Chapter 1 AL VMware vSphere 4 Overview •u Application services •u Management services D Infrastructure services TE •u MA TE RI VMware vSphere 4 is the new major version of VMware’s flagship virtualization platform, VMware Infrastructure 3. A bare-metal hypervisor that enables full virtualization of industry-standard x86 hardware forms the foundation of this virtualization platform.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview Figure 1.
Infrastructure Services | 3 In the next sections, we will discuss each of these vCompute services in detail. VMware ESX and ESXi VMware ESX and ESXi are the most widely deployed virtualization hypervisors, and they form the robust foundation of VMware vSphere. VMware ESX and ESXi use bare-metal architecture; in other words, they install directly on the server hardware, without the need for a host operating system.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview Recently, AMD and Intel have introduced newer processors that also support memory management virtualization. You’ll learn more about this in the next section. Virtualization using these second-generation hardware-assisted processors usually performs better than binary translation. Consequently, with the release of vSphere, VMware ESX, and ESXi now default to hardwareassisted virtualization out of the box, but you do have the choice to override this setting.
Infrastructure Services | 5 physical to machine memory address translations, which used to be maintained inside shadow page tables within ESX. Offloading this memory management to hardware has two benefits: hardware page table processing is faster than software implementation, and ESX can use the freed CPU cycles for more workload-related processing.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview Advanced Memory Management VMware vSphere uses several advanced memory management features to efficiently use the physical memory available. These features make sure that in a highly consolidated environment virtual machines are allocated the required memory as needed without impacting the performance of other virtual machines.
Infrastructure Services | 7 You need to be careful when assigning the minimum settings or reservations because they guarantee resources to a virtual machine. If too much CPU and memory resources are reserved, you may not be able to start virtual machines. New Virtual Hardware Generation In vSphere 4.0, VMware has upgraded the virtual hardware from version 4 to version 7.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview Note Virtual machines using virtual hardware version 7 features are not compatible with ESX/ ESXi releases prior to version 4.0. The virtual machine upgrade process is irreversible, and you will see a warning window during the upgrade steps, as shown here. Distributed Resource Scheduler VMware DRS allows you to manage physical resources distributed across multiple ESX servers.
Infrastructure Services | 9 run on different servers. You can use this to avoid a single point of failure and increase availability for application components such as web servers in a load-balanced farm. Figure 1.5 VMware vSphere DRS rules VMware DRS will help you to load balance the resource utilization across various ESX servers within resource pools.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview Figure 1.6 VMware vSphere DRS automation levels Distributed Power Management VMware DPM enables you to reduce energy consumption in the data center by optimizing the placement of virtual machines within a cluster. When resource utilization in a DRS cluster goes down, DPM consolidates virtual machines within the cluster on fewer ESX servers and powers off unused servers to conserve energy.
Infrastructure Services | 11 VMware vStorage VMware vStorage includes a number of advanced features to efficiently manage and use storage in virtualized environments while trying to hide the complexities of the underlying storage systems. The key features include the following: •u VMware vStorage Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) is a custom-designed cluster file system specifically optimized to store and manage virtual machines.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview vStorage VMFS Volume Grow The VMFS Volume Grow capability in vSphere allows you to dynamically expand the size of an existing data store that resides on a VMFS volume without disrupting running virtual machines. It complements the dynamic LUN expansion capability that exists in many storage array offerings today.
Infrastructure Services | 13 Figure 1.8 Creating a thinprovisioned virtual hard disk VMware Paravirtualized SCSI Early versions of ESX supported virtual SCSI adapters that emulated BusLogic and LSI Logic hardware storage adapters. This full virtualization provided broad compatibility with guest operating systems supported by ESX. However, this prevents ESX from taking advantage of performance optimizations that can be achieved with paravirtualized devices such as VMXNET network adapters.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview The performance benefits of the PVSCSI driver are visible for virtual machines issuing more than 2,000 I/O requests per second. For lower I/O throughput, VMware recommends that you continue to use the default or primary adapter. For example, LSI Logic is the default primary adapter for virtual machines with Microsoft Windows 2008 guest operating systems.
