NSMS Virtualisation Services

1. NSMS Virtualisation Services Jon Hutchings Senior Systems Administrator & Virtualisation Specialist http://www.oucs.ox.ac.uk/nsms/ nsms@oucs.ox.ac.uk Tel: 01865 273209

2. NSMS Introduction • Who we are • NSMS are a team of 10 IT professionals • Part of OUCS • What we do • Provide a wide range of chargeable IT services aimed specifically at departments, colleges, associated institutions and any member of the University in need of specific IT services. • A team with the flexibility to act quickly. We aim to bridge the gap between what you want to achieve and what your time and resources allow.

3. NSMS Introduction • What services we offer • File Server Management • Workstation Management Service • Advanced Web Hosting • Request Tracker Service • Firewall Service • Security auditing • Managed Apple OS X Services • Holiday Cover Service for IT Officers • Full Economic Costs for Research Projects • Centralised Purchasing • Virtualisation

4. NSMS Virtualisation Services • Virtualisation services • VM for Rent Service • Virtualisation Services • Virtual Infrastructure Consultancy and Management • VMware Emergency Support Service • ESX Patch Depot

5. NSMS Virtualised Services • NSMS virtualisation services based on VMware ESX 3.5 – an enterprise class product • NSMS VMware infrastructure maintained on two blade systems at OUCS running • Many departmental file servers • All hosted web sites • Request Tracker service • Shared Calendar service • Development and test systems

6. VMware ESX • Currently on version 3.5 • Enterprise level product • Runs on bare metal – it is an OS in itself • Best return of VMs per core, twice that of VMware server • Linux, Windows, Netware, FreeBSD and Solaris guests supported • Separate advanced management system “Virtual Center” • Advanced features such as templates, VMotion, high availability (HA) and automated load balancing (DRS) • Provides highly configurable virtual switch network infrastructure (traffic shaping, load balancing, internal networks, VLAN)

7. Cool Features of VI3.5 • VI3.5 refers to the combination of ESX3.5 and Virtual Center 2.5 • This provides • Vmotion/Storage VMotion • DRS load balancing • Distributed Power Management (DPM) • HA failover and VM service monitoring • Virtual Machine template deployment • Ability to cloneVMs either ‘hot’ or ‘cold’

8. VMotion • What is VMotion? • Live migration of a VM from one ESX host to another with no downtime • Benefits • Zero downtime hardware maintenance • Applicable to all guest Oses • Provides basis for VM load balancing • Requirements • Shared storage (SAN, iSCSI, NFS) • Source and target CPU type must be almost identical

9. DRS • What is DRS? • The Dynamic Resource Scheduler • Automated load balancing of VMs across 2-32 ESX hosts • Benefits • Maximise efficiency of hosts • Automatically place VMs on the most appropriate host on power-on • Can be set to manual mode (recommendations only) if required • Individual VMs can be excluded • Requirements • VMotion requirements must be met • Virtual Centre is required

10. HA • What is HA? • VMware's answer to “High Availability” • Automatic restart of VMs on alternative hosts in the event of physical server failure • Benefits • Provide resiliency against unplanned downtime without the need for passive hardware • No user input required for VM restart process • Restart priority/behaviour can be set per VM • Easy to configure • Individual VMs can be excluded • Current Limitations • VMs are rebooted • Target hosts selected alphabetically rather than best placement by available resources • DRS left to clean up the aftermath X Resource Pool • Requirements • Shared storage • Virtual Centre is required to configure HA but not for it’s operation

11. Virtualisation Services • Designed to assist University units in the virtualisation of their IT infrastructure. • Designed to be modular in what it offers - based around a three stage process with a three tiered solution.

12. Virtualisation Services • Three stages in the process: • Planning • Implementation (hosted or h/w solutions) • Maintenance • Three tiers of solutions: • Bronze : (typically suitable for a project, section team or small research unit - 1 - 10 servers) • Silver : (typically for small department, college or sub faculty 10 - 50 servers or small VDI implementation) • Gold: (ideal for large department, college or faculty unit 50+ servers or large VDI implementation)

13. VMware Consultancy The NSMS Team can provide comprehensive and expert advice on installation, configuration, and ongoing administration of VMware solutions. This service is available to University departments and Colleges. Additionally the NSMS Team can fully manage new or existing VMware installations. Members of the NSMS team are recognised and respected members of the VMware community worldwide. They have already been involved in major VMware projects, offering their services to more than 20 University departments and colleges. Phone x73209 or email the NSMS Team at nsms@oucs.ox.ac.uk for a no-obligation discussion on how we can help you.

14. Emergency Support • Problems in a virtual environment (VMware and storage management) can be much greater than in a non-virtual environment • NSMS provides an emergency support service, designed to provide prompt access to the VMware support team within NSMS

15. Emergency Support • 4hr maximum response commitment to requests for assistance on VMware problems • Maximum of 4 hours of support time per year, including on-site and off-site support, for example, liaising with VMware support

16. VM4Rent • Fast access to a virtual machine running a server OS any one of Windows 2003 Server, Linux (Red Hat, SUSE, or Debian), or NetWare 6.5. • Short, medium or long term rental • Customer has full management responsibility for the server • NSMS responsible only for management of the VMware ESX virtual machine environment • Extensions to the basic resources of a rented server are readily available, e.g. larger disk storage requirements • Apply for a VM to rent by completing an online form

17. ESX patch Depot • FREE "Patch Depot" for administrators of VMware ESX v3.x. • Allows simplified updating of ESX hosts via FTP for those who can’t or don’t want to use VMware’s Update Manager software • Contact NSMS for details and access

18. Case Study • BSP/ICT Virtual Infrastructure Project • Requirements: • Highly available services • Minimum single points of failure • Resilient storage configuration • Resilient against total site failure • Large resource pool • Design: • 14 dual quad-core Xeon Dell 1950III servers with 32GB of RAM • Two 10GB dedicated fibre links between OUCS and The Beach • Ten LHN iSCSI SAN nodes providing 18Tb raw 15k SAS storage • Synchronous cross-site storage replication for data integrity • VI3.5 Enterprise for cross-site VMotion and High Availability • Redundant links to Oxford WAN utilising STP • Redundant network hardware utilising 2 x Cisco Catalyst Stacks • Redundant bridging firewalls at both sites

19. BSP/ICTVirtual Infrastructure Project Storage Farm Storage Farm Dedicated dual 10GB fibre links ESX Server Farm ESX Server Farm OUCS Machine Room The Beach

20. Q&A • Any questions?