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An Outlook on Automation
in Virtualized Data Centers

Virtualization is essentially the creation of a virtual version of an operating

system, network resource, or storage device. Enterprises today virtualize all
resources, from storage, networking, and servers. As a result of this move,
complete virtualization of the data center is achieved.
Virtualization existed in the form of a concept for a long time, for instance in load
balancing, internet addressing, and servers. It was only in the recent times that
virtualization was broadly applied to the servers, in which a particular server can
appear as multiple servers. Operating system virtualization is a major IT tool to
enable such things as improvement of efficiency of computing resources.
However, with more and more virtualized servers, storage resources, and
computing resources, management of these resources has become a tedious task
for IT organizations. This is the reason why data centers today have to be
automated. The key reasons why virtualization of data center can improve the
infrastructure include the following (source: CIO Research).
81 percent cost cutting by server consolidation
63 percent improvement in backup and disaster recovery
55 percent quick provisioning of computing resources
53 percent more business flexibility
13 percent competitive advantage

Data center automation can provide a systematic policies, which are pre-defined
to automatically provision and remove resources as per necessity. Complete
automation of a data center reduces the time required by the IT staff to monitor
and manage virtualized and regular application infrastructure, thereby reducing
overall costs. Data center automation involves intelligent solutions and
components that come with the ability to systematically codify policies as well as
execute process workflows.
Data center automation involves a combination of workflow systems and OS
virtualization.

Operating System Virtualization

With the help of OS virtualization, you can create multiple servers within a single
server. This helps you provision multiple systems very quickly. Also, due to
virtualization, hardware agnosticism is an added advantage. The agnosticism
means that the virtual server can run any operating system independent of the
hardware or the base operating system on the server. However, despite the
virtualization provider you use, OS virtualization is a disruptive concept
necessitating high-level server and network modifications. Also, more powerful
hardware is necessary for implementing a proper virtualized environment.
Load balancing on the servers and enforcing service-level agreements are not
part of operating system virtualization though. This is the reason why we need to
add additional solutions to address these challenges. Data centers devoid of such
solutions necessarily need investment in one. The ability to deploy any operating
system on virtually any hardware platform within seconds makes OS virtualization
a major part of utility computing.

Server Virtualization
Server virtualization is an alternative to operating system virtualization. This
virtualization technique was successfully deployed in many data centers for many
years. This virtualization technique involves making several servers appear as one.
This technique essentially provides load balancing, scalability, reliability, and
performance. Server virtualization directly does not provide automation of the
data center. A server-virtualization-based product requires, just as OS
virtualization, additional components in order to provision and de-provision
various components. Server virtualization however makes the automation solution
have lower cost of implementation, since additional software or hardware
upgrades are not necessary and the absence of virtual machines can free up
computing resources dedicated to management.

The Automated Data Center Components

Server virtualization and open integration components built upon set standards,
data center virtualization and automation can be achieved. Typical high availability
architecture includes application servers with apps replicated multiple times. The
applications in this scenario are virtualized in every application delivery controller.
This architecture supports high availability and performance necessities. High
efficiency may not be supported in this model, as the resources provisioned for
each app is not efficiently reallocated to the other apps.
An automation architecture based on server virtualization requires images to be
created and software to be installed in each physical server in order to support
automated provisioning of applications through VM images.
Additional storage in case of server virtualization or OS virtualization incurs
additional costs. While server virtualization deploys applications across all usable
resources, OS virtualization stores them locally. In case of OS virtualization,
however, not only is the application stored, but the application server and the
virtual image are also stored.
In order to reduce the impact on either of these methodologies, storage
virtualization can be used. Storage virtualization is the concept of amalgamating
multiple storage networks into a single storage unit. Usually, the storage unit is
managed and utilized with the help of software, making the storage softwaredefined. Virtualization obfuscates the storage systems used, making any kind of
storage network be part of the virtualized environment. Storage virtualization
makes such tasks as backup, archiving, and recovery easier and faster.
Since virtualized storage can be shared across all physical as well as virtual
servers, it reduces the impact on server virtualization. All kinds of files can be
stored in one place and be accessed by applications with the help of a proper
storage virtualization solution. Obviation of physical installation of applications
makes the creation and deployment of virtual images quite simpler in the case of
storage virtualization.

Load Balancing and Application Delivery

Load balancing helps you provision multiple instances of an application,
regardless of the technology behind its functionality. Load balancing is essential to
deliver application properly to the clients. Application delivery controller is an
essential component in data center automation and load balancing. The
responsibility of the application delivery controller is to make multiple servers
appear as one.
ADC provides dynamic routing of applications while applications are being
transferred to different resources. Intelligent application delivery controllers
closely checks application requests and provides real-time routing capability
based on current virtualization setup.
In case of server virtualization, physical servers that can serve an application is in
the database of the application delivery controller. Using either an external or an
internal solution, the controller adds or removes application in its pools based on
various parametersnumber of users, resources available on the server, and
application performance.

Application Monitoring
Efficient usage of resources and simultaneous capacity and performance have to
be assured in data center automation. An intelligent application monitoring
solution such as an application delivery controller is required for this. Without the
knowledge of the whereabouts of the available resources within the
infrastructure, its not possible to provision resources for applications to continue
to perform within the limits. Advanced health monitoring techniques help ADCs
get an idea of application performance and resource allocation.

Automation Engine
The automated data center provides the ability to provision and de-provision
resources without manual intervention. This depends on the various aspects of
the data center and conditions that exist within it. The automation should also be
done with the help of open, standards-based integration technologies and service
-enabled APIs. This makes the automation to be on one rather than two systems.
OS virtualization requires automation of the server virtualization device as well as
creation and deprecation of virtual servers on back-end systems.
Automation of components necessary for dynamic provisioning has no standardsbased solution in the case of data center virtualization.
For data center virtualization, you can develop a custom solution using serviceenabled APIs. The solution can be tailor-made for an organization, but it may
require additional development efforts. The use of a workflow automation
solution, while reduces the time and effort, increases the overall cost.

Conclusion
There are several types of virtualization. Both server and OS virtualization
provides a basis for proper data center automation. However, it makes sense to
create automation in a way that suits an organizations needs.

About MSys
MSys is an innovative technology company that started its operations in Chennai,
India. It soon expanded to Bangalore as well. The international office of MSys is
located in Johns Creek, Atlanta, Georgia. MSys has best-in-class talent with years of
experience in storage, cloud, big data, and testing domains.
2014 saw a major landmark in MSys history when the company acquired Clogeny, a
Pune-based startup that focuses on cloud computing, DevOps, and core product
development services. Along with Clogeny, MSys continues to innovate in the
technology domains it caters to. Our focus is not on providing customers
satisfaction but to exceed their expectations in a big way. Our major focus areas
are:

Storage
Cloud Computing
DevOps
Virtualization
Big Data Services
Embedded Systems
Testing
Test Automation