Implementing a Virtual Server Environment: Getting Started

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Table Of Contents

Implementing a Virtual Server Environment:

Getting Started

Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3

Chapter 2: Assessing and Planning....................................................................................................... 4

Long-term roadmap .......................................................................................................................... 4

Short-term roadmap.......................................................................................................................... 4

Chapter 3: Understanding the Choices for Virtualization Technologies...................................................... 6

Partitioning Solutions: ....................................................................................................................... 6

Why choose nPartitions (nPars)? ........................................................................................................ 6

Key Benefits................................................................................................................................. 6

Trade-offs .................................................................................................................................... 6

Sweet Spots................................................................................................................................. 6

Why choose Virtual Partitions (vPars)? ................................................................................................ 6

Key Benefits................................................................................................................................. 6

Trade-offs .................................................................................................................................... 7

Sweet Spots................................................................................................................................. 7

Why choose Integrity Virtual Machines (VMs)? .................................................................................... 7

Key Benefits................................................................................................................................. 7

Trade-offs .................................................................................................................................... 7

Sweet Spots................................................................................................................................. 8

Why choose Resource Partitions or Secure Resource Partitions (SRPs)?.................................................... 8

Key Benefits................................................................................................................................. 8

Trade-offs .................................................................................................................................... 8

Sweet Spots................................................................................................................................. 9

HP Utility Pricing Solutions:................................................................................................................ 9

Why choose Instant Capacity (iCAP)? ................................................................................................ 9

Key Benefits................................................................................................................................. 9

Trade-offs .................................................................................................................................... 9

Sweet Spots................................................................................................................................. 9

Why choose Temporary Instant Capacity (TiCAP)?............................................................................... 9

Key Benefits................................................................................................................................. 9

Trade-offs .................................................................................................................................... 9

Sweet Spots................................................................................................................................. 9

Why choose Global Instant Capacity (GiCAP)................................................................................... 10

Key Benefits............................................................................................................................... 10

Summary of content (20 pages)

