The selection you make from the installation wizard not only defines the Maximum Memory Pool value for the Java Virtual Machine, but also the Initial Memory Pool value.  Following is a chart which takes a look at vCenter Server 4.0 & 4.1 JVM Memory Configuration comparisions:

As noted by the table above, in vCenter Server 4.0, the JVM Maximum Memory Pool was configured by default at 1024MB.  The vCenter Server 4.1 installation also defaults to 1024MB (Small <100 hosts) if left unchanged. One other comparison – pay attention to the difference in Initial Memory Pool. By default, vCenter 4.1 uses twice the amount of RAM out of the gate than previous versions.

Although the installation wizard JVM tuning component is new in 4.1, the ability to tune the JVM for vCenter is not.  The Configure Tomcat application has been available in previous versions of vCenter.  Some organizations with growing infrastructures may have been instructed by VMware support to tune the JVM values to overcome a vCenter issue having to do with scaling or some other issue.

Judging from the table, one can assume that the 1024MB value was appropriate for managing less than 100 hosts in vCenter 4.0.  As a point of reference, the Configuration Maximums document states that 300 hosts can be managed by vCenter 4.0.  This would imply that managing 100 hosts or more with vCenter 4.0 requires an adjustment to the out of box setting for the JVM Maximum Memory Pool (change from 1024MB to 2048MB). 

With vCenter 4.1, VMware has improved scaling in terms of the number of hosts a vCenter Server can manage.  The Configuration Maximums document specifies vCenter 4.1 can manage 400 hosts but the table above implies VMware may be preparing to support more than 400 hosts in the near future.  And that’s awesome because vCenter Server sprawl sucks. Period.

So have fun tuning the JVM but before you go, a few parting tips:

• The Initial Memory Pool value defines the memory footprint (Commit Size) of the Tomcat process when the service is first started.  The Maximum Memory Pool defines the memory footprint which the Tomcat process is allowed to grow to.  Make sure you have sufficient RAM installed in your server to accommodate both of these values.
• Setting the Initial Memory Pool to a value greater than the Maximum Memory Pool will prevent the Tomcat VJM from starting.  I thought I’d mention that before you spend too much time pulling your hair out.
• If you would like to learn more about tuning Tomcat, vast resources exist on the internet.  This looks like a good place to start.

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

vCenter Server JVM Memory

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• June 24, 2009 -- vSphere upgrade experience, day 1

Unable to retrieve health data from https://<VC servername or IP address>/converter/health.xml

VMware has provided a workaround to this issue in KB 1025010.  The workaround involves installing the ldp.exe application binary from Microsoft, however, since I’m running vCenter Server on Windows Server 2008 R2, the binary is already in place by default and no download and installation was required. I’ve applied the workaround and after a service restart and a brief wait, the Service Status health went completely green, which is desired.

It’s worth nothing for posterity that step 3a is missing a small piece which I have provided in red below:

Double-click DC=virtualcenter,DC=vmware,DC=int, then double-click
-OU=Health,DC=virtualcenter,DC=vmware,DC=int
-OU=ComponentSpecs,OU=Health,DC=virtualcenter,DC=vmware,DC=int
-CN=<GUID>.vpxd,CN=<GUID>,OU=ComponentSpecs,OU=Health,DC=virtualcenter,DC=vmware
-CN=com.vmware.converter,CN=<GUID>,OU=ComponentSpecs,OU=Health,DC=virtualcenter,DC

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

Unable To Retrieve Health Data

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• March 12, 2010 -- Perf Charts Service Experienced An Internal Error
• November 22, 2009 -- Old vCenter Server Name Shown In Title Bar; Update Manager Plugin Fails
• November 21, 2009 -- Create a 32-bit vCenter DSN on a 64-bit Operating System
• November 20, 2009 -- 64-bit vCenter Server Coming? VMFS-2 Support Going Away?
• July 10, 2009 -- Not All FT Compatible CPUs Are Created Equal
• June 24, 2009 -- vSphere upgrade experience, day 1

Truth be told, I began working on the next version of vCalendar right after the first version was released back in August 2009. Like vSphere 4.0 and 4.1, vCalendar 2.0 boasts 150 new features. That’s right – 150 brand new virtualization facts, tips, best practices, configuration maximums, and historical events.  What’s in the new version?  It’s safe to say you’ll probably find some vSphere 4.1 tips, additional advanced concepts, some more key dates in virtualization history, among other new, improved, and valuable items.  I highly suggest you order the new vCalendar 2.0 to find out!

