IT operations groups and datacenter managers are always searching for new ways to reduce costs while still meeting security, configuration, and compliance requirements. Fortunately, there are numerous methods by which organizations can achieve these goals. On February 25th, I’ll be presenting a free, live webcast on the topic of The 2010 Data Center: Driving Cost-Efficiency, Security and Compliance. Here’s an overview of the topic from the webcast’s web site:
Thursday, February 25, 2010
10AM PST / 1PM EST
With the new decade comes new opportunity to implement the best technologies and practices for IT. Join this FREE live webinar to learn how to cost-effectively plan, implement and manage a 21st century data center to drive greater efficiency, security and compliance.
You’ll hear from leading experts about ways organizations are leveraging technologies such as virtualization and configuration management to build flexible, resilient, cost-efficient and high-performing data centers for 2010.
Join now to:
• Get a blueprint to plan and implement IT best practices to modernize, consolidate, and secure your technology environment
• Hear how to cost-effectively drive improved security and compliance across your IT infrastructure while staying agile and competitive
• Learn about the benefits of a combined solution for configuration assessment with configuration change auditing for improved data center operations
The presentation is arranged by Focus.com and is sponsored by TripWire. I’ll begin the presentation with an overview of technical best practices. Then, Barak Engel from EAmmune will provide specific information on products, technologies, and approaches you can use to achieve these goals. We’ll wrap up by taking live questions from the audience. The entire webcast should last under an hour.
The idea of virtual machine “sprawl” – the rapid proliferation of VMs without adequate IT oversight or management – seems to be a popular one. I have written and spoken on this topic before, but there have been enough changes in the tools and implementation methods for server virtualization to merit an updated presentation. That’s the topic of a recent webcast that I recorded for TechTarget’s SearchCIO.com site.
The webcast is titled “Understanding and Managing VM Sprawl”. An archived version is available for viewing at no cost (though registration is required). Here’s a brief abstract of the topic:
Virtualization can help address many of IT’s biggest headaches, but it can also lead to a problem known as "VM sprawl" – the rapid proliferation of VMs without sufficient IT oversight. The result is an environment that doesn’t meet security or administration requirements, putting applications, services, and data at risk.
This webcast will provide an overview of VM sprawl – its root causes and related issues, along with ways to mitigate the main issues. Specifically, it will provide best practices for managing the entire virtual machine life cycle (from deployment to retirement) and details related to tracking VMs in the environment. The webcast will then describe how automated virtualization management solutions can help provide all of the benefits of virtualization with minimum administrative overhead.
The content is targeted towards IT managers and higher-level IT people. It focuses on virtualization management strategies, though there’s a good amount of technical depth. The presentation is roughly 45 minutes in length. I hope you find it useful, and feel free to post questions or comments here.
Network Computing is hosting an online, virtual event that focuses on next-generation networking technologies. Here’s a brief blurb from the event web site:
This Next Generation Networks virtual event will bring you up to speed on networking state of the art by discussing the technologies that are going to drive network design and implementations today and in the future. You will learn from peers, analysts, and vendors about where the technologies are today and how you can prepare for a network overhaul.
Attendee Benefits:
- Download informative research, white papers, and other resources straight to your Virtual Briefcase.
- Access insightful webcasts featuring industry experts, Network Computing editors, and analysts.
- Interact with our guest speakers, other attendees, and exhibitors through real-time chat tools.
- Visit vendor booths and browse through products and solutions in our unique, interactive and entertaining environment.
Use the Event Registration page to sign up to attend. In addition to the virtual conference booths, you can view a list of presentations on the Distinguished Speakers page. I’ll be attending and will try to answer as many technical questions as possible in the Microsoft booth.
Often, new technology tends to bring with it some new problems that need to be addressed. Granted, the problems are “better” ones to have, but they’re important concerns nonetheless. Server virtualization is no exception.
It’s somewhat ironic that one of the main problems that server virtualization is designed to address, server sprawl, is often replaced with a similar problem – VM sprawl. It’s a topic that I’ve written a lot about in the past and on this blog. I recently revisited the topic and expanded on it in a White Paper that I wrote for Sun. Here’s the introduction from Best Practices to Prevent and Manage Virtual Machine Sprawl:
While server consolidation using virtualization can significantly decrease costs and improve efficiency, organizations often find that they need to deal with an associated issue: the rapid proliferation of VMs with inadequate management. This article will provide best practices for addressing the issue of "VM Sprawl", including the following:
- Creating and enforcing deployment policies
- Detecting and addressing unauthorized VMs
- Managing security and compliance in virtual environments
- Managing the entire VM lifecycle and Planning for VM retirement
- Sidebar: Steps to gaining (or regaining) control of a virtual environment.
The White Paper is available for free, but registration on the Sun Web site is required.
I recently recorded a webcast that focuses on an important topic related to virtualization management: Capacity Planning. The presentation is titled, Capacity planning: New challenges for your virtual infrastructure and is sponsored by VKernel. From the abstract:
Virtualization expert Anil Desai discusses the capacity planning and management demands created by virtualizing production-level applications, creating virtual infrastructures and server platforms, such as blade servers.