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Implementing a Virtual Server Environment: Getting Started Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 3 Chapter 2: Assessing and Planning....................................................................................................... 4 Long-term roadmap .......................................................................................................................... 4 Short-term roadmap......
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Trade-offs .................................................................................................................................. 10 Sweet Spots ............................................................................................................................... 10 Automation Solutions: ..................................................................................................................... 10 Why choose Workload Manager (WLM) or Global Workload Manager (gWLM)?.............
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Chapter 1: Introduction Many customers have said that they like the concept of the HP Virtual Server Environment (VSE), but that it seems complex and disruptive to their environment, and they don’t know where to begin. Achieving a virtualized environment and a truly Adaptive Infrastructure is a journey, and not an all-ornothing goal that must be reached in the first implementation.
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Chapter 2: Assessing and Planning Every organization is unique and has different challenges and problems to solve, but all must use a similar process. This chapter is intended to help you organize your thoughts and plans. Long-term roadmap The first step is to identify your organization’s business drivers and long-term goals.
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common. Which of these problems apply to your organization, and which ones need to be addressed first? For most customers, any change in the IT infrastructure or application environment poses some level of complexity or risk. This paper discusses the various ways that you can implement changes incrementally, from those that are least disruptive to your current environment to those that represent the greatest change and therefore provide the greatest benefit.
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Chapter 3: Understanding the Choices for Virtualization Technologies This chapter describes the key benefits, trade-offs, and sweet spots for some of the HP virtualization technologies. Understanding these will help you determine which technology is most appropriate for solving a specific problem or achieving a certain benefit. Use this information as you decide on a pilot project and assess the level of complexity and the amount of change that may be required to implement them.
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• Operating system isolation (each vPar is a unique instance of HP-UX). • CPU and memory resources can be changed or moved dynamically between vPars that are within the same nPar. • Negligible overhead • Good choice for I/O-intensive applications as compared with HP Integrity Virtual Machines. Trade-offs • No hardware fault isolation for vPars running in the same nPar (that is, a hardware failure within an nPar will affect all vPars in that nPar). • HP-UX is the only operating system supported.
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• Integrity VMs and vPars cannot be used within the same nPar. • Each Integrity VM currently limited to 8 cores. • Hardware resources are shared, so not a good choice if dedicated hardware is required. • Not supported on PA-RISC systems. • There is a slight decrease in performance for I/O, so not the best choice for I/O-intensive applications.
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Sweet Spots • Excellent choice for application stacking. Can run multiple instances of the same application on the same OS while maintaining application isolation and resource-level guarantees. • Allows for resource-level control and application isolation without requiring a separate instance of the OS. HP Utility Pricing Solutions: Why choose Instant Capacity (iCAP)? Key Benefits • Allows you to defer the cost of system components (processors, memory, cell boards) until you need the capacity.
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Why choose Global Instant Capacity (GiCAP) Key Benefits • Allows iCAP resources to be shared across multiple servers (usage rights are deactivated on one server and activated on another). • TiCAP resources can also be pooled and shared across multiple servers. • GiCAP is also integrated with gWLM. Trade-offs • Available only on cell-based systems. Sweet Spots • Can use iCAP resources for load balancing across servers. • Can be useful in failover situations.
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• Automates sharing of GiCAP and TiCAP resources across GiCAP groups • Automates reallocation of resources in a failover situation.
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Chapter 4: HP VSE Reference Architectures HP VSE Reference Architectures (RAs) are documented best practices for solutions based on the VSE components and key industry applications. The VSE RAs may provide blueprints or guidelines for doing just what you are intending to do. HP VSE RAs are based on proven, real-world IT deployments, and might help reduce the time it takes you to implement similar solutions.
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Chapter 5: Identifying a Pilot Project As stated earlier, moving to a virtualized environment is a journey. It’s completely up to you whether to start with a project that is highly visible and very important to your business, or with a smaller project just to get oriented to a virtualized environment. HP has worked with customers who have done both. Starting small allows you to always add new projects and new functionality later because these technologies are designed to work well together.
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Chapter 6: Making Your Choices This chapter provides an ordered set of steps that you can follow to help select your particular implementation of HP virtualization technologies. The following steps consider the possibilities incrementally, from those that are least disruptive to your current environment to those that represent the greatest change and, therefore, the greatest benefit.
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Table 2. Sizing worksheet: workload information Legacy server or workload Number of Integrity CPU cores Memory required Normal Processing Peak Processing Expected Growth Total for Workload Capacity Advisor One tool that you can use for gathering performance utilization data is Capacity Advisor, a management tool provided in the HP VSE suite of products.
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nPartitions If hardware or electrical isolation required. If work load needs dedicated hw resources. Virtual Partitions If hardware or electrical isolation not required. If work load needs dedicated hw resources. If workload is not suitable for a VM: (e.g. Needs dedicated hardware resources or is I/O-intensive. Integrity Virtual Machines If If If If If Resource Partitions or Secure Resource Partitions If hw/electrical isolation not required.
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use of partitioning solutions. If you chose cell-based system, the next step is to consider adding iCAP or TiCAP resources. Utility Pricing It’s easy to see that you should use iCAP resources if you are planning to run on a cell-based system. Perhaps you even chose a cell-based system specifically because of the iCAP capabilities. iCAP is a very cost- effective way to have spare capacity available for growth, whether expected or unexpected.
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The second thing to consider when organizing the partitions is how the resources might be shared. To do this, you must further analyze each workload to understand its resource usage during peak processing periods as well as any expected growth. Try to determine when the peak usage periods occur and how predictable this behavior is. If possible, combine virtual machines or vPars so that their peak processing periods don’t overlap. (Capacity Advisor is very good at helping with this task.
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Implement the Pilot Project Now that you have determined which virtualization technologies to use for your pilot project, you need to set up and test the new environment. As stated earlier, if your pilot project involves an application from an ISV, be sure to let the ISV know your intentions. They might already have done something similar and therefore might have some useful advice to help you.
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For more information For more information about HP VSE and virtualization technologies, see the VSE website at www.hp.com/go/vse White paper: “An Introduction to the HP Virtual Server Environment,” located at http://docs.hp.com/en/11011/IntroToVSE.pdf Virtual Server Environment Reference Architectures: follow the appropriate links at www.hp.