But wait… if there’s 150 new entries, what happened to last year’s entries?  I have to say, it was extremely difficult, but with just 365 days in the year, I had to find 150 of last year’s entries to remove in order to make way for the 150 new entries.  What’s unfortunate is that most of the archived entries are still relevant and therefore valuable. I struggled with the thought of letting the archived entries disappear forever. So here’s what I’ve done about that.  I’m releasing vCalendar 1.0 as a free download in a searchable Adobe PDF format.  You can download vCalendar 1.0 by clicking on this link. I thank you for your support and I hope you get some additional mileage out of it.  The remaining entries from last year which were carried forward were combined into the pool of new entries and all were randomized to provide a fresh new vCalendar.

Continue reading at the official vCalendar web page to learn more including the information on how to obtain vCalendar 2.0.

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

vCalendar 2.0 Released; 1.0 Free Electronic Download

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• August 7, 2009 -- 2nd Batch of vSphere Patches Arrive (Critical)

Veeam Reporter™ discovers, documents and analyzes your entire virtual infrastructure. It maintains a complete history of all objects, settings and changes. And it trends performance and utilization. So you can really understand your virtual infrastructure—past, present and future.

When it comes to documenting and reporting on your virtual infrastructure, Reporter does it all.

This new free version contains most of the features of the full version.  The free edition can easily be upgraded to the full version of Veeam Reporter to gain these additional capabilities (A features comparison can found here):

• Capacity planning (report pack)
• Historical change management (beyond the most recent 24 hours)
• Microsoft Visio reports for multipathing, network, vMotion, and datastore utilization
• Full access to archive data—to create custom reports or update your configuration management database (CMDB)
• Full dashboard capabilities
• Automatic report distribution

I was invited by Veeam to take a look at the beta version of Veeam Reporter Free Edition.  I’ve captured some of my experience and documented it here.

Installation

Installation of Veeam Reporter Free Edition is fairly straightforward but I should disclose that I’m working with a beta (pre GA) version.  I installed on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard (64-bit only) which is my preferred platform, if supported by the vendor’s product (Veeam Reporter supports it).  Veeam Reporter requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5.1.  In Windows Server 2008 R2, this is installed as a Feature:

If installing the Veeam Reporter’s Web UI (the default), the IIS Role is also required during the .NET Framework instllation…plus a few extra roles:

During the beta, I ran into a JavaScrip error message after the installation was complete:

As it turns out, the issue has nothing to do with JavaScript, rather, the Static Content Role must be installed for IIS:

During the Veeam Reporter installation routine, I also installed the Microsoft PowerShell component which is optional:

The Veeam Reporter PowerShell snap-in enables users to perform reporting tasks by running single cmdlets or custom automation scripts via the command-line interface.  The PowerShell SnapIn ReporterDBSnapIn is installed which adds the following Veeam Reporter specific cmdlets to the PowerShell environment:

CONNECT-VRVISERVER
DISCONNECT-VRVISERVER
GET-VRVM
GET-VRVMHOST
GET-VRDATASTORE
GET-VRRESOURCEPOOL
GET-VRCLUSTER
GET-VRSNAPSHOT
GET-VRCURRENTDATE
SET-VRCURRENTDATE

As is quite common with virtualization management tools, including VMware vCenter itself, a back end database is required for the storage of datacenter information.  Veeam Reporter has the ability to leverage an existing Microsoft SQL Server.  In the absence of a dedicated SQL server, Veeam Reporter will install Microsoft SQL Express and integrate with it locally.  Installation of a local SQL Express instance takes quite some time as the necessary SQL binaries (including SP1) are downloaded at this time (this also implies internet connectivity from the Veeam Reporter server is required).

A logoff/logon is required at the end of the installation as opposed to a system reboot:

Configuration

Now that the installation is complete, the next step is to configure Veeam Reporter Free Edition.  There’s really not much to the initial configuration or data collection.  Add to that, the installation and data collection process is agentless – a definite plus. 

So before any data can be displayed, it needs to be collected from the vCenter Server(s).  This is handled by creating a Collection Job which points at the vCenter Server and pulls in the data that Veeam uses.  A collection job should be scheduled to run periodically so that it grabs updated data at regular intervals.  I set up a Collection Job to run automatically once per day at midnight.  For the purposes of instant gratification, I manually ran the job to get some data:

In addition to configuring a Collection Job, I also set up a few of the ancillary items one would commonly find in reporting and management applications such as an Email server.