There are new challenges posed by virtualizing on a mix of blades or high-density servers and x86 in the same environment. Desai warns of the common mistakes made in capacity planning as virtualization usage is increased and offers ways to avoid them. Finally, he taps his own experiences with capacity planning and reveals best practices he uses everyday.
You can download the webcast for free (registration is required).
Microsoft is working hard to get IT pros to understand its many different virtualization products and technology. The list includes Hyper-V, App-V, Terminal Services, and the recently-released System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) 2008 management product. It can be really challenging to keep up-to-date on all of this new technology (especially when some of these things are potential game-changers). If you’re willing to invest the time, Microsoft has made numerous e-Learning courses available for online access or download:
Free virtualization e-learning collection
Take Microsoft E-Learning Collection 6333: Exploring Microsoft Virtualization Technologies for free! Collection 6333 includes the following:
Click on the links for the entire Collection, or for individual courses to add them to your e-Learning Library. You’ll need to login with a Windows Live ID to activate the content.
Personally, I’ve used dozens of e-Learning courses (mostly free ones, I’ll admit) to learn the technical details that aren’t always readily available on the product marketing web sites. Most courses are fairly in-depth (including code samples where appropriate), but there are usually some rough edges that seem to be remnants from beta versions of the courses. Overall, though, I think they’re an excellent resources. And, all of the courses listed above are available for the convenient and affordable price of free.
I recently recorded an on-demand webcast, sponsored by Hewlett-Packard. The webcast, titled NAS and virtualization: Right scenarios, right choices, right deployments. From the abstract:
Virtualization has brought next-generation network-attached storage (NAS) beyond the limitations of the old NAS architectures. View this webcast with virtualization expert Anil Desai to learn more about this evolution and get tips on best fit scenarios and deployment techniques.
Deciding the best place for NAS implementation is very hard in the complicated world of the new data center. In this webcast, Anil Desai describes the right NAS scenarios, right choices and the right deployment options for your infrastructure.
The Webcast is available for free, but registration with TechTarget’s Bitpipe.com is required.
The seventh chapter of my eBook, Managing Virtual Environments, is now available for download from the Embotics web site. This chapter focuses on ways in which organizations can bring order to their data centers by communicating and enforcing Service Level Agreements (SLAs). From the introduction:
The implementation of new technology often comes with new challenges. While a pessimist might point out that many IT departments and the businesses that they support are resistant to changes, there’s an opposing view: Often, new technology such as virtualization can provide a compelling reason to address organization-wide operational and management issues. The major challenge faced by most IT teams is the constant struggle to meet business requirements while staying within budget. Overall, the goal is for technology investments to remain aligned with business initiatives. Virtualization is attractive for just these reasons: It provides unprecedented flexibility and agility to data center resources.
Despite its technical benefits and the ability to lower operational costs, many IT managers have found that they are unable to keep pace with the needs of the users they support. In some cases, cost overruns lead to budget constraints which, in turn, can slow business growth. Personnel and expertise are limited, and it often seems that no matter how well-planned the infrastructure is, there’s some portion of the environment that fails to meet requirements.
Returning to an optimistic view, virtualization provides an excellent opportunity for organizations to implement methods to address these issues. This chapter focuses on the topics of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and charge-backs – two methods of improving coordination, communications, and priorities within a business. As in previous chapters, the goal is to maximize the benefits of virtualization while minimizing costs and related management overhead.
You can download chapters from this eBook for free (registration required) from the Embotics Knowledge Center.
When new technology comes out, IT people often tend to discard the old (or, sometimes, begrudgingly live with it). Sometimes, however, older solutions are perfectly useful for certain purposes. I recently wrote an article for TechTarget’s SearchServerVirtualization.com web site that focuses on the superceded-but-still-relevant Microsoft Virtual Server. From the article’s introduction:
We techies tend to look forward to new technology with good reason. In most cases, new products and services improve upon old technology. But migration in production environments can be slow. So what about existing technology? A good case in point is Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 SP1 (MSVS). MSVS is available for free and is a perfectly viable option for many environments. In this tip, I’ll look at when, where and why you might want to use MSVS rather than its newer replacement, Hyper-V.
You can read the entire article for free: See Microsoft Virtual Server still viable management option.
I recent recorded a webcast, sponsored by Computer Associates (CA), titled Managing Virtual Machine Sprawl: Best Practices. From the abstract for the presentation:
Virtual Machine (VM) Sprawl is an issue that is common with organizations that have dipped their toes in virtualization. It can cause issues with system management, security, resource optimization and lack of IT control, as well as workload management including software, hardware and services.
Virtualization expert Anil Desai reviews the definition of VM sprawl including impacts ad challenges, best practices for end-to-end management and centralizing administration and benefits of workload automation.
The free webcast is an overall description of the many different causes and effects of the rapid proliferation of unmanaged VMs and some suggestions on how IT departments can gain (or regain) control over their environments.
