age 1

vMware Cloud LnvlronmenL

LnLerprlse level vlrLual daLacenLre: provldlng hlghly redundanL, fasL and scalable soluLlons.

An eukhosL 1echnlcal WhlLe aper.

age 2

lnLroducLlon ............................................................................................................................................ 3
1radlLlonal physlcal soluLlons ................................................................................................................. 3
lssues wlLh masLer/slave and clusLered conflguraLlons...................................................................... 3
vlrLuallsaLlon ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Pow vMware handles redundancy. .................................................................................................... 3
Why vlrLuallsaLlon ls beLLer for your soluLlon. .................................................................................... 4
Are Lhere any llmlLaLlons Lo vlrLuallsaLlon? ........................................................................................ 4
Pow wlll my vlrLual server perform? .............................................................................................. 4
ls my daLa safe? .............................................................................................................................. 4
uoes vlrLuallzaLlon offer any oLher feaLures? ..................................................................................... 3
llexlblllLy ............................................................................................................................................. 3
Lasy upgrades and downgrades ..................................................................................................... 3
Llve sLorage mlgraLlons ................................................................................................................... 3
rlvaLe lnLernal neLworklng ............................................................................................................ 3
1echnlcal dlagrams ................................................................................................................................. 6
SLorage neLwork.................................................................................................................................. 6
lnLerneL access .................................................................................................................................... 7


age 3


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vlrLuallzaLlon has been slowly revoluLlonlslng compuLlng for over 10 years now. When we underLook
Lhe challenge of bulldlng a new vMware envlronmenL, we declded LhaL lL should encompass Lhe besL
LhaL vlrLuallsaLlon had Lo offer whllsL rlvalllng Lhe performance of LradlLlonal physlcal server-based
soluLlons. 1o help overcome Lhls challenge, we looked Lo vMware, who are arguably Lhe leaders ln
Lhe vlrLuallsaLlon markeL.
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hyslcal servers are flexlble and allow us Lo creaLe some excellenL soluLlons Lo varlous l1 challenges.
Powever, all dedlcaLed soluLlons suffer from Lhe same drawback: hardware fallure. 1he only way Lo
negaLe hardware fallure ls Lo use redundanL hardware. 1hls can be done ln masLer/slave
conflguraLlons or, more commonly Lhese days, by clusLerlng servlces on mulLlple hardware
plaLforms.
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unforLunaLely, more hardware means Lwo Lhlngs: a more cosLly soluLlon and a more complex
soluLlon. A masLer/slave seLup offers n+1 redundancy. lf you requlre more Lhan Lhls Lhen you wlll
need Lo look aL complex clusLered soluLlons. WhaL all Lhls means ln real Lerms ls LhaL you end up
paylng ouL good money for hardware LhaL, if youre lucky, you will never use.
1hese facLors are Lhe maln drlver behlnd Lhe developmenL of vlrLuallsaLlon Lechnology.
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ln lLs slmplesL Lerms, vlrLuallsaLlon ls a way of Laklng a physlcal server and parLlLlonlng lL lnLo many
vlrLual servers. 1hanks Lo Pypervlsor-based vlrLuallsaLlon Lechnology (vMware), each vM (vlrLual
machlne) has lLs own dlsLlncL seL of resources LhaL ls accessed aL a hardware level. vMs are
completely unaware of each other and do not contend for each others resources.
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vlrLual hosLs are sLlll physlcal servers, sufferlng from Lhe same lssues (such as hardware fallure) as a
LradlLlonal physlcal server envlronmenL. 1hese hardware fallures are dealL wlLh ln exacLly Lhe same
way as ln physlcal envlronmenLs. MulLlple componenLs such as power supplles are sLandard across
our vMware cloud envlronmenL buL lL ls clusLerlng LhaL really brlngs Lhls producL lnLo lLs own.
Cur cloud vMware envlronmenL ls acLually a large clusLer of vMware LSxl servers, all managed by a
producL called vCenLer. vCenLer monlLors Lhe healLh of all Lhe LSxl hosLs. ?our vM exlsLs on one of
Lhese LSxl hosLs buL any of Lhe LSxl hosLs are capable of runnlng your vM. lf vCenLer deLecLs an
lssue wlLh any of Lhe LSxl hosLs, your vM ls seamlessly moved from Lhe hosL wlLh Lhe lssue Lo one
wlLhouL. lrom your VMs perspective, Lhere has been no change aL all. ?our vM wlll [usL conLlnue Lo
run as normal.
lf Lhe LSxl hosL LhaL ls runnlng your machlne has a LoLal fallure, vCenLer wlll deLecL Lhls and slmply
resLarL your vM on an LSxl hosL wlLhouL lssues. ln Lhls lnsLance you wlll see noLhlng more Lhan a
rebooL.
age 4