Now that I have some data, I can start creating useful reports and that’s where the fun begins.  I will cover some of the reports in the next update so stay tuned.

In the mean time, download your copy of Veeam Reporter Free Edition today and get started!

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

Veeam Reporter 4.0 Free Edition

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Zetta, Veeam, Xsigo, and Symantec have contributed resources to the contest allowing two lucky winners to attend the planet’s largest virtualization showcase.  Winners will be awarded Friday August 13th.

I hope to see you there!

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

“Get Away to VMworld” Contest

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The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized

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Hello gang!  For anyone who doesn’t specifically follow the NetApp blogs, this is just a quick heads up to let you know that NetApp has updated its popular NetApp and VMware vSphere Storage Best Practices book and is offering 1,000 free copies of the new Version 2.0 edition. 

The free copies are available while supplies last so get registered for yours soon!

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

Free Book – vSphere on NetApp Best Practices

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User-configurable Number of Virtual CPUs per Virtual Socket: You can configure virtual machines to have multiple virtual CPUs reside in a single virtual socket, with each virtual CPU appearing to the guest operating system as a single core. Previously, virtual machines were restricted to having only one virtual CPU per virtual socket. See the vSphere Virtual Machine Administration Guide.

VMware multicore virtual CPU support lets you control the number of cores per virtual CPU in a virtual machine. This capability lets operating systems with socket restrictions use more of the host CPU’s cores, which increases overall performance.

Using multicore virtual CPUs can be useful when you run operating systems or applications that can take advantage of only a limited number of CPU sockets. Previously, each virtual CPU was, by default, assigned to a single-core socket, so that the virtual machine would have as many sockets as virtual CPUs.

You can configure how the virtual CPUs are assigned in terms of sockets and cores. For example, you can configure a virtual machine with four virtual CPUs in the following ways:

• Four sockets with one core per socket (legacy, this is how we’ve always done it prior to vSphere 4.1)
• Two sockets with two cores per socket (new in vSphere 4.1)
• One socket with four cores per socket (new in vSphere 4.1)

VMware defines a CPU as:

The portion of a computer system that carries out the instructions of a computer program and is the primary element carrying out the computer’s functions.

VMware defines a Core as:

A logical execution unit containing an L1 cache and functional units needed to execute programs. Cores can independently execute programs or threads.

VMware defines a Socket as:

A physical connector on a computer motherboard that accepts a single physical chip. Many motherboards can have multiple sockets that can in turn accept multicore chips.

One of the benefits of multicore which physical computing had was increased density of the hardware.  VMs do not share this advantage as they are virtual to begin with and have no rack footprint to speak of.

VMware’s benefit statement for this feature is a legitimate one and is the primary use case.  It’s the same benefit which applied when multicore (as well as hyperthreading to some extent) technology was introduced to physical servers.  What VMware doesn’t advertise is that the limitation being discussed usually revolves around software licensing - a per-socket license model to be precise which is what many software vendors still use.  For example, if I own a piece of software and I have a single socket license, traditionally I was only able to use this software inside of a single vCPU VM.  With Multicore Virtual CPUs, Virtual Machines have now caught up with their physcial hardware counterparts in that a single socket VM can be created which has 4 cores per socket.  Using the working example, the advantage I have now is that I can run my application inside a VM which still has 1 socket, but 4 cores for a net result of 4 vCPUs instead of just 1 vCPU.  I didn’t have to pay my software vendor additional money for the added CPU power.  To show how this translates into dollars and cents, let’s assume a per socket license cost of my application to be $1,000 and then extrapolate those numbers using VMware’s example above of how CPUs can be assigned in terms of sockets and cores:

Now, all of this said, the responsibility is on the end user to be in license compliance with his or her software vendors.  Just becasue you can do this doens’t mean you’re legally obliged to do so.  Be sure to read your EULA and check with your software vendor or reseller before implementing VMware Multicore Virtual CPUs.

Implementation of Multicore Virtual CPUs was quite straightfoward in VMware Workstation.  Upon creating a new VM or editing an existing VM’s settings, the following interface was presented for configuring vCPUs and cores per vCPU in VMware Workstation.  In this example, a 2xDC (Dual Core) configuration is being applied which results in a total of 4 CPU cores which will serve the VM’s operating system, applications, and users. Note that here, the term “processors” on the first line translates to “sockets”:

Making the same 2xDC CPU configuration in vSphere 4.1 isn’t difficult but nonetheless it is done differently.  Configuring total vCPUs and cores per vCPU is achieved by applying configurations in two different areas of the VM configuration. The combination of the two configurations produces a mathematical calculation which ultimately determines cores per vCPU.

