently managedinfrastructure. Today, IT organizations that want to give theirenterprise a sustainable competitive advantage need to:

Reduce infrastructure costs through more efficient use of resources.

Respond faster to business needs so projects get deployed

more rapidly. Increase the consistency and predictability of operations.

This paper will clarify how adopting VMware infrastructure thecombination of server, storage and networking virtualizationtechnologies as a fundamental IT strategy helps organiza-tions to achieve these goals.

VMware Infrastructure allows IT teams to continuously con-solidate workloads to maximize server utilization and decreaseoperational costs. It allows system administrators to managea higher number of servers, and it delivers more flexibility andresponsiveness in provisioning new software services andmaintaining existing ones. Most importantly, it standardizes and

simplifies the management of diverse x86-based environmentsacross Microsoft Windows, Linux, Sun Solaris x86 and NovellNetWare operating systems.

Th IT Ch ll ng Tod y Today, IT infrastructure organizations are working diligently tosolve the problems created by the explosion in the scope andcomplexity of IT platforms adopted in the 1990s. The migrationof application architectures to thin-client multi-tier architec-tures, the introduction of multiple generations of Windowsservers and the rapid growth of Linux have swept across IT organizations in successive waves over the last ten years. These

waves caused explosive growth in server counts, network com-plexity and storage volumes throughout geographically distrib-uted IT organizations. The policies and procedures adopted togain back control of the infrastructure have often introducedtheir own challenges. Some of the resulting symptomsreported by IT organizations include:

Large numbers of under utilized one-application per boxx86-based servers

Pervasive over-provisioning caused by policies that size allservers for worst-case workload scenarios

Building th Vi tu liz d ent p is ith

VM Inf st uctu Long delays between change request submissions and opera-

tional changes

Long provisioning cycle times for new servers, storage andnetworking

Narrow scheduled downtime windows are over-subscribedwith maintenance activities

Inconsistent, non-reproducible server builds due to a lack of build policies, or an inability to enforce them

Rushed patch roll-outs that break application functionality

or performance because the patch-testing systems do notmatch production systems

Multiple infrastructure management systems for distributedLinux, Windows and NetWare servers

Incomplete information for equipment counts, status andownership

This list of challenges is daunting, but IT has started to regainthe upper hand in the battle against costly, inflexible anddisorderly infrastructure. As a first step, IT organizations havegenerally centralized their IT infrastructure into fewer locationsfor better visibility. As a second step, they are adopting a newgeneration of infrastructure technologies and methodologies. The common vision of IT organizations today is to providetheir business units with lower cost, higher service-level infra-structure that enables them to respond faster to business unitdemands.

For example, most enterprises have already migrated to storagearea networking for a flexible, lower cost, higher service levelstorage infrastructure. Currently, thousands of enterprisesare adopting server virtualization technologies that providethe same benefits for the rest of the IT infrastructure. Thissynergistic combination of storage, networking and comput-ing virtualization has created a new category of infrastructuresoftware called virtual infrastructure. VMware provides the only

production-ready server virtualization suite available today,VMware Infrastructure.


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Int oducing VM Inf st uctuVMware Infrastructure is the most widely deployed software

for optimizing and managing IT environments throughvirtualization from the desktop to the data center. VMwarefirst introduced virtualization technology to the x86 computingplatform in 1999, and since then has saved its 0,000 custom-ers billions of dollars in capital and operating costs. VMwareInfrastructure abstracts the operating system from the hardwareits running on, providing standardized virtual hardware foroperating systems and their applications that enables thevirtual machines to run simultaneously and independently onone or more shared processors. With virtualization, customerscan easily consolidate many disparate server workloads ontomore reliable and higher performance hardware.

machines can be dynamically and automatically allocatedto the most appropriate host in the resource pool to guar-antee service levels to software applications. By aggregatinghardware resources into resource pools, IT environments canbe optimized to dynamically support changing business needswhile ensuring flexibility and efficient utilization of hardwareresources.

VMware Infrastructure provides a set of capabilities that makethe entire IT environment more serviceable, available andefficient than physical hardware alone. Traditionally, companieshave had to assemble a patchwork of various operating systemor software application specific solutions for high availability,resource optimization and security. Because the virtualizationlayer is the first software installed on the bare metal, VMwareInfrastructure can provide these capabilities consistently for all

virtual machines. Standardizing the entire IT environment onthe consistent virtualization-based distributed services is likecreating an assembly line for IT that builds reliability, predict-ability and efficiency.