Infrastructure Services | 15 iSCSI support improvements In vSphere 4, VMware has rewritten the entire iSCSI software initiator stack for both software iSCSI (that is, in which the iSCSI initiator runs at the ESX layer) and hardware iSCSI (that is, in which ESX leverages a hardware-optimized iSCSI HBA). As a result, both software and hardware iSCSI in vSphere 4 provide better throughput and CPU efficiency when compared to the earlier 3.5 version.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview Virtual Network Adapters VMware supports three types of virtual network adapters for virtual machines. The AMD Lance PCNet32 and Intel E1000 physical network adapters provide full virtualization that is compatible with most guest operating systems. VMware also provides the high-performance paravirtualized network adapter VMXNET for networking virtual machines.
Infrastructure Services | 17 not need any additional networking hardware and are implemented in software based on the configuration you specify. Virtual switches are similar to physical switches in several ways: •u They use same networking protocols. •u They support VLANs compatible with standard VLAN implementations. •u They support Layer 2 forwarding. •u They support offloading features for TCP checksum and segmentation.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview Bidirectional Traffic Shaping vNetwork Standard Switches allow you to set up traffic shaping for egress or transmit (from virtual machine to network) traffic. vDS expands this capability to include bidirectional traffic shaping. Both egress (from virtual machine to network) and ingress (from network into virtual machine) traffic-shaping policies can now be applied on DV port group definitions.
Application Services | 19 stack, such as NetQueue, that can saturate even 10 Gbps links for both transmit and receive-side network I/O. You will also notice a significant increase in iSCSI throughput and maximum network throughput for VMotion because of the VMkernel TCP/IP stack optimizations in vSphere 4. VMDirectPath I/O for Networking VMDirectPath I/O for Networking is a new capability in vSphere that enables virtual machines to directly access underlying physical I/O devices.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview move virtual machines off a vSphere server for any scheduled hardware maintenance without the need for any application downtime. VMware Storage VMotion VMware Storage VMotion enables similar functionality at the storage level. You can migrate virtual disks of running virtual machines from one storage array to another with no disruption or downtime.
Application Services | 21 Figure 1.11 VMware vSphere VMotion types VMware Storage VMotion Storage VMotion allows you to migrate virtual machine disks for running virtual machines from one storage array to another. This avoids the need to schedule any service disruption or downtime because of planned storage maintenance or during storage migrations and upgrades. Storage VMotion was introduced in VMware Infrastructure 3.5, but it supported only the CLI and a limited number of storage protocols.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview Figure 1.12 Storage VMotion, virtual disk format conversion VMware High Availability VMware High Availability (HA) extends high availability for any application running in a virtual machine, regardless of its operating system or underlying hardware configuration (Figure 1.13). VMware HA automatically detects physical server failures and operating system failures within virtual machines.
Application Services | 23 VMware Fault Tolerance VMware Fault Tolerance (FT) provides zero downtime and zero data loss availability for all virtual machines during server hardware failures. When FT is enabled for a specific virtual machine, a secondary copy of that virtual machine runs in lockstep synchronization on another ESX host. This allows instantaneous, stateful failover between the two virtual machines and eliminates any disruption because of hardware failures on either host.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview Security Security services help you secure your virtual infrastructure from vulnerabilities. They also enable applications to enforce an appropriate level of security policies in an operationally efficient way.
Application Services | 25 conjunction with the virtualization layer, they are expected to provide higher levels of security to virtual machines compared to even physical servers. The following are examples of such VMsafebased VMware-aware security products: •u A single antivirus virtual appliance that protects a vSphere host and all virtual machines running on it. •u A network security virtual appliance that protects network access for all virtual machines on a vSphere host.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview VMware ESX and ESXi Scalability vSphere 4 extends the scalability of the virtualization platform in several aspects. vSphere 4 supports servers with up to 64 logical CPUs and 1 TB of RAM. Consequently, vSphere can support up to a total of 512 virtual CPUs per single host. By increasing the number of virtual machines that can run on single host, vSphere can achieve a higher consolidation ratio compared to earlier versions of ESX.
Management Services | 27 Figure 1.15 Virtual machine hot-add support for CPU and memory Management Services VMware vSphere management services include the tools and interfaces available to virtual infrastructure administrators to efficiently manage VMware vSphere environments. These management services include the following: vCenter Server vCenter Server provides the central point of control for the administration and management of VMware vSphere environments.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview vSphere Command-Line Interfaces vSphere provides two key command-line interfaces (CLIs) to automate common vSphere administration and management tasks: vSphere CLI and vSphere PowerCLI. In the next sections, we will provide more details about each of these management services. vCenter Server VMware vCenter Server provides a single-pane-of-glass view for managing and administering the infrastructure and application services described in the previous sections.