First of all, the total number of cores (processors) is selected in the VM’s CPU configuration.  This hasn’t changed and should be familiar to you.  The number of cores (processors) available for selection here is going to be 1 thru 4 or 1 thru 8 if you have Enterprise Plus licensing.  I’ve purposely included the notation of the VM hardware version 7 which is required. An inconsistency here compared to VMware Workstation is that the term “virtual processors” translates to “cores”, not “sockets”:

Configuring the number of cores per processor is where VMware has deviated from the VMware Workstation implementation.  In ESX and ESXi, this configuration is made as an advanced setting in the .vmx file.  Edit the VM settings, navigate to the Options tab, choose General in the Advanced options list. Click the Configuration Parameters button which allows you to edit the .vmx file on a row by row basis.  Click the Add Row button and add the line item cpuid.coresPerSocket. For the value, your going to supply the number of cores per processor which is generally going to be a value of 2, 4, or 8 (Enterprise Plus licensing required).  Note, using a value of 1 here would serve no practical purpose because it would configure a single core vCPU which is what we’ve had all along up until this point:

As a supplement, here are the requirements for implementing Multicore Virtual CPUs:

• VMware vSphere 4.1 (vCenter 4.1, ESX 4.1 or ESXi 4.1).
• Virtual Machine hardware version 7 is required.
• The VM must be powered off to configure Multicore Virtual CPUs.
• The total number of vCPUs for the VM divided by the number of cores per socket must be a positive integer.
• The cpuid.coresPerSocket value must be a power of 2. The documentation explicitely states a value of 2, 4, or 8 is required, but 1 works as well although as stated before it would serve no practical purpose.
  • 2^0=1 (anything to the power of 0 always equals 1)
  • 2^1=2 (anything to the power of 1 always equals itself)
  • 2^2=4
  • 2^3=8
• When you configure multicore virtual CPUs for a virtual machine, CPU hot Add/Remove is disabled (previously called CPU hot plug).
• You must be in compliance with the requirements of the operating system EULA.

This feature rocks and I think customers have been waiting a long time for it.  Duncan mentioned it quite some time ago but obvioulsy it was unsupported at that time.  I am a little puzzled by the implementation mechanisms, mainly the configuration of the .vmx to specify cores per CPU.  I suppose it lends itself to scriptability and thus automation, but in that sense, we lack the flexibility to configure cores per CPU with guest customization when deploying VMs from a template.  Essentially this means cores per CPU needs to be hard coded in each of my templates or cores per CPU needs to be manually tuned after deploying each VM from a template.  When I take a step back, I guess that’s no different than any other virtual hardware configuration stored in templates, but with the cores per CPU setting being buried in the .vmx as an advanced setting, it’s that much more of a manal/administrative burden to configure cores per CPU for each VM deployed than it is to simply change the number of CPUs or amount of RAM.  It would be nice if the guest customization process offered a quick way to configure cores per processor.

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

vSphere 4.1: Multicore Virtual CPUs

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Ping statistics for w.x.y.z:
Packets: Sent = 8650, Received = 8573, Lost = 77 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 107ms, Maximum = 3220ms, Average = 205ms

I was easily able to upgrade a vCenter Server and build an ESXi host to vSphere 4.1, as well as process a bunch of email I had fallen behind on.  The cost was $9.95 and given my satisfaction of the service and what I was able to accomplish, it was well worth the price.  I wish more flights offered this service.

Two Thumbs Up!

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

GoGo Inflight Internet

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Direct link to the letter (MS Word format)

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

VMworld 2010: An ROI Message for Your Manager

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First a bit of background information on NEC as a corporation:

• Founded in 1899
• 142,000 employees
• 50,000 patents worldwide

Storage. NEC opened up with some of today’s storage challenges faced by many.  Enter HYDRAstor, a two-tier grid architecture comprised of the following key building blocks:

• Accelerator nodes – Deliver linear performance scalability for backup and archive.
• Storage nodes – Deliver non-disruptive capacity scalability from terabytes to petabytes.
• Standard configurations are delivered with a ratio of 1 Accelerator node for every 2 Storage node – ie.:
  • HS8-2004R = 2AN + 4SN = 24TB-48TB Raw
  • HS8-2010R = 5AN = 10SN = 120TB Raw
  • HS8-2020R = 10AN+20SN = 240TB
  • HS8-2110R = 55AN+110SN = 1.3PB Raw

