An Introduction to Virtualization

virtualization is a framework or methodology of dividing the resources of a computer into multiple execution environments, by applying one or more concepts or technologies such as hardware and software partitioning, time-sharing, partial or complete machine simulation, emulation, quality of service, and many others. There are many high-level ways to think about a virtualization system's architecture. Consider some scenarios: I. A VMM could itself run directly on the real hardware - without requiring a "host" operating system. In this case, the VMM is the (minimal) OS. A VMM could be hosted, and would run entirely as an application on top of a host operating system. It would use the host OS API to do everything. Furthermore, depending on whether the host and the virtual machine's architectures are identical or not, instruction set emulation may be involved.

II.

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Why Virtualization
Businesses are under pressure to ease management and reduce costs while retaining and enhancing competitive advantages, such as flexibility, reliability, scalability, and security.
Businesses also benefit from server virtualization through infrastructure optimization, both from an asset utilization standpoint as well as the ability to balance workloads across different resources. Improved flexibility of the overall environment and the ability to freely integrate 32-bit and 64-bit workloads in the same environment is another benefit.

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What is the basic difference between VMware and Hyper-V

Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware ESX are hypervisor based solutions. They install directly on the hardware and require no lower level OS beneath them, however their architecture is quite different. The hypervisor is a critical component of and foundation of virtual infrastructures. Fundamental characteristics of a hypervisor are: Have a purpose-built, thin OS independent architecture for enhanced reliability and robustness Make optimal use of available hardware resources Deliver performance acceleration features that support mission critical applications Enable advanced capabilities not previously possible on physical systems

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ESX installs a hypervisor on the hardware: It acts as the intermediary between the hardware and any virtual machines running on the server. Hardware device drivers are included in the hypervisor. This is called a direct driver model. Hyper-V: Also installs on bare metal. But all management functions and access to hardware is controlled via a root partition that runs the Windows Server (or Server Core) 2008 OS. This root partition is actually a special virtual machine, through which hardware I/O requests from child partitions travel via the VMBus architecture. This is called an indirect driver model. So basically before you enable the Hyper-V role, your server OS is of the typical architecture, after enabling the role, Hyper-V installs itself on top of the hardware, and places your original OS into this special virtual machine, the root partition.

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A comparison of certain key features between platforms: ESX supports both 32 & 64-bit hosts, Hyper-V requires a 64-bit host that supports hardware-assisted virtualization. All platforms support 32 or 64-bit guests. Maximum Logical Host CPUs: ESX = 32, Hyper-V = 16 (can do more, but not supported) Maximum Supported Host Memory: ESX = 256 GB, Hyper-V = 2 TB (2008 Enterprise Ed.) Maximum Memory per Guest OS (VM): ESX & Hyper-V = 64 GB Maximum Supported Running VMs: ESX = 128, Hyper-V = limited only by available resources RAM Over-Commitment: Supported in ESX, not supported in Hyper-V. (This allows RAM allocated to VMs to exceed actual available RAM in host). NIC Teaming: Native support in ESX. Hyper-V only supports via 3rd party drivers. Maximum # Virtual Switches: ESX = 248, Hyper-V = unlimited
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Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V

With Hyper-V, it's easier than ever to take advantage of the cost savings of virtualization through Windows Server 2008 R2. Optimize your server hardware investments by consolidating multiple server roles as separate virtual machines running on a single physical machine, efficiently run multiple different operating systems in parallel, on a single server, and fully leverage the power of x64 computing.

One physical machine, multiple Operating Systems

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Hyper-V Benefits
Server Consolidation
With Hyper-V, the Microsoft hypervisor-based server virtualization technology, plus flexible licensing policies, it's now easier than ever to take advantage of the cost savings of virtualization through Windows Server 2008 R2. This enables you to make the best use of your server hardware investments by consolidating multiple server roles as separate virtual machines (VMs) running on a single physical machine and also efficiently run multiple different operating systemsWindows, Linux, and othersin parallel, on a single server, and fully leverage the power of x64 computing. Dynamic Datacenter Hyper-V, together with your existing system management solutions, such as Microsoft System Center, can help you realize the dynamic data center vision of providing selfmanaging dynamic systems and operational agility. With features like automated virtual machine reconfiguration, flexible resource control, and quick migration, you can create a dynamic IT environment that uses virtualization to not only respond to problems, but also to anticipate increased demands.
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Development and Test Testing and development are frequently the first business functions to take advantage of virtualization technology. Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 is especially suited to meet testing and development virtualizations needs. Using virtual machines, development staffs can create and test a wide variety of scenarios in a safe, self-contained environment that accurately approximates the operation of physical servers and clients. For example, a development team can test the latest version of an application on multiple platforms with a variety of virtual hardware capabilities Business Continuity Management Business continuity is the ability to minimize both scheduled and unscheduled downtime. That includes time lost to routine functions, such as maintenance and backup, as well as unanticipated outages. Hyper-V includes powerful business continuity features, such as live backup and quick migration, enabling businesses to meet stringent uptime and response metrics

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Why Virtualization is a good idea

Server Consolidation Save Money! Actually use more of your hardware capacity Testing Environments Break stuff while testing without taking down your network