VMware Infrastructure

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VMware Infrastructure transforms a mix of industry standardx86 servers and their existing processors, memory, disk and net-working into a pool of logical computing resources. Operatingsystems and their applications are isolated into secure andportable virtual machines. System resources are then dynami-cally allocated to each virtual machine based on need andprioritization, providing mainframe-class capacity utilizationand control of server resources. Virtual machines can run onany physical server in a resource pool and be shifted betweenthose servers seamlessly with zero downtime. As a result, virtual


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In order to better understand how VMware Infrastructure works,lets examine the definition and capabilities of vir tual machines.A virtual machine is like a physical server, only instead of beinga box of electronics, it is a set of software files. Each virtualmachine represents a complete system with processors,memory, networking, storage and BIOS so that operatingsystems and software applications run in vir tual machines, justlike in a physical server, without any modification. The figure tothe right shows the standard virtual components presented toevery virtual machine, regardless of variations in the hardwarepresent in the physical server.

Based on their inherent partitioning, isolation and encapsula-tion, virtual machines offer many advantages over physicalservers. Virtual machines:

Run on industry standard x86 physical servers

Have full access to all physical server resources such as CPU,memory, disk, networking, and peripherals, allowing them torun any software application in a virtual machine

Are completely isolated, providing secure processing, net-working and data storage

Can run concurrently with other virtual machines for optimalhardware utilization

Are encapsulated in software files so that they can be provi-sioned, backed up or restored with the ease of a file copy

Are portable, so full systems including virtual hardware,operating systems and fully configured applications can be

easily moved from one physical server to another, even whilerunning

Can incorporate distributed resource management and highavailability capabilities that provide better service levels tosoftware applications than static physical infrastructure

Can be built and distributed as plug-and-play virtual appli -ances that contain the entire stack of vir tual hardware, oper-ating system, and fully configured software applications forrapid deployment

Without Vir tualization With Virtualization

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e c v u l m c n c n us u o 16GB raM nd 4 CpUs VM V u l SMp tM


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VMware Virtual SMP provides Multi-processor vir-tual machines for demanding workloadsVMware Virtual SMP enhances virtual machine performanceby enabling a single virtual machine to use multiple physicalprocessors, or CPUs, in a host server simultaneously. VirtualSMP co-schedules non-idle vir tual processors synchronouslywhile allowing over-commitment of the processors. Idle virtualprocessors can be de-scheduled with the guest operatingsystem running inside the virtual machine and then re-usedfor other tasks. Virtual SMP periodically moves processing tasksbetween the available processors to re-balance the workload.A unique VMware feature, Virtual SMP enables virtualization of the most processor-intensive enterprise applications such asdatabases, ERP and CRM.

VMware VMFS enables innovative distributed ser-vicesVirtual machines are completely encapsulated in virtual disk files that can be either stored locally on the ESX Server orcentrally using shared SAN, NAS or iSCSI storage. The latterconfiguration is more typical in enterprise environments wherevirtual machines are centrally accessible to other ESX Serverinstallations using shared SAN, NAS or iSCSI storage and theVirtual Machine File System (VMFS). This configuration is muchmore powerful as it a llows a resource pool of multiple instal-lations of ESX Server to concurrently access the same files toboot and run virtual machines, effectively virtualizing the virtualmachine storage.

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While conventional file systems allow only one server to haveread-write access to the file system at a given time, VMwareVMFS is a high-performance cluster file system that allowsmultiple installations of ESX Server read-write access to thesame virtual machine storage concurrently. VMFS provideson-disk locking to ensure that multiple servers do not powera virtual machine at the same time. Should a server fail, theon-disk lock for each virtual machine is released so that virtualmachines can be restarted on other physical servers.

The cluster file system enables innovative and uniquevirtualization-based distributed services. These services includelive migration of running virtual machines from one physicalserver to another, automatic restart of failed virtual machines ona different physical server, and the clustering of virtual machinesacross different physical servers. As all virtual machines seetheir storage as local attached SCSI disks, no changes areneeded to virtual machine storage configurations if they aremigrated to another physical server.


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VMware VirtualCenter manages all VMwareInfrastructureA VirtualCenter Management Server can centrally managehundreds of ESX Server hosts and thousands of virtualmachines, delivering operational automation, resource optimi-zation and high availability to IT environments. VirtualCenterprovides a single Windows management client for all taskscalled the Virtual Infrastructure client. Virtual machines can beprovisioned, configured, started, stopped, deleted, relocatedand remotely accessed with keyboard and mouse control. TheVirtual Infrastructure client is also available in a Web browserimplementation for access from any networked device. Thebrowser version of the client makes providing a user withaccess to a virtual machine as easy as sending a bookmark URL.