HYDRAstor delivers the following industry standard benefits:

• Scalability – Non disruptive independent linear scaling of capacity and performance; concurrent multiple generations of compute and storage technology.
• Self evolving – Automated load balancing and incorporation of new technology reduces application downtime and data outages.
• Cost efficiency – Reduce storage consumption by 95% or more with superior data deduplication. Ever “green” evolution of energy savings features.
• Resiliency – Greater protection than RAID witih less overhead.
• Manageability – No data migration, zero data provisioning, self-managing storage; single platform for multiple data types, formats and quality of service needs.

A few of other key selling points about HYDRAstor:

• Global Data Deduplication of backup and archive data is achieved during ingest by combining DataRedux with grid storage architecture.  Dedupe of 20% to 50% across all datasets.
• Distributed Resilient Data (DRD) technology drives data protection beyond what RAID protection offers with less overhead.  At its native configuration, user data is protected against up to three simultaneous disk or node failures.  This equates to 150% greater resiliency than RAID6 and 300% greater resiliency than RAID5 with less storage overhead and no performance degradtion during rebuild and leveling processes.
• Turnkey delivery.  According to the brochure, HYDRAstor can be installed and performing backup or archive in less than 45 minutes.  I’m not sure what the point of this proclaimation is other than it will most likely be purchased in a pre-racked, cabled, and hopefully configured state.  When I think about deploying enterprise storage, it’s not something I contemplate performing end to end over my lunch hour.

I know some of the other delegates were really excited about HYDRAstor and its enabling technologies.  Sorry NEC, I wasn’t feeling it.  HYDRAstor’s approach seems to consume more rack space than the competition, more cabling, and based on today’s lab walkthru, more cooling.

Note : Tech Field Day is a sponsored event. Although I receive no direct compensation and take personal leave to attend, all event expenses are paid by the sponsors through Gestalt IT Media LLC. No editorial control is exerted over me and I write what I want, if I want, when I want, and how I want.

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

Gestalt IT Tech Field Day – NEC

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• May 13, 2010 -- NetApp disk replacement – so easy a caveman and his tech savvy neighbor can do it
• May 10, 2010 -- NetApp Deduplication
• April 6, 2010 -- Announcing the Drobo FS Storage Appliance

Gestalt IT Tech Field Day 2 begins with Compellent, a storage vendor out of Eden Prairie, MN.  Compellent has been around for about eight years and, like other well known multiprotocol SAN vendors, offers spindles of FC, SATA, SAS, and SSD via FC block, iSCSI, NFS, and CIFS.

Compellent’s hardware approach is a modular one.  Many of the components, such as drives and interfaces (Ethernet, FC, etc.), are easily replacable and hot swappable, eliminating the need to “rip and replace” the entire frame of hardware and providing the ability to upgrade components without taking down the array.

In April of 2010, Compellent introduced the new zNAS solution:

Compellent introduces the new zNAS solution, which consolidates file and block storage on a single, intelligent platform. The latest unified storage offering from Compellent integrates next-generation ZFS software, high-performance hardware and Fluid Data architecture to actively manage and move data in a virtual pool of storage, regardless of the size and type of block, file or drive. Enterprises can simplify management, intelligently scale capacity, improve performance for critical applications and reduce complexity and costs.

Fluid Data Storage is Compellent’s granular approach to data management

• Virtualization
• Intelligence
• Automation
• Utilization

Volume Creation

• Thin provisioning (by default), thin write & space reclamation
• Automated tiered storage & fast track

Volume Recovery

• Snapshots (Replay)
• Boot from SAN
• Thin replication
• Live volume

Volume Management

• Enterprise Management

Integration 

• VMware
  • Leveraging many of the features mentioned above
  • HCL compatibility although I don’t see ESXi in the list which would be a major concern for VMware customers given that ESX is being phased out.  Compellent responded they believe their arrays are compatible with ESXi and will look into updating their VMware support page if that is the case.  VMware’s HCL also shows Compellent storage is not currently certified for ESXi. Significant correction to the earlier statement: VMware’s HCL for storage is inconsistently different than it’s HCL for host hardware in that the host hardware HCL lists explicit compatiblity for both ESX and ESXi, whereas the storage HCL explicitly lists ESX compatibility which implies equivilent ESXi compatibility. Compellent arrays, as of this writing, are both ESX4 and ESXi4 compatible.
• Microsoft
  • PowerShell (for automation and consistency of storage management)
  • Hyper-V

Compellent performed a live demo of their Replay (Snapshot) feature with a LUN presented to a Windows host.  It worked slick and as expected. Compellent’s Windows based storage management UI has a fresh, no-nonsense, 21st century feel to it which I can appreciate.