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Cur vMware cloud envlronmenL has aL leasL n+1 redundancy on every slngle componenL ln Lhe
clusLer. 1hls lncludes lnLerneL connecLlons, sLorage, sLorage neLworks and power. MosL componenLs
are acLually n+2.
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ln lLs early lLeraLlons, Lhe overhead of vlrLuallsaLlon made lL unsulLable for cerLaln appllcaLlons buL
Lhese days are long pasL and ma[or Lech companles such as MlcrosofL and Cracle supporL vlrLual
lmplemenLaLlons for resource-hungry and complex packages such as SCL, AcLlve dlrecLory and
Lxchange as sLandard.
1hls does noL mean Lhere are no performance dlfferences. 1yplcally, a vlrLual machlne wlll have a
reducLlon ln performance of abouL 3 ln comparlson wlLh a dedlcaLed machlne of exacLly Lhe same
speclflcaLlon.
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Many people have concerns regardlng Lhe safeLy and securlLy of cloud soluLlons, and Lhe concern for
a loL of people ls: ls my daLa secure? A slmple answer Lo Lhls quesLlon ls:-
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ln a vMware clusLered envlronmenL, daLa ls noL sLored on Lhe LSxl hosL buL on a cenLral sLorage
plaLform and accessed vla a sLorage neLwork. Powever, this doesnt mean that someone could
slmply galn access Lo Lhe sLorage plaLform and access your daLa.
1here are many sysLems, boLh physlcal and vlrLual, LhaL prevenL Lhls:-
?our daLa ls conLalned wlLhln a vlrLual hard dlsk, lL ls noL [usL flles ln a folder. 1he only way Lo
access Lhe daLa on Lhls dlsk ls Lo mounL lL lnLo a physlcal/vlrLual machlne, ln Lhe same way
LhaL Lhe only way Lo access a physlcal hard dlsk ls Lo mounL lL lnLo a server. 1o add an exLra
level of securlLy, you can also encrypL a vlrLual hard dlsk, agaln uslng Lhe same processes you
would use for a physlcal one.
1here ls no access Lo Lhe sLorage plaLform from any vlrLual machlne. ln facL Lhey are
compleLely unaware of lLs exlsLence. As far as Lhe operaLlng sysLem of Lhe vM ls concerned,
Lhe hard dlsk ls aLLached vla a SCSl card. lL has no concepL LhaL lLs own hard dlsk ls vlrLual, leL
alone LhaL of oLher servers.
1here ls no physlcal connecLlon beLween Lhe sLorage plaLform and Lhe lnLerneL. Cur 10Cbe
sLorage neLwork exlsLs only on a prlvaLe lnLernal range, and ln order Lo access LhaL range you
need Lo be physlcally connecLed Lo our prlvaLe managemenL range.
Cur enLlre clusLer ls housed ln a 1ler 4 faclllLy. 1hls faclllLy has 24-hour securlLy and no one
can galn access wlLhouL offlclal phoLographlc lu (passporL or drlvlng llcence) and aL leasL 24-
hours prlor arrangemenL wlLh Lhe daLacenLre Leam.
As you can see, your daLa ls as secure ln a vM as lL ls on any dedlcaLed server.
age 3

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vlrLuallsaLlon allows us Lo approach Lhe varlous challenges around hardware ln brand new ways LhaL
would noL be easy, or even posslble, wlLhln a physlcal envlronmenL.
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Scallng hardware requlremenLs ls dlfflculL, parLlcularly ln a physlcal envlronmenL, and lL requlres Lhe
physlcal changlng of componenLs ln Lhe servers. 1hls usually lnvolves a loL of downLlme.
ln a vlrLual envlronmenL, Lhe hardware speclflcaLlon ls deflned by a conflguraLlon flle, whlch can be
edlLed exLremely qulckly. Addlng more 8AM and Cus can be done ln a maLLer of mlnuLes and
commlLLed wlLh a slmple rebooL of Lhe operaLlng sysLem. AddlLlonal hard dlsk space doesnt even
requlre a rebooL and can be done on Lhe fly (dependlng on your operaLlng sysLem).
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vMs ln our vMware cloud envlronmenL are housed on an LnLerprlse-level sLorage soluLlon from
LMC.
We have 3 Llers of sLorage, each wlLh lLs own feaLures whlch beLLer sulL lL Lo cerLaln workflows, and
each wlLh lLs own cosLs. lf your needs should change aL any Llme, for whaLever reason, we can easlly
move your vM beLween Lhese Llers. 1hls wlll change Lhe performance characLerlsLlcs of your vM
lnsLanLly. 1hls ls done wlLhouL Lhe need for any downtime at all. It doesnt even require a restart.
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As well as creaLlng vlrLual servers ln Lhe vMware cloud, we can also creaLe all manner of vlrLual
devlces such as swlLches, flrewalls and rouLers.

age 6

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1he followlng dlagrams are Lo lllusLraLe Lhe archlLecLure of our vMware cloud envlronmenL. 1hey are
deslgned Lo glve an lndlcaLlon of Lhe Lechnologles used Lo creaLe Lhls soluLlon. 1hey are noL,
however, 100 accuraLe. Some devlces/conflguraLlons have been purposely lefL ouL for securlLy
reasons.
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key olnLs
All of our backup llnks are 10Cbe.
Lach sLorage clusLer has mulLlple 10Cbe llnks Lo Lhe maln sLorage core.
Lach server has mulLlple 10Cbe llnks Lo Lhe sLorage core.
Lvery componenL here has aL leasL n+2 redundancy.
age 7

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key olnLs
Lvery LSxl hosL has mulLlple llnks Lo Lhe lnLerneL.
Pardware redundancy ls n+1.
1here are mulLlple paLhs Lo Lhe lnLerneL.
Plgh capaclLy llnks Lo reduce Lhe lmpacL of uuCS aLLacks.