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VirtualCenter delivers the highest levels of simplicity, efficiency,security and reliability required to manage a virtualized IT envi-ronment of any size, with key features including:

Centralized management capabilities allow administrators

to organize, monitor, and configure the entire environmentthrough a single interface resulting in lower operating costs.VirtualCenter provides several organizational hierarchicalviews as well as a topology view to clarify host and virtualmachine relationships.

Performance monitoring capabilities, including utilizationgraphs of CPU, memory, disk I/O, and network I/O providethe detail needed to analyze host server and virtual machineperformance.

V u lC n ov d s c n l z d v of m ny eSX S v o

nd v u l m c n s.


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Operational automation through task scheduling and alertingimproves responsiveness to business needs and prioritizesactions needing the most urgent attention.

Rapid provisioning with a deployment wizard and virtualmachine templates reduce the time and effort for creatingand deploying virtual machines to a few mouse clicks.

Secure access control, robust permissions mechanisms,and integration with Microsoft Active Directory guaranteeauthorized access to the VMware Infrastructure and itsvirtual machines. Access to virtual machines can be securelyrestricted with customizable roles and permissions delegatedto authorized administrators and end users, enabling fullcompliance with even the most detailed data center accesscontrol policies. Additionally, VirtualCenter includes full audittracking to preserve a detailed record of every significantchange made or operation performed in the data center tosupport new government regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley.

Programmatic interfaces through the VMware InfrastructureSDK provide Web Services APIs to access the functionalityand data provided through the graphical user interfaces, andenable integration with third party systems managementproducts as well as custom extension of core functionality.

VMware VirtualCenter enables the organization of all ESX Serverhosts and their virtual machines into clusters and resourcepools to greatly simplify resource management. Clusters area new concept in virtual infrastructure management thatcombines the power of multiple host servers with the simplic-

ity of managing a single entity. Clusters reduce managementcomplexity by aggregating standalone hosts into a singlecluster with pooled resources and inherent high availability.Virtual machines can now be provisioned to a cluster ratherthan on single ESX Server host, making all the resources of the cluster available to the vir tual machines. VirtualCenter canselect the best host for virtual machines and move the virtualmachines within the cluster if conditions change.

VMware clusters have inherent high availability because virtualmachines now run on the cluster rather than on a standaloneESX Server host. If a VMware host fails, the virtual machines onit can be restarted on other hosts in the cluster. As hosts areadded to or removed from clusters, the resources available tothe virtual machines on the cluster are dynamically expandedor contracted.

Resource pools further simplify management and increase theflexibility of virtual infrastructure by providing a way to subdi-vide the resources of a stand-alone host or a cluster into smallerpools. A resource pool is a container for virtual machines thatis configured with a set of CPU and memory resources that areshared by the virtual machines that run in the resource pool. Atypical use of resource pools is to delegate control over a pre-cisely specified set of resources to a group or individual without

giving them access to the underlying physical environment.

CPU = AMem = X

CPU = BMem = Y

CPU = CMem = Z

Pooled Resources

CPU = A+B+CMem = X +Y+Z

High Availability Transparent

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Resource pools are an ideal solution for giving users authority tocreate and manage their own virtual machines while constrain-ing their resource usage. For example, a development teamthat needs to manage virtual machines could be provided witha resource pool like the one shown here that allocates a total of 1 GHz of CPU capacity and 1 GB of memory. The developmentteam could then create and control its own virtual machines,but no matter how many virtual machines were started, itsresource consumption could never exceed the size of the pool.Resource pools can be further nested, so the large 1 GHz devel-opment resource pool could be further allocated into smallerresource pools for individual developers. In this way, resourcepools simplify virtual infrastructure management by eliminatingthe need to provision virtual machines with individually pre-configured resource allocations. To maximize the utilization of shared virtual infrastructure, resource pools can be configuredto allow them to burst out during periods of high activity touse any available floating capacity or even idle resources inadjacent pools on the cluster.


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Resource pool allocations can also be changed dynamicallywhich makes them a great container for enterprise applicationsthat experience fluctuating workloads. For example, a multi-tier SAP installation could be configured as several networkedvirtual machines in a single resource pool. In anticipation of aperiod of increased SAP activity, the system administrator couldsimply allocate more CPU and memory to the SAP resourcepool instead of having to individually adjust the resource allo-cations of each SAP virtual machine. The flexible hierarchicalorganization of resource pools allows users to match available IT resources to the business organization. Individual business unitscan receive dedicated infrastructure while still profiting from theefficiency of resource pooling.

VMware VMotion enables the live migration of vir-tual machines across hostsA key enabling component of the dynamic, automated, andself-optimizing data center, VMware VMotion enables the livemigration of running virtual machines from one physical serverto another with zero downtime, continuous service availability,and complete transaction integrity. Live migration of virtualmachines enables companies to perform hardware mainte-nance without scheduling downtime and disrupting businessoperations. VMotion also allows virtual machines to be continu-ously and automatically optimized within resource pools formaximum hardware utilization, flexibility, and availability.