We closed discussion answering the question “Why Compellent?”  Top Reasons:

1. Efficiency
2. Long term ROI, cost savings through the upgrade model
3. Ease of use

Follow them on Twitter at @Compellent.

Thank you Compellent for the presentation and I’m sure I’ll see you back in Minnesota!

Note : Tech Field Day is a sponsored event. Although I receive no direct compensation and take personal leave to attend, all event expenses are paid by the sponsors through Gestalt IT Media LLC. No editorial control is exerted over me and I write what I want, if I want, when I want, and how I want.

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

Gestalt IT Tech Field Day – Compellent

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• July 15, 2010 -- Gestalt IT Tech Field Day Seattle
• May 15, 2010 -- P2V Milestone
• March 25, 2010 -- Configuring disks to use VMware Paravirtual SCSI (PVSCSI) adapters
• January 19, 2009 -- KB1008130: VMware ESX and ESXi 3.5 U3 I/O failure on SAN LUN(s) and LUN queue is blocked indefinitely
• January 8, 2009 -- How VMware virtualized Exchange 2007
• December 3, 2008 -- LAN party!
• November 11, 2008 -- Live migration between CPU vendors demonstrated by AMD and Red Hat
• November 6, 2008 -- VMware adds additional thin client support for VDM 2.1
• October 27, 2008 -- Connect a fibre attached tape device to a VM on ESX
• October 19, 2008 -- The Lab – Then and Now

We’re on to our 3rd and final presentation here at Gestalt IT Tech Field Day.  After a short road trip into beautiful downtown Seattle, we’ve arrived at F5.  At 1,800 employees strong, F5 was named one of the best places to work in the Seattle area.  From a high level, F5′s business goal is to optimize the end user experience.

Today, F5 showed us simulated long distance vMotion.  F5 enables this with mid-range BIG-IP appliances stretching a Layer 2 network between two geographically disbursed datacenters along with providing WAN Optimization to access IP based storage between datacenters.  In addition, the hardware appliances expose APIs which VMware Orchestrator uses to assist the F5 into directing traffic between sites.  F5 has tested at up to 300ms round trip latency and a 10Mbps link.  This is what it looks like:

Another thing I learned today is that just a few months ago, in March 2010, F5 released the BIG-IP LTM VE.  This is a virtual appliance that falls in the BIG-F5 family of products.  Today that appliance is supported on only one virtualization platform and it should come as no surprise that the hypervisor of choice is VMware.

BIG-IP® Local Traffic Manager™ (LTM) Virtual Edition (VE) takes your Application Delivery Network virtual. You get the agility you need to create a mobile, scalable, and adaptable infrastructure for virtualized applications. And like physical BIG‑IP devices, BIG-IP LTM VE is a full proxy between users and application servers, providing a layer of abstraction that secures, optimizes, and load balances application traffic.

Speaking of F5 and VMware, Why would you want F5 for VMware vSphere?

•F5 Management Plug-In for VMware vSphere
The F5 Management Plug-in simplifies common BIG-IP LTM administrative tasks in a vSphere environment, reduces the risk of error and enables basic automation.

•Integration with vCenter Server
Respond automatically to changes in the infrastructure with seamless integration between VMware and F5.

•Increased VM density by up to 60 percent
Free up server resources by offloading CPU-intensive operations to achieve maximum utilization and consolidation.

•Long-distance vMotion
Enable fully automated long-distance VMotion and Storage VMotion events between data centers without downtime or user disruption. 

•Acceleration of VMotion and Storage VMotion
Accelerate VMotion events over the WAN up to 10x by compressing, deduplicating, and optimizing traffic.

•Other virtualization considerations with F5
File Virtualization
Infrastructure Virtualization
Server Virtualization

 •F5 and VMware Solution Guide

What about F5 and Cloud Benefits?

•Reduce Complexity
With a reusable framework of services that can be leveraged across static, dedicated servers as well as across multi-site cloud deployments, you immediately gain value that grows as your applications grow.

