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VMware vRealize Operations Performance and Capacity Management
VMware vRealize Operations Performance and Capacity Management

VMware vRealize Operations Performance and Capacity Management: A hands-on guide to mastering performance and capacity management in a virtual data center

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VMware vRealize Operations Performance and Capacity Management

Chapter 1. Virtual Data Center – It's Not a Physical Data Center, Virtualized

In this chapter, we will dive into why seemingly simple technology, a hypervisor and its management console, have a large ramification for the IT industry. In fact, it is turning a lot of things upside down and breaking down silos that have existed for decades in large IT organizations. We will cover the following topics:

  • Why virtualization is not what we think it is
  • A comparison between a physical server and a Virtual Machine (VM)
  • What exactly is a Software-Defined Data Center?
  • A comparison between a physical data center and a virtual data center
  • The impact on how we manage a data center once it is virtualized

Our journey into the virtual world

The change caused by virtualization is much larger than the changes brought forward by previous technologies. In the past two or more decades, we transitioned from mainframes to the client/server-based model to the web-based model. These are commonly agreed upon as the main evolution in IT architecture. However, all of these are just technological changes. It changes the architecture, yes, but it does not change the operation in a fundamental way. Both the client-server and web shifts did not talk about the "journey". There was no journey to the client-server based model. However, with virtualization, we talk about the virtualization journey. It is a journey because the changes are massive and involve a lot of people.

Gartner correctly predicted the impact of virtualization in 2007 (http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/505040). More than 7 years later we are still in the midst of the journey. Proving how pervasive the change is, here is the following summary on the article from Gartner:

"Virtualization will be the most impactful trend in infrastructure and operations through 2010, changing:

  • How you plan
  • How, what and when you buy
  • How and how quickly you deploy
  • How you manage
  • How you charge
  • Technology, process, culture"

Notice how Gartner talks about change in culture. So, virtualization has a cultural impact too. In fact, I think if your virtualization journey is not fast enough, look at your organization's structure and culture. Have you broken the silos? Do you empower your people to take risk and do things that have never been done before? Are you willing to flatten the organization chart?

So why exactly is virtualization causing such a fundamental shift? To understand this, we need to go back to the very basics, which is what exactly virtualization is. It's pretty common that Chief Information Officers (CIOs) have a misconception about what this is.

Take a look at the following comments. Have you seen them in your organization?

  • "VM is just Physical Machine virtualized. Even VMware said the Guest OS is not aware it's virtualized and it does not run differently."
  • "It is still about monitoring CPU, RAM, Disk, Network. No difference."
  • "It is a technology change. Our management process does not have to change."
  • "All of these VMs must still feed into our main Enterprise IT Management system. This is how we have run our business for decades and it works."

If only life was that simple, we would all be 100 percent virtualized and have no headaches! Virtualization has been around for years, and yet most organizations have not mastered it.

Not all "virtualizations" are equal

There are plenty of misconceptions about the topic of virtualization, especially among nontechnical IT folk. The CIOs who have not felt the strategic impact of virtualization (be it a good or a bad experience) tend to carry this misconceptions. Although virtualization looks similar on the cover to a physical world, it is completely re-architected under the hood.

So let's take a look at the first misconceptions: what exactly is virtualization? Because it is an industry trend, virtualization is often generalized to include other technologies that are not virtualized. This is a typical strategy by IT vendors who have similar technology. A popular technology often branded under virtualization is Partitioning; once it is parked under the umbrella of virtualization, both should be managed in the same way. Since both are actually different, customers who try to manage both with a single piece of management software struggle to do well.

Partitioning and virtualization are two very different architectures in computer engineering, resulting in major differences in functionalities. They are shown in the following figure:

Not all "virtualizations" are equal

Virtualization versus Partitioning

With partitioning, there is no hypervisor that virtualizes the underlying hardware. There is no software layer separating the Virtual Machine (VM) and the physical motherboard. There is, in fact, no VM. This is why some technical manuals in the partitioning technology do not even use the term VM. The manuals use the term domain or partition instead.