Live migration of a virtual machine from one physical server toanother with VMotion is enabled by three underlying technolo-

gies.

First, the entire state of a virtual machine is encapsulated by aset of files stored on shared storage such as a Fibre Channel oriSCSI Storage Area Network (SAN) or Network Attached Storage(NAS). VMwares clustered Virtual Machine File System (VMFS)allows multiple installations of ESX Server to access the samevirtual machine files concurrently.

Second, the memory image and precise execution state of thevirtual machine is rapidly transferred between ESX Server hostsover a high speed network. VMotion keeps the transfer periodimperceptible to users by keeping track of on-going memorytransactions in a bitmap. Once the entire memory and systemstate has been copied over to the target ESX Server, VMotionsuspends the source virtual machine, copies the bitmap tothe target ESX Server, and resumes the virtual machine onthe target ESX Server. This entire process takes less than two

seconds on a Gigabit Ethernet network. Third, the networks being used by the virtual machine are alsovirtualized by the underlying ESX Server installations, ensuringthat even after the migration, the vir tual machine network identity and network connections are preserved. VMotionmanages the virtual MAC address as part of the process.Once the destination machine is activated, VMotion pings thenetwork router to ensure that it is aware of the new physicallocation of the virtual MAC address. Since the migration of avirtual machine with VMotion preserves the precise executionstate, the network identity, and the active network connections,the result is zero downtime and no disruption to users.

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VMware DRS enables 80% utilization with guaran-teed service levelsVMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) works withVMware Infrastructure to continuously automate the balanc-ing of virtual machine workloads across a cluster in the virtualinfrastructure. When a virtual machine is first started on thecluster, VMware DRS selects the ESX Server host it runs on byautomatically identifying a machine with sufficient resources. If conditions on the selected host change (for example, if othervirtual machine activity increases to the point that the virtualmachine cant meet its guaranteed resource allocation), VMwareDRS will recognize that condition and search for an alternateESX Server host on the cluster that can honor the resourceallocations needed by the virtual machine. VMware DRS willthen use VMotion to migrate the virtual machine to the new

host automatically and with zero downtime for its users andapplications. The result is a continuous balancing of all serverworkloads across the virtual infrastructure.

VMware DRS works using the ESX Server Local Schedulerand the VirtualCenter Global Scheduler. The ESX Server LocalScheduler determines which processors within a host to use forvirtual machine execution based on current workloads, and itwill relocate virtual machines as often as every few millisecondsif a different host processor offers more capacity. In contrast,VirtualCenters Global Scheduler continuously evaluates wherebest to locate a virtual machine across an entire cluster of ESXServer hosts. The Global Scheduler will determine which ESXServer will host a newly started virtual machine and it will useDRS to relocate a virtual machine if another ESX Server hostoffers a more suitable set of resources.

VMware DRS can be configured to operate in automatic ormanual mode. In automatic mode, VMware DRS migrates thevirtual machine to the most appropriate host in the clusterwith no intervention required. In manual mode, VMware DRSprovides a recommendation on optimal placement of thevirtual machine, and leaves it to the system administrator todecide whether to make the change.

With VMware DRS, a new virtual machine can be placed on acluster instead of a specific host server, and VMware DRS willmake an intelligent decision about where to place it when itstarts. VMware DRS also supports affinity and anti-affinity rulesfor certain use cases. For example, an anti-affinity rule canalways keep clustered virtual machines on physically separateservers at all times for hardware redundancy. Alternately, anaffinity rule can keep two virtual machines with internal net-

working requirements always on the same physical host.VMware DRS preserves absolute levels of allocated resourceswhen virtual machines are migrated. It is aware that a virtualmachine allocated 10% of the CPU resources on an 8-waymachine with GHz processors will need a larger percentageof host resources if migrated to a -way machine with slowerprocessors.

VMware DRS will respond immediately when a new ESX Serverhost is added to a cluster, which is a simple drag-and-dropoperation within VirtualCenter. The new host will expand theresource pool available to the clusters virtual machines and

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VMware DRS will rebalance workloads by shifting virtualmachines to the new host as appropriate. VMware DRSwill also respond to a host being removed from a clusterby migrating its virtual machines to remaining hosts in thecluster.

The end result with VMware DRS is a data center that canreliably run at over 80% utilization levels while safely maintain-ing guaranteed service levels for all applications. VMware DRSdelivers much better ROI on x86 server investments with aminimum of capacity planning effort required.

