VIRTUALIZATION MANAGEMENT

Prepared By :
Anjung Technology Sdn Bhd
What is virtual machine ?
A virtual machine (VM) is a software implementation
of a machine (i.e. a computer) that executes programs
like a physical machine.
A machine inside a machine.
Running multiple machines on a single hardware.
Why is virtualization important
The one server one application idea can be avoided.
Multiple servers can coexist on the same physical
machine bringing IT costs down. Also makes
administration easier.
Motivations
Resource sharing and consolidation
Physical memory shared by multiple processes; each
process has its own, independent address space
Security and isolation
Ease of management
Advantages
 Virtualization provides a sustainable growth strategy for your
company. It has a great number of benefits, some of which are as
follows:

1. More efficient use of computer processing power

2. Less energy consumption
(a) Run ONE physical server instead of several
(b) Less air conditioning usage to keep the environment intact
(c) Less power backup resources required
3. End of endless hardware purchases and upgrades
(a) All the hardware is virtualized so no need to purchase
controllers
(b) Hardware upgrades are on software level (memory,
processor, or any controller)
(c) No need to physically install hardware
Advantages
5. Safer, faster backups and restore
(a) Ability to take live snapshots while OS is running
(b) You can schedule snapshots of OS
(c) Less time to recover the whole OS
6. Reduced IT overhead.
7. Simplified IT Management from a remote location (from
anywhere in the world using an Internet connection).
8. Ability to use Thin Clients (low-cost centrally managed
computers devoid of diskette drives, CD players and expansion
slots, and which require no hardware maintenance).
9. Ability to use existing computers for remote desktop
connection to virtual machines located on the main server.
10. Faster server/client connection speed through a virtual switch.
Different types of hardware virtualization
include
 Full virtualization: Almost complete simulation of the actual
hardware to allow software, typically a guest operating system,
to run unmodified.
 Partial virtualization: Some but not all of the target environment
is simulated. Some guest software, therefore, may need
modifications to run in this virtual environment.
 Paravirtualization: A hardware environment is not simulated;
however, the guest software are executed in their own isolated
domains, as if they are running on a separate system. Guest
software need to be specifically modified to run in this
environment.
Classification
 Type 1 (or native, bare metal) hypervisors run directly on the host's
hardware to control the hardware and to monitor guest operating
systems. A guest operating system thus runs on another level above the
hypervisor.
- This model represents the classic implementation of virtual machine architectures; the
original hypervisor was CP/CMS, developed at IBM in the 1960s, ancestor of IBM's z/VM.
A modern equivalent of this is the VMware ESXi, Citrix XenServer or Microsoft Hyper-V
hypervisor

 Type 2 (or hosted) hypervisors run within a conventional

operating system environment. With the hypervisor layer as a distinct
second software level, guest operating systems run at the third level
above the hardware.

Notes from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypervisor

VirtualBox
VirtualBox is a (Type 2 )cross-platform virtualization application.
It means that it installs on your existing Intel or AMD-based computers,
whether they are running Windows, Mac, Linux or Solaris operating
systems.
Virtualbox also extends the capabilities of your existing computer so that
it can run multiple operating systems (inside multiple virtual machines) at
the same time. So, for example, you can run Windows and Linux on your
Mac, run Windows Server 2008 on your Linux server, run Linux on your
Windows PC, and so on, all alongside your existing applications.
You can install and run as many virtual machines as you like -- the only
practical limits are disk space and memory.
VirtualBox is deceptively simple yet also very powerful. It can run
everywhere from small embedded systems or desktop class machines all
the way up to datacenter deployments and even Cloud environments.
The following screenshot shows you how VirtualBox, installed on a Mac
computer, is running Windows 7 in a virtual machine window:
The following screenshot shows you how VirtualBox, installed on a Ubuntu
System computer, is running Windows XP in a virtual machine window:
The following screenshot shows you how VirtualBox, installed on a Window
7 System computer, is running Ubuntu 10.10 in a virtual machine window:
VirtualBox runs on the following host operating
systems:
 Windows hosts:
 Windows XP, all service packs (32-bit)
 Windows Server 2003 (32-bit)
 Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit[1]).
 Windows Server 2008 (32-bit and 64-bit)
 Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit)
 Mac OS X hosts:[2]
 10.5 (Leopard, 32-bit)
 10.6 (Snow Leopard, 32-bit and 64-bit)
 Intel hardware is required; please see Chapter 14, Known limitations also.
 Linux hosts (32-bit and 64-bit[3]). Among others, this includes:
 Ubuntu 6.06 ("Dapper Drake"), 6.10 ("Edgy Eft"), 7.04 ("Feisty Fawn"), 7.10 ("Gutsy Gibbon"), 8.04 ("Hardy Heron"), 8.10 ("Intrepid
Ibex"), 9.04 ("Jaunty Jackalope"), 9.10 ("Karmic Koala"), 10.04 ("Lucid Lynx"), 10.10 ("Maverick Meerkat).
 Debian GNU/Linux 3.1 ("sarge"), 4.0 ("etch"), 5.0 ("lenny") and 6.0 ("squeeze")
 Oracle Enterprise Linux 4 and 5
 Redhat Enterprise Linux 4, 5 and 6
 Fedora Core 4 to 14
 Gentoo Linux
 SUSE Linux 9, 10 and 11, openSUSE 10.3, 11.0, 11.1, 11.2, 11.3
 Mandriva 2007.1, 2008.0, 2009.1, 2010.0 and 2010.1
 It should be possible to use VirtualBox on most systems based on Linux kernel 2.6 using either the VirtualBox installer or by doing a
manual installation; see the section called “Installing on Linux hosts”. However, the formally tested and supported Linux distributions are
those for which we offer a dedicated package.
 Note that starting with VirtualBox 2.1, Linux 2.4-based host operating systems are no longer supported.
 Solaris hosts (32-bit and 64-bit) are supported with the restrictions listed in Chapter 14, Known limitations:
 Solaris 11 Express (Nevada build 86 and higher, OpenSolaris 2008.05 and higher)
 Solaris 10 (u8 and higher)
Proxmox VE
Proxmox Virtual Environment is an easy to use
Open Source virtualization platform for running
Virtual Appliances and Virtual Machines.
A bare metal environment system or network in which
a virtual machine is installed directly on hardware
rather than within the host operating system (OS).
The term "bare metal" refers to a hard disk, the usual
medium on which a computer's OS is installed.
.
Main Features
Container and Full Virtualization
Bare-metal ISO Installer
Central Web-based Management
Backup - Restore - Live Migration
Proxmox VE Cluster
System requirements Proxmox VE
Recommended
Dual Socket, Quad Core CPU
CPU: 64bit (Intel EMT64 or AMD64), Multi core CPU recommended
Intel VT/AMD-V capable CPU/Mainboard (for KVM Full Virtualization support)
8 GB RAM is good, more is better (grab as much as possible)
Hardware RAID with batteries protected write cache (BBU)
Fast hard drives, best results with 15k rpm SAS, Raid10
Two Gbit NIC (for bonding), additional NIC´s depending on the preferred storage technology
Minimum (for testing)
CPU: 64bit (Intel EMT64 or AMD64)
Intel VT/AMD-V capable CPU/Mainboard (for KVM Full Virtualization support)
Minimum 1 GB RAM
Hard drive
One NIC
Supported storage technologies (NAS/SAN)
The following standard technologies are supported, if you are unsure which one to choose contact us.
Local storage (mandatory)
iSCSI
FC
NFS
DRBD
AoE
CIFS
... and all other Debian capable solutions