There are two variants in the partitioning technology, the hardware level and the OS level, which are covered in the following bullet points:

  • In the hardware-level partitioning, each partition runs directly on the hardware. It is not virtualized. This is why it is more scalable and has less of a performance hit. Because it is not virtualized, it has to have an awareness of the underlying hardware. As a result, it is not fully portable. You cannot move the partition from one hardware model to another. The hardware has to be built for a purpose to support that specific version of the partition. The partitioned OS still needs all the hardware drivers and will not work on other hardware if the compatibility matrix does not match. As a result, even the version of the OS matters, as it is just like the physical server.
  • In the OS partitioning, there is a parent OS that runs directly on the server motherboard. This OS then creates an OS partition, where other "OS" can run. I use the double quotes as it is not exactly the full OS that runs inside that partition. The OS has to be modified and qualified to be able to run as a Zone or Container. Because of this, application compatibility is affected. This is very different to a VM, where there is no application compatibility issue as the hypervisor is transparent to the Guest OS.

We covered the difference from an engineering point of view. However, does it translate into different data center architecture and operations? Take availability, for example. With virtualization, all VMs become protected by HA (High Availability)—100 percent protection and that too done without VM awareness. Nothing needs to be done at the VM layer, no shared or quorum disk and no heartbeat network. With partitioning, the protection has to be configured manually, one by one for each LPAR or LDOM. The underlying platform does not provide that. With virtualization, you can even go beyond five 9s and move to 100 percent with Fault Tolerance. This is not possible in the partitioning approach as there is no hypervisor that replays the CPU instructions. Also, because it is virtualized and transparent to the VM, you can turn on and off the Fault Tolerance capability on demand. Fault tolerance is all defined in the software.

Another area of difference between partitioning and virtualization is Disaster Recovery (DR). With the partitioning technology, the DR site requires another instance to protect the production instance. It is a different instance, with its own OS image, hostname, and IP address. Yes, we can do a SAN boot, but that means another LUN is required to manage, zone, replicate, and so on. DR is not scalable to thousands of servers. To make it scalable, it has to be simpler. Compared to partitioning, virtualization takes a very different approach. The entire VM fits inside a folder; it becomes like a document and we migrate the entire folder as if the folder is are one object. This is what vSphere Replication in Site Recovery Manager does. It does a replication per VM; no need to worry about SAN boot. The entire DR exercise, which can cover thousands of virtual servers, is completely automated and with audit logs automatically generated. Many large enterprises have automated their DR with virtualization. There is probably no company that has automated DR for their entire LPAR or LDOM.

I'm not saying partitioning is an inferior technology. Every technology has its advantages and disadvantages, and addresses different use cases. Before I joined VMware, I was a Sun Microsystems SE for five years, so I'm aware of the benefit of UNIX partitioning. I'm just trying to dispel the myth that partitioning equals virtualization.

As both technologies evolve, the gaps get wider. As a result, managing a partition is different than managing a VM. Be careful when opting for a management solution that claims to manage both. You will probably end up with the most common denominator.

Virtual Machine – it is not what you think!

VM is not just a physical server virtualized. Yes, there is a P2V process. However, once it is virtualized, it takes on a new shape. That shape has many new and changed properties, and some old properties are no longer applicable or available. My apologies if the following is not the best analogy:

"We P2V the soul, not the body."

On the surface, a VM looks like a physical server. So let's actually look at the VM property. The following screenshot shows a VM setting in vSphere 5.5. It looks familiar as it has a CPU, Memory, Hard disk, Network adapter, and so on. However, look at it closely. Do you see any property that you don't usually see in a physical server?

Virtual Machine – it is not what you think!

VM property in vSphere 5.5

Let me highlight some of the properties that do not exist in a physical server. I'll focus on those properties that have an impact on management, as management is the topic of this book.