VMware HA provides easy to use, cost effectivehigh availability VMware High Availability (HA) provides easy to use, costeffective high availability for applications running in vir tual

machines. The loss of an ESX Server host due to a hardwarefailure is no longer a catastrophic event, but simply meansthat the resource pool available to the cluster has beenreduced. HA will manage the reassignment and restart of thefailed hosts virtual machines on the other ESX Server hostsin the cluster with the VirtualCenter Global Scheduler makingthe decisions on where to place the virtual machines to bestmeet resource guarantees.

High availability for applications is usually achieved withfailover clustering products like Microsoft Cluster Services orVeritas Cluster Services, but that technology is expensive anddifficult to configure and manage. Failover clustering requiresexpensive operating system upgrades or third-party softwareand the protected applications must be cluster-aware.Failover clustering can also be a resource hog as standbycluster nodes tie up dedicated hardware even if they are notin active use.

VMware HA delivers high availability without configuration.Simply select the VMware HA option for a cluster or host, and allits virtual machines will be protected with automatic restartingshould a host fail. VMware HA differs from failover clusteringin that there will be some downtime as a virtual machine isrestarted, but for the majority of applications, that minimalinterruption is acceptable and the expense and complexity of failover clustering is simply not necessary.

Its important to note that the VirtualCenter ManagementServer is not a single point of failure in a cluster protectedby VMware HA. A VMware HA agent placed on each servermaintains a heartbeat with the other servers in the resourcepool and loss of a heartbeat initiates the process of restartingall affected virtual machines on other servers. Restart of virtualmachines is made possible by the VMFS cluster file system that

allows multiple installations of ESX Server to have read-writeaccess to the same virtual machines files.

VMware HA ensures that sufficient resources are always avail-able in the resource pool to allow restart of virtual machines ondifferent physical servers in the event of a server failure.

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VMware Consolidated Backup delivers LAN-freebackup with zero downtimeVMware Consolidated Backup provides an easy to use, central-ized facility for LAN-free backups that preserve file-level visibility.

VMware Consolidated Backup centralizes backup processingby taking snapshots of running virtual machines after quiesc-ing the applications in the vir tual machines to disk to ensurefile system consistency. The virtual disk snapshots are thenmounted by a Windows backup proxy server that can use astandard backup agent to process the backup to tape or disk devices. VMware Consolidated Backup is pre-integrated withpopular backup utilities and provides pre-and post-processingscripts for easy out-of-the-box implementations.

VMware Consolidated Backup operates transparently with noneed to interrupt virtual machine activity. The backup process-ing is moved off the ESX Server host so theres no impact onCPU and network resources needed by critical applications invirtual machines. Backups occur without system interruptionand do not affect production servers.

Consolidated Backup reduces backup agent licenses requiredand improves manageability because it requires only a singlebackup agent on the proxy server rather than on every virtualmachine. Utilizing a proxy server also reduces the load on ESXServer allowing it to run more virtual machines on the samephysical server.

Full and incremental file-based backup is supported for virtualmachines running Microsoft Windows operating systems. Fullimage backup for disaster recovery scenarios is available for allvirtual machines regardless of guest operating system.

VMware Infrastructure 3 is available in Starter,Standard and Enterprise editionsVMware Infrastructure is packaged in three editions designedto meet differing requirements from development to branchoffice to enterprise data center use. Additional add-on com-ponents can be added to the Starter and Standard editions toaddress specific needs.

VMware Infrastructure Starter includes a VirtualCenter Agentand ESX Server and is designed for the small or remote work environment, be it small business, branch office or department. The Starter edition virtualizes standard IT infrastructure such ase-mail, file, print, proxy, and firewall servers, delivering simplicity,efficiency and tangible savings for small business IT operations.

VMware Infrastructure Standard edition adds VMFS and VirtualSMP to increase scalability to handle any workload, allowingusers to virtualize a broad range of applications including themost resource intensive enterprise software such as databases,ERP and CRM applications. VMware Infrastructure Standardincreases the efficiency and availability of mission critical appli-cations.

VMware Infrastructure Enterprise adds all of the distributedinfrastructure services to include VMotion, HA, DRS andConsolidated Backup. VMware Infrastructure Enterprise is thefoundation for building the dynamic, automated and self-opti-mizing data center.

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VM Inf st uctu Lo s CostsAdopted by over 0,000 enterprise IT organizations worldwide,

VMware virtualization software has saved billions of dollars inhardware and operational costs. The cost savings driven byVMware Infrastructure are only accelerating as processors growmore powerful, the suite is certified on additional low-costhardware, and VMware Infrastructure continues to scale up toaddress the most demanding enterprise workloads.