My webcast, Options for backup in Microsoft virtualization platforms: Best of products and processes, sponsored by Dell, Inc. is now available for free download (registration is required). Here’s the abstract:
Virtualization expert Anil Desai explores backup products and capabilities in Microsoft virtual environments. This webcast will look at Windows-based features and options for performing backups, as well as the capabilities of other products such as Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager.
Users of Microsoft Virtual Server and the upcoming Hyper-V platform have several different approaches for protecting their virtual machines. This webcast will look at Windows-based features and options for performing backups, as well as the capabilities of other products such as Microsoft System Center Data Protection Manager. The presentation will help attendees determine which backup method is most appropriate for each type of workload, and their options for meeting those requirements.
If you’re in touch with your geeky side, there’s a good chance that you’re always looking for ways to squeeze more performance out of your IT investments. This is especially true for situations that involve virtualization, where some of the primary motivation is reducing costs through server consolidation.
I have recently written two articles for SearchServerVirtualization.com that cover the topic of monitoring and optimizing your VMs that are hosted on Microsoft Hyper-V. Some might be obvious, but others are somewhat cleverly-disguised. The first article, Optimizing Hyper-V performance: Monitoring tips focuses on ways in which you can make sure your host servers and VMs are running smoothly. From the introduction:
How can you be sure whether your Hyper-V host servers and virtual machines (VMs) have been optimally configured? Installing and enabling Microsoft Hyper-V and creating VMs is a fairly straightforward process; but the techie tendencies in all of us seems to nag the question "Isn’t there something more I should do to improve performance?" This tip targets system administrators who have deployed Hyper-V and want to ensure that they’ve made the most of host servers and VMs.
The second article, Optimizing Hyper-V performance: Advanced fine-tuning provides details on Integration Services, synthetic vs. emulated drivers, and ways in which you can improve overall performance of storage and network resources.
I hope these articles will serve as a useful checklist for Hyper-V management. If you have any further suggestions, feel free to leave them as comments here or on SearchServerVirtualization.com.
My latest article for Virtual Strategy Magazine is now available for free online. This one covers some best practices and suggestions for keeping tracking of VMs and keeping IT departments in control of all of their physical and virtual systems. From the introduction to Managing Virtualization: The Art of War:
"The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations." – David Friedman
Make no mistakes, my friends. Virtualization technology is serious business. The stakes are high and the stakeholders are highly-motivated. War is a dirty word, and we did not choose this situation. However, today, we are called upon to defend ourselves against a vicious and unforeseen onslaught of virtual machines. They have attacked from every direction, and we now find ourselves in the middle of a battle for control. These once gentle automatons now threaten our very way of life within the IT department. Their unmanaged proliferation must be stopped here and now.
This will not be an easy fight, so heed these words carefully. The fate of entire data centers hangs in the balance, and mismanagement of one or a few VMs could tip the balance in favor of the enemy. But rest assured, my friends: There is hope, if only we allow cooler heads to prevail. Batten down the hatches, up the irons, release the Jolt! Cola, and prepare for Managing Virtualization: The Art of War.
If you’re having trouble making sense of Microsoft’s Hyper-V and would like to get up and running quickly, TechTarget’s SearchServerVirtualization.com has a handy resource. The Microsoft Hyper-V Guide provides a handy overview and index to other articles and screencasts (including several written by me). From the introduction to the Guide:
Hyper-V is the latest virtualization product from Microsoft. The new hypervisor platform works with Windows Server 2008 to create and manage a virtual infrastructure. As with any virtualization platform, Hyper-V makes for a more efficient data center, maximizing resources and reducing costs.
Hyper-V consists of a 64-bit hypervisor that can run 32-bit and 64-bit virtual machines concurrently. Hyper-V virtualization works with single and multi-processor virtual machines and includes tools such as snapshots, which capture the state of a running virtual machine.
Hypervisor-based virtualization with Microsoft’s newest offering promises more efficient virtual machine hosting as well, with new "synthetic" drivers.
For more information on Hyper-V, consult the resources in this introductory guide.
Also, keep a look out for many other articles by me and other writers on the site! A good way to keep up is to sign up for the site’s newsletter.
Virtual Strategy Magazine has recently published my article, The Case Against Desktop Virtualization. From the introduction to the article:
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury: You are being called upon to partake in one of the most important duties of an IT professional. You will be asked to objectively evaluate claims and determine whether a relatively new development in virtualization technology – desktop virtualization – is a valid and useful solution for your environment. You have already heard many strong arguments for desktop virtualization from much of the industry. You will now hear from the other side: A discussion of how you can gain many of the benefits of virtualization without moving desktop computing to the confines of the data center.
OK, all drama aside, I should be clear about the point of this article. My goal is not to convince you that desktop virtualization is not a good idea. Rather, I’d like to provide some counter-point to a lot of the hype that we have been hearing lately. Specifically, I’ll point out how many of the problems that desktop virtualization is designed to solve can be addressed in other ways. The goal for you, the reader, is to determine which of these is the best way to solve these problems. Order in the court!
Perhaps it’s a bit too dramatic, but I think it presents a good case, overall. Feel free to leave your pleas and judgments here.