At the top of the dialog box, there are four tabs:

  • Virtual Hardware
  • VM Options
  • SDRS Rules
  • vApp Options

The Virtual Hardware tab is the only tab that has similar properties to a physical server. The other three tabs do not have their equivalent server. For example, SDRS Rules pertains to Storage DRS. That means the VM storage can be automatically moved by vCenter. Its location in the data center is not static. This includes the drive where the OS resides (the C:\ drive in Windows). This directly impacts your server management tool. It has to have awareness of Storage DRS, and can no longer assume that a VM is always located in the same datastore or LUN. Compare this with the physical server. Its OS typically resides on a local disk, which is part of the physical server. You don't want your physical server's OS drive being moved around in a data center, do you?

In the Virtual Hardware tab, notice the New device option at the bottom of the screen. Yes, you can add devices, some of them on the fly while Windows or Linux is running. All the VM's devices are defined in the software. This is a major difference to the physical server, where the physical hardware defines it and you cannot change it. With virtualization, you can have the ESXi host with two sockets but the VM has five sockets. Your server management tool needs to be aware of this and recognize that the new Configuration Management Database (CMDB) is now vCenter.

The next screenshot shows a bit more detail. I've expanded the CPU device. Again, what do you see that does not exist in a physical server?

Virtual Machine – it is not what you think!

VM CPU and Network property tab in vSphere 5.5

Let me highlight some of the options. Look at Reservation, Limit, and Shares. None of them exist in a physical server, as a physical server is standalone by default. It does not share any resource on the motherboard (CPU and RAM) with another server. With these three levers, you can perform Quality of Service (QoS) in a virtual data center. Another point: QoS is actually built into the platform. This has an impact on management, as the platform is able to do some of the management by itself. There is no need to get another console to do what the platform provides you out of the box.

Other properties in the previous screenshot, such as Hardware virtualization, Performance counters, HT Sharing, and CPU/MMU Virtualization also do not exist in the physical server. It is beyond the scope of this book to explain every feature, and there are many blogs and technical papers freely available on the Internet that explain them. Some of my favorites are http://blogs.vmware.com/performance/ and http://www.vmware.com/vmtn/resources/.

The next screenshot shows the VM Options tab. Again, what properties do you see that do not exist in a physical server?

Virtual Machine – it is not what you think!

VM Options tab in vSphere 5.5

I'd like to highlight a few of the properties present in the VM Options tab. The VMware Tools property is a key and highly recommended component. It provides you with drivers and improves manageability. The VMware Tools property is not present in a physical server. A physical server has drivers but none of them are from VMware. A VM, however, is different. Its motherboard (virtual motherboard, naturally) is defined and supplied by VMware. Hence, the drivers are supplied by VMware. VMware Tools is the mechanism to supply those drivers. VMware Tools comes in different versions. So now you need to be aware of VMware Tools and it becomes something you need to manage.

I've just covered a few VM properties from the VM setting dialog box. There are literally hundreds of properties in VM that do not exist in the physical world. Even the same properties are implemented differently. For example, although vSphere supports N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV), the Guest OS does not see the World Wide Name (WWN). This means the data center management tools have to be aware of the specific implementation by vSphere. And these properties change with every vSphere release. Notice the sentence right at the bottom. It says Compatibility: ESXi 5.5 and later (VM version 10). This is your VM motherboard. It has dependency on the ESXi version and yes, this becomes another new thing to manage too.

Every vSphere release typically adds new properties too, making a VM more manageable than a physical machine, and differentiating a VM further than a physical server.

Hopefully, I've driven home the point that a VM is very different from a physical server. I'll now list the differences from the management point of view. The following table shows the differences that impact how you manage your infrastructure. Let's begin with the core properties:

Property

Physical server

Virtual machine

BIOS

A unique BIOS for every brand and model. Even the same model (for example, HP DL 380 Generation 7) can have multiple versions of BIOS.

BIOS needs updates and management, often with physical access to a data center. This requires downtime.