Implement Server Consolidation and Containment while Maximizing Server UtilizationContain server sprawl by running software applications invirtual machines on fewer, highly scalable, reliable enterprise-class servers. Customers of VMware Infrastructure are oftenable to consolidate 10 or more virtual machines per physical

processor, thereby drastically increasing server utilization andcontaining server sprawl.

Consolidating underutilized servers lowers capital costs byreducing the need to buy additional hardware for new projects,and removing servers from the data center enables a propor-tional reduction in operational costs for power, cooling andfloor space. As a virtual machine can now address up to pro-cessors and 16GB of memory, up to 9 % of current enterpriseworkloads can be virtualized and consolidated.

Enable Enterprise-wide StandardizationAs virtualization abstracts the software from the hardware tocreate portable virtual machines, VMware Infrastructure makes

it easier to standardize the data center enterprise-wide. VMwareInfrastructure can run most popular operating systems ontower, rack and blade servers from all major hardware vendors,greatly extending the value of existing multi-vendor invest-ments.

Streamline IT Operations and Increase Administrator Productivity VMware Infrastructure simplifies labor and resource intensive IT operations such as server provisioning and maintenance acrossdisparate hardware, operating system, and software applicationenvironments, allowing fewer IT staff to manage more work-loads.

Additionally, the unified platform for monitoring and manage-ment provided by VirtualCenter dramatically increases systemadministrator productivity, enabling each system administratorto monitor and effectively manage a larger pool of infrastruc-ture resources.

Reduce Business Unit to IT Coordination CostsPerhaps one of the most intractable but least visible consum-ers of IT staff time is the cost of coordinating with businessunits. These costs go down dramatically when IT implementsVMware Infrastructure as hardware management is separatedfrom software management. Before VMware Infrastructure, forexample, IT spent far too much time negotiating hardwaredowntime windows for business unit applications. Now,hardware downtime can happen at any time because runningsoftware can be shifted off hardware that requires maintenancewithout impacting the business unit, eliminating a whole classof IT administration costs.

Streamline Software Development & TestingVMware Infrastructure streamlines software development andtesting in many ways. Common time consuming tasks suchas configuring servers, provisioning servers and archiving andrestoring configurations are dramatically simplified to increasedeveloper productivity. Additionally, development, test andstaging environments require much less hardware when con-solidated onto shared hardware using virtual machines. Finally,the use of virtual machines makes it much easier to increasetesting coverage and improve software quality.

VM Inf st uctu Simplifi s M n g m ntVMware Infrastructure unifies the management of all x86-basedoperating systems onto a single virtual hardware platform thatspans the data center. It brings the speed of provisioning, de-

provisioning and rollback to real-time levels. It also enforces thediscipline of deploying servers based on templates rather thanpolicy, as it takes far less time for the administrator to use a goldmaster template than to manually create a server. Since virtualinfrastructure is homogeneous, and server deployments areconsistent, operational risk is dramatically lowered.

Securely Centralize Datacenter Management VMware Infrastructure provides simplified monitoring, manage-ment, reporting and remote access across the datacenter fromany location with the Virtual Infrastructure Client. There is noneed to visit servers for system software and configurationneeds. The browser version of the client makes providing a user

with access to a virtual machine as easy as sending a bookmark URL.

Additionally, VMware Infrastructure provides a unified manage-ment platform across Windows, Linux and NetWare servers.Now administrators learn only one way of provisioning andmonitoring systems, instead of one for every version of deployed operating systems. This reduces training costs, andallows greater consistency of policy application across diverseoperating systems.


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Ensure Consistent Server BuildsVirtualCenter provisions servers based on templates. By pro-visioning based on pre-configured combinations of operat-ing systems and applications, IT managers can ensure thatall servers running in the environment match the currentbest practice for security and configuration. As a result, eachExchange Server looks like every other Exchange Server. The servers built by one administrator look like the serversbuilt by every other one. This means that troubleshootingbecomes easier, and the likelihood of an accidental open port,or vulnerable service left active decrease to near-zero levels.Fundamentally, the infrastructure becomes rationalized andeccentric variability disappears.

Improve Success Rates for Patch Roll-outsSince the infrastructure is rationalized, and consistent serverbuilds are built-in to virtual infrastructure, IT managers canhave the security of knowing that if a patch does not break oneserver type, it will not break any others. Moreover, exact dupli-cates of current production systems can be created in a testsandbox server for patch and upgrade testing. This is differentfrom a restored backup or a disk image in that a virtual machinecopy is an exact copy of the source system, including the virtualhardware layer. Additionally, with the snapshot and rollback capabilities included in virtual infrastructure, virtual machineswith patches that fail in production can be instantly rolled back to the last known good state.