Management Services | 29 Figure 1.16 VMware vCenter inventory search vCenter Server 4 also includes a new inventory search field to simplify locating virtual machines, hosts, data stores, networks, and folders based on the criteria you specify. You can perform simple searches based on keywords entered in the search field at the top right of vSphere Client.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview of host compliance checks based on host configuration settings, such as networking, DNS, and NTP settings. In addition, vCenter performs certain built-in cluster compliance checks (shown in Table 1.1) even if a host profile is not attached to a cluster. Figure 1.17 Host profiles’ NTP configuration Figure 1.18 Profile compliance 563601c01.
Management Services Table 1.1: | 31 Built-in Cluster Compliance Checks Cluster Requirement Cluster Compliance Check VMware DRS Validate that VMotion NIC speed is at least 1000 Mbps. Validate that VMotion is enabled. Validate that at least one shared data store exists. VMware DPM Validate that power management is supported on the host. VMware HA/VMware FT Validate that FT logging is enabled. Validate that FT logging NIC speed is at least 1000 Mbps.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview any vCenter instance. Note that a user needs to have valid permissions to be able to see a vCenter Server instance. The vCenter Linked Mode feature’s visibility across multiple vCenter instances applies only to view and search operations. Other operations are confined within a single vCenter inventory. For example, you cannot drag and drop a host between vCenter instances or a virtual machine between hosts on two different vCenter instances.
Management Services | 33 Centralized Licensing In vSphere 4, VMware has redesigned the licensing facility. License reporting and management are centralized into vCenter Server 4. Unlike VMware Infrastructure 3, there is no separate license server that must be installed and monitored. Using the vCenter Server interface, you can centrally assign VMware vSphere licenses, report on license usage, and monitor for license state and compliance.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview •u Physical-to-virtual conversion •u Intelligent placement on the right vSphere host You can find and analyze physical systems using Guided Consolidation in several ways: •u You can automatically scan active domains daily. •u You can manually add systems by entering a computer name, a singular or range of IP addresses, or a filename. Guided Consolidation is recommended for smaller environments, up to 100 concurrent physical machines at any given time.
VMware Management Solutions | 35 vSphere Host Update Utility vSphere also includes the vSphere Host Update Utility to enable you to remotely upgrade ESX hosts (versions 3.0 and newer) to ESX 4.0. It upgrades the virtual machine kernel (VMkernel) and the Service Console, if present, but does not upgrade VMFS data stores or virtual machine guest operating systems.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview •u VMware vCenter Chargeback to automate tracking and chargeback for the cost of IT services •u VMware vCenter Lab Manager to create an on-demand lab infrastructure •u VMware vCenter Lifecycle Manager to automate and manage virtual machine provisioning in your virtual infrastructure •u VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager to automate the setup, testing, and failover of disaster recovery processes In this section, we provide a brief overview for each of the
VMware Management Solutions | 37 VMware vCenter Chargeback VMware vCenter Chargeback enables you to track how virtual infrastructure is being used by different departments in your organization, correlate it to their cost centers, and finally charge them for the consumption. Chargeback lets you create variety of cost models—fixed, reservation, usage, or a hybrid cost model—that measure cost on a per-VM basis.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview implementation to automate your failover plans. You can also test these workflows completely so that you know the recovery will work if and when you need it. It utilizes storage replication to ensure that data is successfully and accurately transferred to the failover site. Because of virtualization, you do not have to maintain strict hardware compatibility or map servers one to one with your primary site environment.
vSphere Compatibility Guides | 39 vSphere for Midsize and Enterprise Businesses VMware provides the following vSphere editions for mid-size and enterprise businesses: •u VMware vSphere Standard •u VMware vSphere Advanced •u VMware vSphere Enterprise •u VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus These editions are tiered based on the vSphere features included. You can find the detailed comparison between these midsize and enterprise business editions at www.vmware.
| Chapter 1 VMware vSphere 4 Overview The systems, storage, and I/O devices compatibility guides list the hardware that’s compatible with various versions of VMware ESX and ESXi. The guest and host operating system compatibility guides list the operating systems supported by various VMware products such as ESX/ESXi, Workstation, Fusion, and Server. Summary With the release of vSphere, VMware continues to expand the capabilities of its successful VMware Infrastructure virtualization platform.