Dynamic Data Center Easy Stop and Start on VMs Integration with System Center (via SCVMM) Super Fast Super Easy Server Deployment
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What Hyper-V Really Is

Hyper-V works off the Hypervisor layer between the hardware and the Operating Systems Advantages: Reduced Hardware, Energy, and Licensing Costs Snapshots of VMs 32-bit and 64-bit OS Supportplus Linux!
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VMware architecture
VMware ESX Server A production-proven virtualization layer run on physical servers that abstract processor, memory, storage and networking resources to be provisioned to multiple virtual machines VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) A highperformance cluster file system for virtual machines VMware Virtual Symmetric Multi-Processing (SMP) Enables a single virtual machine to use multiple physical processors simultaneously VirtualCenter Management Server The central point for configuring, provisioning and managing virtualized IT infrastructure Virtual Infrastructure Client (VI Client) An interface that allows administrators and users to connect remotely to the VirtualCenter Management Server or individual ESX Server installations from any Windows PC

http://it20.info/2007/06/a-brief-architecture-overview-of-vmware-esx-xen-andms-viridian/
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Hyper-Vs Many Flavors

Server 2008s Hyper-V Server Role Built into Server 2008 64-bit Editions

Hyper-V Server Standalone Hyper-V Server No other Server Roles Hyper-V on Server 2008 Core 64-bit Low Overhead, Not the easiest to get set-up

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Hardware requirements

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Server 2008 comes with extra licenses for VMs

Server 2K8 Edition (All 64-bit edition) Standard Enterprise Datacenter Licenses

1 VM + 1 Physical 4 VMs + 1 Physical Unlimited VMs + 1 Physical

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Integration Services
Integration Services allows for a huge amount of stuff: IDE and SCSI Drivers Allows Mouse Interaction while in Remote Desktop session Network Drivers (Kind of a big deal)
You should have the latest Service Pack edition of the OS to make Integration Services play nice Yes, you do need install Integration Services if its all possible to make your VM work as you expect
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On the processor
Depending on how many VMs you want to run on a box, you might need multiple core processors:

A single-processor/dual-core gives you 2 logical processors A dual-processor/dual-core processor gives you 4 logical processors A dual-processor/quad-core processor gives you 8 logical processors A quad-processor/dual-core, hyper-threaded system gives you 16 logical processors You can configure up to 4 logical processors per VM You can provide up to 24 logical processors per physical box that hosts your Hyper-V
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How much RAM can you have?

Operating System Maximum RAM Per Virtual Machine 31GB 64GB 64GB

Standard Enterprise Datacenter

On Your Physical Machine: Up to 1 TB of RAM for 64-bit Editions of Server 2K8 on a Physical Machine (32GB for Standard Edition)

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Disk Stuff
You get up to 4 IDE Devices per VM (2 IDE Controllers) But you can also add up to 4 Virtual SCSI Controllers to your VM as well (even if you dont have physical SCSI hardware) Each SCSI Controller can have up to 64 Disks, which means you can have up to 256 Disks on a VM (if you really wanted to, I suppose) Maximum size for any one vhd: 2040GB
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Virtual Networks
Youll need at least one physical NIC dedicated for VM use if you want to have your VMs talk to the outside world But VMs also use Virtual Network Adapters that you can configure much the same as physical NICs Theres two kinds of virtual NICs Network Adapter Legacy Network Adapters Legacy Network Adapters are slower but if you want to use Windows Deployment Services for VM server installs

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Type of Virtual Network External

Notes Uses the physical NIC to talk to everything

Internal

Connects to other machines only through the Parent Partition (the host OS)
Connects only to other Virtual Machinesno outside connectivity

Private

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 You can have an unlimited number of virtual networks with up to 512 virtual machines per virtual network. Each virtual machine can be configured with up to A maximum of 12 virtual network adapters 8 can be the network adapter type 4 can be the legacy network adapter type. Each virtual network adapter offers integrated virtual local area network (VLAN) support and can be assigned a unique VLAN channel (if youre using an Internal virtual network) You cannot connect a virtual network to a wireless network adapter. As a result, you cannot provide wireless networking capabilities to virtual machines.
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Virtual Disk and Snapshot Tricks

There are three different kinds of Virtual Hard Disks: Fixed: A VHD file that takes up a fixed amount of space on a physical HDD Dynamic: A VHD file that starts small and grows as more space is required up to a particular size Differencing: A VHD file that relies on another base VHD and only stores the differences made on a VHD

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Snapshots
Snapshots actually create a differencing disk that captures the current state of the VM You can move backwards and forwards to different snapshots

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Making Your Virtual Machines Portable

Exporting and Importing your VMs is useful for lots of scenarios: Back Up a VM Your Hyper-V hardware is headed for a crash and you need to move your VMs to a new box Youre deploying more VMs and you dont want to do bare metal installs

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Providing Access to Hyper-V

Microsoft has a Hyper-V Manager available for Vista thats free to download This is great for when you want to allow another User access to Hyper-V for testing Theres a 32-bit and a 64-bit version available

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Configure Hyper-V Settings and Virtual Networks

Configuring Hyper-V Options Configuring the Virtual Network Configuring Hyper-V Options

Set VHD Location Set Snapshot Location Discussion: File Storage Using Authorization Manager Using Mouse Release Key Discussion: Integration Services
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