Deploy Virtual Appliances to Simplify ChangeManagement A virtual appliance is a fully pre-configured virtual machineincluding operating system and software application. Virtualappliances are revolutionizing the software distributionparadigm by combining the simple deployment of softwarewith the benefits of a pre-configured device. For solutionproviders, building a virtual appliance is simpler and more costeffective than building a hardware appliance. Firewalls are anexample of this paradigm shift. The first network f irewalls weresoftware programs. To setup a firewall, users had to purchasea computer, install a supported operating system, install thefirewall, and configure everything. To eliminate some of the

complexities involved in deploying firewalls, vendors builthardware-based firewalls. These firewall appliances wereeither standard or custom hardware that included a minimaloperating system and the complete firewall program. A newerapproach to this same problem is a firewall virtual appliance.In this case, the pre-configured firewall lives inside a virtualmachine and can be deployed on existing hardware.

Simplify Legacy Software MigrationVirtual infrastructure allows legacy applications that requiredated legacy operating systems to run unchanged for as longas needed on newer hardware using virtual machines. This hasproven to be instrumental in helping companies extend thelife and value of legacy software assets while avoid expensiveporting costs. Hosting legacy systems in vir tual machinesgreatly increases reliability and reduces maintenance expenses.

VM Inf st uctu Inc s s agilityVMware Infrastructure provides the capability for IT to dramati-cally increase its responsiveness to business unit demands.Since virtual infrastructure cuts the bonds between hardwareand software, it gives IT organizations the flexibility to rapidlyprovision new servers and adjust resources in response to

changing business requirements.

Instantly Provision New ServersWhether a single new server is needed for a week, or 0servers are required for an hour, VMware Infrastructure providespowerful instant provisioning capabilities that allow thereal-time provisioning and de-provisioning of servers acrossWindows, Linux, Solaris x86 or NetWare operating systems. IT organizations can implement just-in-time server provisioningschemes to allow business units to provision their own serverswhen needed. Imagine telling a business unit that their newserver is up and running and waiting for their login, on thesame call that they request a new server. Similarly, scaling

out an application, or even performing routine maintenancerequests that require server reboots can be per formed an order-of-magnitude faster.

Using VMware Infrastructure, administrators can quickly selectthe gold template for a new server deployment from a libraryof standard server templates and deploy it to the hardwarepool in seconds. VMware Infrastructure performs a file copyto create a new instance of the selected server template andthen configures it for use. Server deployment becomes sucha low cost operation that IT can create servers that wouldnever have been cost-effective to deploy as complete physicalservers: for example creating a temporary server for testing beta

application software becomes trivial. Compare the seconds toprovision a server with VMware Infrastructure to the hours ordays that it typically takes using a manual server deploymentprocess, and the cost savings of virtual infrastructure quicklyadd up.


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Deliver Utility Computing to Business Units withGuaranteed Service LevelsUsing resource pools, IT can respond instantly to shifting appli-cation and workload requirements to easily align computingresources with business priorities to satisfy guaranteed servicelevels. IT specifies the rules and priorities that govern virtualmachine resource allocation, and the VMware Infrastructurecontinuously and automatically optimizes the virtual machineplacement for maximum hardware utilization, flexibility andavailability. This enables IT to provide dedicated infrastructureto business units while still profiting from higher hardwareutilization gained through resource pooling. With VMwareInfrastructure in place, fewer platforms can be deployed andused to flexibly to address changing requirements.

Enable All Applications to Benefit from High-End Hardware Performance and Reliability GainsVMware Infrastructures makes it cost effective to deploy high-end hardware in the datacenter such as rack servers with redun-dant components and -way blade servers. As the additionalcost of high-end servers can be distributed across many moreworkloads than with low-end hardware, the initial investmentin high-end hardware is quickly returned through the improvedutilization and reduced operational costs of managing fewerservers. Additionally, each workload can take advantage of thehigh-end hardwares increased capabilities as needed to providesuperior application performance and reliability for end users.

VM Inf st uctu Tight ns S cu ityVMware Infrastructure delivers a consistent, secure and audit-able data center environment that can be assembled fromheterogeneous hardware. Operating systems running withinvirtual machines will still require security management andvulnerability patches, but their stability and security can begreatly improved and access management simplified with thefine-grained, role-based access controls enforced by VMwareInfrastructure.

Centrally Secure and Audit the Data Center InfrastructureVirtual machine configurations and remote access can be pro-

tected with very granular yet flexible access controls, so veryfew IT staff need direct access to the VMware Infrastructureserver hardware., Administrators and end users can remotelyperform all server provisioning and configuration actions withcomprehensive audit logging to record significant operations.Managing access to virtual machines can also be a useful toolto control user access to applications that dont provide suf-ficient security on their own.