This is standardized in a VM. There is only one type, which is the VMware motherboard. This is independent from the ESXi motherboard.

VM BIOS needs far less updates and management. The inventory management system no longer needs the BIOS management module.

Virtual HW

Not applicable

This is a new layer below BIOS.

It needs an update on every vSphere release. A data center management system needs to be aware of this as it requires a deep knowledge of vSphere. For example, to upgrade the Virtual Hardware, the VM has to be in the power-off stage.

Drivers

Many drivers are loaded and bundled with the OS.

Need to manage all of these drivers. This is a big area in the physical world, as they vary from model to model and brand to brand. The management tool has rich functionalities, such as checking compatibility, rolling out drivers, rolling back if there is an issue, and so on.

Almost no drivers are loaded with the OS; some drivers are replaced by VMware Tools.

VMware Tools is the new driver, replacing all other drivers. Even with NPIV, the VM does not need the FC HBA driver. VMware Tools needs to be managed, with vCenter being the most common management tool.

Hardware upgrade

It is done offline and is complex.

OS reinstallation and updates are required, hence it is a complex project in the physical world. Sometimes, a hardware upgrade is not even possible without upgrading the application. Virtualization decouples the application from hardware dependency.

It is done online and is simple.

A VM can be upgraded from a 5-year-old hardware to a new one, moving from the local SCSI disk to 10 Gb FCoE, from dual core to a 15-core CPU. So yes, MS-DOS can run on 10 Gb FCoE accessing SSD storage via the PCIe lane. You just need to perform vMotion to the new hardware. As a result, the operation is drastically simplified.

In the preceding table, we compared the core properties of a physical server with a VM. Let's now compare the surrounding properties. The difference is also striking when we compare the area related to the physical server or VM:

Property

Physical server

Virtual machine

Storage

For servers connected to SAN, they can see the SAN and FC fabric. They need HBA drivers and have FC PCI cards, and have multipathing software installed.

Normally needs an advanced filesystem or volume manager to RAID local disk.

No VM is connected to FC fabric or the SAN. VM only sees the local disk. Even with NPIV, the VM does not send FC frames. Multipathing is provided by vSphere, transparent to VM.

There is no need for RAID local disk. It is one virtual disk, not two. Availability is provided at the hardware layer.

Backup

Backup agent and backup LAN needed in the majority of cases.

Not needed in the majority of cases, as backup is done via vSphere VADP API. Agent is only required for application-level backup.

Network

NIC teaming is common. Typically needs two cables per server.

Guest OS is VLAN aware. It is configured inside the OS. Moving VLAN requires reconfiguration.

NIC teaming provided by ESXi. VM is not aware and only sees one vNIC.

VLAN is provided by vSphere, transparent to VM. VM can be moved from one VLAN to another live.

Antivirus (AV)

The AV agent is installed on Guest.

AV consumes OS resources and can be seen by the attacker. AV signature updates cause high storage throughput.

An AV agent runs on the ESXi host as a VM (one per ESXi).

AV does not consume the Guest OS resources and it cannot be seen by the attacker from inside the Guest OS. AV signature updates do not require high IOPS inside the Guest OS. The total IOPS is also lower at the ESXi host level as it is not done per VM.

Lastly, let's take a look at the impact on management and monitoring. As can be seen next, even the way we manage the servers changes once they are converted into VMs:

Property

Physical server

Virtual machine

Monitoring

An agent is commonly deployed. It is typical for a server to have multiple agents.

In-Guest counters are accurate.

A physical server has an average of 5 percent CPU utilization due to the multicore chip. As a result, there is no need to monitor it closely.

An agent is typically not deployed. Certain areas such as application and Guest OS monitoring are still best served by an agent.

The key in-Guest counters are not accurate.

A VM has an average of 50 percent CPU utilization as it is right sized. This is 10 times higher when compared with a physical server. As a result, there is a need to monitor closely, especially when physical resources are oversubscribed. Capacity management becomes a discipline in itself.