•Increased Control
By integrating traffic management, dynamic provisioning, access control, and management, you can more readily outsource the processing of applications and data without giving up ownership and control.

•Context Awareness
Having a complete picture of the user, network, application, and services gives you a unique ability to use context to determine how applications and data are delivered.

•Reduced Switching Costs
With a centrally controlled method of delivering applications and data, you can move resources anywhere at a moment’s notice without worrying about the capabilities of host locations.

This was a great session where I think I picked up the most information so far.  F5 is one of those technologies I see a lot in the datacenter but I’ve not worked intimately with.  I like their value-added integration with virtualization and adoption of a cloud vision.

Note : Tech Field Day is a sponsored event. Although I receive no direct compensation and take personal leave to attend, all event expenses are paid by the sponsors through Gestalt IT Media LLC. No editorial control is exerted over me and I write what I want, if I want, when I want, and how I want.

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

Gestalt IT Tech Field Day – F5

Related Posts

• August 16, 2010 -- Veeam Reporter 4.0 Free Edition
• August 2, 2010 -- Free Book – vSphere on NetApp Best Practices
• July 16, 2010 -- Gestalt IT Tech Field Day – Compellent
• July 15, 2010 -- Gestalt IT Tech Field Day – Nimble Storage
• July 15, 2010 -- Gestalt IT Tech Field Day – Veeam
• July 15, 2010 -- Gestalt IT Tech Field Day Seattle
• June 11, 2010 -- NFS and Name Resolution
• May 27, 2010 -- vSphere Upgrade Prerequisites Checklist
• May 19, 2010 -- Top 10 Free vSphere ESX Tools and Utilities by KendrickColeman.com
• May 15, 2010 -- P2V Milestone

The secret sauce is in Nimble’s CASL (pronounced “castle” Cache-Accelerated Sequential Layout) Architecture which can be thought of as a reincarnation of VMware co-founder Mendel Rosenblum’s Log-Structured File System.

• Inline Compression
• Large Adaptive Flash Cache
• High-Capacity Disk Storage
• Integrated Backup

Resulting advantages provided are:

• Inline compression (2:1 – 4:1 ratio)
• High performance
• Low cost SATA disk stores both primary data as well as 90 day snapshot retention
• WAN-efficient offsite replication for cost-effective DR
• Storage and Backup Optimized for VMware/Microsoft environments
• Benefits for Sharepoint, SQL, and Exchange as well

From the Nimble Storage website:

Storing, accessing, and protecting your data shouldn’t be so complicated and expensive. Nimble’s breakthrough CASL™ architecture combines flash memory with high-capacity disk to converge storage, backup, and disaster recovery for the first time. The bottom line: High-performance iSCSI storage, instant backups and restores, and full-featured disaster recovery — all in one cost-effective, easy-to-manage solution.

Benefits for VMware Deployments

•Dramatic VM Consolidation and Cost Reduction
Groundbreaking CASL architecture includes innovations that enable dramatic consolidation of Virtual Servers and desktops. The hybrid flash and low-cost HDD-based architecture deliver very high random performance for demanding workloads at very low cost. Built-in capacity optimization and block sharing capabilities provide large capacity savings for both flash and disk. The net result is a single array that can easily serve the performance and capacity requirements for hundreds of high performance virtual servers, dramatically reducing cost, rackspace, power, and management expense. Further consolidation and cost savings come from the built-in capacity optimized backup capability, which eliminates dedicated disk backup devices, while enabling 90 days of efficient backup.

•Backup and Restore VMs Instantly
Nimble arrays enable instant Hypervisor consistent backup and restore of datastores and VMs, while eliminating backup windows. Nimble Protection Manager integrates with vCenter APIs to simplify management of Hypervisor-consistent backups, replicas and restores for VMware environments by leveraging Nimble’s instant, capacity optimized array-based snapshots. This converged solution enables dramatically better RPOs and RTOs compared with traditional solutions.

•Automated, Fast Offsite Disaster Recovery
WAN-efficient replication and fast failover enable quick, cost effective disaster recovery. Combined with instant backup capabilities, this enables rapid restore and very granular recovery points in the event of a site disaster. The entire failover process can be automated via management tools such as VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) which leverages a Nimble SRA to control the storage level failover capabilities.