Isolate Faults and Security at the Hardware Level Virtual machines are completely isolated from each otherin operation, so an ill-behaved or compromised applicationcannot impact any other virtual machines in the environmentother than through network traffic. Properly configured, virtualmachines can better contain digital attacks though fault isola-tion, as one virtual machine cant bring down others. VMwareInfrastructure virtual networking gives administrators theflexibility to either isolate virtual machines from the corpo-rate network or to make them full peers with other physicalmachines on the network.

VM Inf st uctu Imp ov s av il bilityVMware Infrastructure can improve application availability by anorder of magnitude with zero downtime required for hardware

maintenance and server backups, enabling nearly 100% uptimefor applications. Additionally, VMware Infrastructure makesit very simple to enable cost-effective high availability for allvirtual machines with VMware HA.

Enable Zero-downtime MaintenancePerhaps one of the most interesting implications of virtualinfrastructure is the new flexibility IT management gains inscheduling staff tasks. By allowing hardware maintenance tobe decoupled from software maintenance tasks, the amount of administration deferred to downtime windows is dramaticallyreduced. With VMware Infrastructure, IT can simply place anESX Server host in maintenance mode and DRS will automati-

cally migrate all virtual machines to other ESX Server installa-tions in a resource pool, allowing physical server maintenancewith zero downtime. Maintenance can be done during primeusage hours, from 8-to- instead of scheduling downtime fornights and weekends. Similarly, snapshot copies of runningproduction systems can be taken at any time for debugging orpatch testing. Problems with a new patch or a new applicationupgrade can be investigated offline without taking the serverdown for maintenance. This results in the ability to work onproblems at the optimal pace and with the staff whose skillsbest fit the problem.

Enable Zero-downtime BackupsWith Consolidated Backup, virtual machines can be backed upas virtual disks or with file level visibility without requiring anydowntime or any performance hit on the vir tual machine andthe LAN. Consolidated Backup takes a virtual machine snapshotafter quiescing the guest operating system file system to ensurefile integrity. The virtual disk snapshots are then mounted by aWindows backup proxy server that can use a standard backupagent to process the backup to tape or disk devices.


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Provide Advanced Business Continuity Protectionwith Simple & Rapid Disaster Recovery Traditional high availability solutions are often relativelycomplex and expensive, and typically reserved for missioncritical applications. VMware Infrastructure changes theeconomics of high availability and makes it accessible for themajority of software applications that have until now been leftunprotected.

With VMware HA, companies can implement a unified disasterrecovery platform that allows many production virtual machinesto be recovered in the event of hardware failure withoutinvesting in costly one-to-one mapping of production and DRhardware. VMware HA provides cost-effective high availabilityfor all applications running in virtual machines. Unlike otherhigh availability solutions that are operating system or software

application specific, VMware HA delivers a consistent, easy tomanage high availability solution for the entire IT environmentas a consistent first line of defense.

Building th Vi tu liz d ent p is ithVM Inf st uctu The only production-ready virtualization suite, VMwareInfrastructure is delivering proven results in a wide variety of environments and applications at more than 0,000 enterprisecustomer sites of all sizes. The suite is fully optimized, rigorouslytested and certified for the widest range of hardware, operatingsystems and software applications allowing for enterprise-

wide standardization independent of operating systems andhardware. VMware Infrastructure provides built-in management,resource optimization, application availability and operationalautomation capabilities that deliver transformative cost savingsas well as increased operational efficiency, flexibility and IT service levels. VMware Infrastructure scales to support IT envi-ronments of any size and is not tied to any operating system,giving customers a bias-free choice of operating system andsoftware applications.

In summary, VMware Infrastructure:

Increases hardware utilization by up to 10 times

Enables continuous uptime and non-disruptive maintenance

of IT environments with live migration of entire runningsystems

Accelerates the application development and deploymentlifecycles

Allows legacy systems to co-exist with new environments

Eliminates the need for cumbersome software installation andconfiguration with Virtual Appliances

Improves responsiveness to business needs with instant pro-

visioning and dynamic optimization of application environ-ments

Streamlines labor and resource intensive IT operations acrossdisparate hardware, operating system, and software applica-tion environments.

Enables broad-based, cost-effective application availabilityand business continuity independent of hardware and oper-ating systems

G tting St t d The VMware Sales Team can help your IT organization deter-mine how VMware Infrastructure will provide these benefitsin your particular test, development and production environ-ments. Using ROI tools, case studies, and other tools, VMware

will work with you to design and implement specific successcriteria so you can evaluate our software effectively. Visit us onthe Web at www.vmware.com, email us at [email protected],or call us at 8 - VMWARE to get started.


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Vmware Building Virtualized Enterprise