Availability

HA is provided by clusterware such as MSCS and Veritas Cluster.

Cloning a physical server is a complex task and requires the boot drive to be on the SAN or LAN, which is not typical.

Snapshot is rarely done, due to cost and complexity.

HA is a built-in core component of vSphere. Most clustered physical servers end up as just a single VM as vSphere HA is good enough.

Cloning can be done easily. It can even be done live. The drawback is that the clone becomes a new area of management.

Snapshot can be done easily. In fact, this is done every time as part of backup process. Snapshot also becomes a new area of management.

Asset

The physical server is an asset and it has book value. It needs proper asset management as components vary among servers.

Here, the stock-take process is required.

VM is not an asset as it has no accounting value. A VM is like a document. It is technically a folder with files in it.

Stock-take is no longer required as the VM cannot exist outside vSphere.

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Description

If you are an IT professional who is interested in performance management and capacity management in a virtual data center, then this book is ideal for you. The book is an intermediate-level book.

What you will learn

  • Educate and convince your peers on why and how performance and capacity management change in a virtual data center
  • Correct many misconceptions about virtualization
  • Discover how your peers operationalize their vRealize Operations
  • Master all the key metrics in vSphere and vRealize Operations
  • Be confident in performance troubleshooting with vSphere and vRealize Operations
  • See reallife examples of how super metric and advance dashboards make management easier
  • Develop rich custom dashboards with interaction and super metrics

Product Details

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Publication date : Dec 26, 2014
Length: 276 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781782174530

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Publication date : Dec 26, 2014
Length: 276 pages
Edition : 1st
Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781782174530

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Table of Contents

9 Chapters
1. Virtual Data Center – It's Not a Physical Data Center, Virtualized Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Capacity Management in SDDC Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Mastering the Key Counters in SDDC Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. CPU Counters Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Memory Counters Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Network Counters Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
7. Storage Counters Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
8. Dashboard Examples and Ideas Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

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Mark Monce May 22, 2015
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I have been a VMware employee for over seven years, working in the area of Performance and Capacity Management. I can say without reservation this is the book that VMware professionals have been awaiting for years. There is a huge need for clarity with these issues, in addition to many misconceptions and confusion. Iwan has done a great service to clarify these topics. If you are operating vSphere, this is a must read even if you are not using vRealize Operations (or it's predecessor, vCOPs). The principles of managing performance and capacity in virtualized environments alone are worth the purchase price of this book. Well done Iwan!!!
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Anand Jan 28, 2015
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great book, must have book and tool if you are 70% virtualized and still using stone age monitoring tools that do not differentiate between physical host and vm.
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David Espejo Feb 02, 2015
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The book excels the treatment of topics for a diverse audience, discussing topics from the fundamental differences between the physical and virtual data center physical (as a CxO would understand it) to the deep-dive into a subject whose documentation has been remarkably little in the past : vROPs metrics definitios and its relationship with vCenter. So a comprehensive approach that focuses on important and often overlooked issues, makes the book a valuable resource.As if the contributions mentioned were not enough, Iwan Rahabok adds a chapter on a topic that is usually treated very operatively but has lacked the component of planning and design: creating vROPs custom dashboards that, altough implies require Advanced or Enterprise Licensing, is a feature that definitely exploits a lot of the vROPs potential for preventive monitoring and visualization of key indicators of the virtual data center.
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Emad Jan 26, 2017
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Great book I recommend it
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Petertfu May 11, 2015
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This is a great starter book for anyone who wants to take a deep dive into performance analysis in vSphere environments. It explains the various nuances of performance in great detail and provides a lot of useful examples to help the reader understand virtualization specific concepts. I enjoyed the comparisons the author provides on what metrics you get from vCenter versus vROps, how they differ, and what to pay attention to. The only shortcoming I can see is that the author does not provide the formulas for the Super Metrics he recommends you create in vROps. However, he does go into some Super Metrics and related topics on his blog. Enjoy!
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