•Simplified Virtual Infrastructure Management
Using predefined ESX performance and data protection policies, storage for new datastores can be provisioned and protected in just three steps. The Nimble Protection Manager integrates with vCenter APIs to simplify management of Hypervisor-consistent backups, replicas and restores for VMware environments, by leveraging Nimble’s instant, capacity optimized array based snapshots. A vCenter plugin simplifies and accelerates the task of cloning datastore or VM templates, by leveraging Nimble’s instant, high space efficient zero copy clones.

Two 3U capacity offerings available, both of which are served by an identical configuration of Active/Passive controllers, large flash layer, multicore Intel Xeon processors, and 2x quad GbE NICs (10GbE ready and available soon):

1. CS220: 9TB primary + 108TB backup
2. CS240: 18TB primrary + 216TB backup

Follow them on Twitter at @NimbleStorage.

Introduction to Nimble Storage at Tech Field Day Seattle from Stephen Foskett on Vimeo.

Note : Tech Field Day is a sponsored event. Although I receive no direct compensation and take personal leave to attend, all event expenses are paid by the sponsors through Gestalt IT Media LLC. No editorial control is exerted over me and I write what I want, if I want, when I want, and how I want.

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

Gestalt IT Tech Field Day – Nimble Storage

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• August 16, 2010 -- Veeam Reporter 4.0 Free Edition
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Free Products

• Veeam FastSCP
• Veeam Business View
• Veeam Monitor Free Edition
• Veeam Reporter Free Edition (announced today, available within 30 days)

Pay Products

• Veeam Backup & Replication
• Veeam Reporter
• Veeam Monitor
• nworks

The Veeam Product Strategy Alignment:

1. Past and Present: VMware vSphere
2. What’s next: Hyper-V

Today’s focus: Veeam Backup and Replication

Virtualization introduces a paradigm shift in our datacenter processes surrounding data protection and business continuation planning.  Traditional tools don’t fit any more.  Veeam provides the right tools for the virtualized datacenter.

Veeam has also introduced vPower: Virtualization-Powered Data Protection.  vPower is not a single product or technology in and of itself, it’s a suite of existing and new technologies.  What are the key components of vPower?  SureBackup, InstantRestore, and SmartCDP.  Let’s take a look in more detail:

• Run a VM directly from a backup file
• Automatically manager isolated virtual lab
• Instant VM recovery
• Universal application item recovery (U-AIR)
  • Wizard driven recovery for technologies such as MS AD, MS Exchange, and MS SQL
  • User directed item recovery from any application or database
• Recovery verification
• Rapid execution keeping RTO to a bare minimum

Veeam proceeded with a live lab demo using alpha code.  There was plenty of enthusiasm in the room from the delegates about the technology as it relates to virtualization.  The delegates revealed a strong foundation in virtualization concepts.  Generally speaking, this is cool and revolutionary technology, however, there were concerns expressed in a few areas:

1. Networking:  How do we ensure an isolated lab environment to avoid the pitfalls of duplicate machine identities or unintentional routing on the network?
2. Performance:  How well does the VM run which is tied to archive files?  Is there measurable, and more importantly, predictable overhead for common workload types?
3. Understanding:  This data protection and recovery approach, while innovative, is nonetheless new. Is there a with an inherent learning curve for datacenter operators or administrators?  Enabled with a wizard driven interface, I’d argue no, not really.  So long as the product works as designed, should we care how it ticks?  Like Lab Manager or Willy Wonka, you don’t ask how it works, “it just does”.

Veeam already has solid products but it is clear they aren’t content with resting on their laurels.  They continue to push the envelope in backup, replication, and disaster recovery, making the lives of data administrators and lowering RTO.

Availability: Q3 2010 (VMworld launch?)

Note : Tech Field Day is a sponsored event. Although I receive no direct compensation and take personal leave to attend, all event expenses are paid by the sponsors through Gestalt IT Media LLC. No editorial control is exerted over me and I write what I want, if I want, when I want, and how I want.

Post from: boche.net - VMware Virtualization Evangelist

Learn how to utilize VMware so you can save your company money this year from Train Signal! Click here for details!

Copyright (c) 2009 Jason Boche. The contents of this post may not be reproduced or republished on another web page or web site without prior written permission.

Gestalt IT Tech Field Day – Veeam

Related Posts

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• July 15, 2010 -- Gestalt IT Tech Field Day – F5
• July 15, 2010 -- Gestalt IT Tech Field Day – Nimble Storage
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• May 6, 2010 -- VKernel Capacity Analyzer
• February 21, 2010 -- RVTools 2.8.1 Released
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