What is Virtualization - Report Example

Virtualization Your name Name of Assignment 29th May , 2014 Introduction Virtualization has changed from a technique being utilized to solve technical problems to a vital element of data center strategy which enable the users to achieve better business outcomes which include cost reduction, enhanced business agility and minimized risk. Virtualization is the establishment of a virtual or abstract version of a thing especially an operating system, a storage device, a server or network resources. Operating virtualization is the utilization of software to enable a part of hardware to run several operating systems concurrently. This has assisted system administrators save their processing power input. Storage virtualization is the puddlling together of physical storage from several network storage devices into what looks like a single storage device which is controlled from a central console. It is mainly applied in storage area networks. Network virtualization is the process of merging the accessible resources in an existing network by dividing up the accessible bandwidth into channels which are independent from one another and thus can be reassigned to a specific device or server in real time. The idea here is that virtualization masks the real complexity of the network by separating it into controllable parts. Server virtualization is the covering of server components which include the processors, physical servers and operating systems from server users. Virtualization is a disruptive force that enhances major organizational, cultural and operational changes within an organization. Hardware/software/license requirements along with costs There are two types of hypervisors: the microkernel and the monolithic. A monolithic hypervisor is a fairly thick layer between the hardware and the guest operating system. These usually carry their own hardware drivers which are different from the drivers found in the guest operating systems. The hypervisors function is to control the access of the guest operating system to memory, processors, input/output (I/O) and separates guests from one another. Sine the monolithic hypervisor is considerably large and carries several drivers, it is usually inappropriate since it attacks the surface. It therefore implies that using the monolithic will compromise with the efficiency of the service. This will also compromise with the hypervisor code, other drivers that it loads, the whole physical host and the guests. Rather than compromise with the efficiency of the system and accept unnecessary risks into the system, the virtualization center model will apply the microkernel architecture to develop Hypervisor. This hypervisor will offer basic partitioning ability that leverages virtualization extensions towards the processor. In this case, the Guest operating systems will use their own original drivers. This eliminates the possibility of a risk from the third-party code. In addition, the micro-kernel hypervisor supports more hardware than the monolithic one and thus there’s no need of coming up with different hypervisor drivers. The size of the TCB is significantly minimized when a guest has its own drivers since guests are not routed via the parent partitioning. Modern processors are usually equipped with virtualization extensions that normally allow the hypervisor to be a far much thin layer. Configuration of the system A virtualization center consists of physical hardware and potentially virtual machines, application services, models that control service levels, regulatory compliance and other IT and trade policies. To be transformed into a virtualized system, physical layer, virtual layer, application layer and the model layer or need to be put into place. Physical layer At this layer, the virtualization center should be in a position to provision physical systems effectively and efficiently. This involves configuring bare-metal hardware and configuring and installing the appropriate hardware from the operating system via the workloads without the IT specialists resorting to low level scripting. After the systems have been provisioned, they are then regrouped and updated automatically that is without manual intervention. The organization then needs to multicast structures to provision many servers rapidly. Microsoft can be utilized to offer functionality to the dynamic virtualization center with the system center configuration manager. Virtual Layer This is another cover of provisioning that result from virtualization of the dynamic virtualization center. This consists of provisioning of the hypervisor together with the virtual machines. The Hyper-V hypervisor as a special trait of the operating system is provided by Microsoft through the windows server 2008. The Hyper-V is then enabled via a server role. Since Hyper-V has proved to be stable and performing in many business environments, it is the most suited in achieving a dynamic virtualization center. This has already been done by the Microsoft which has virtualized the TechNet as well as MSDN web sites, using the Hyper-V and has realized reasonable cost savings. Each of these sites has been serving more than 10 million visitors per month. Application Layer Through virtualization of hardware, numerous benefits are realized from server consolidation. Since this system consists of thousands physical servers, an equal number of virtual servers will be required. This is necessary in order to limit space and power used as well as assisting in availability. Other benefits such as time saving are also achieved with this application virtualization. In order to minimize the number of base images to about ten or twenty for thousands of servers, the organization will need to separate the operating system from the applications. Application streaming technology can then be utilized to stream the applications to fit the demands of the system. This is particularly useful with desktop applications and can be provided by Microsoft which has already invested in engineering to enable server workloads to stream to servers when required. This level of appliance virtualization will let a single base image to be reorganized at all instances by utilizing the base image get benefit without necessarily patching each instance separately. This in turn allows applications to be patched, migrated or serviced without incurring the costs of uninstall/install or upgrade procedures that will cut the operations for a while. Model Layer Applications generally deploy across several servers. Many applications will need three to five servers although some might still require hundreds. Since this is a Dynamic virtualization center, several servers will be required and a model will be put into place to link those applications, servers and configurations. This will also assist the owners of the applications to understand the application components so as to configure them in an appropriate standard way. This will begin with a business analyst who will draft the application requirements. An architect will then define the application architecture and the deployment model to be applied. Developers will then implement the applications and it is deployed into the environment as stipulated by the model. The model will also comply with the government rules. Since Microsoft has started to apply this method especially for Operations Manager, Virtual Machine Manager, Configuration Manager and visual studio development tool, its products are best suited to develop this model. In this application, IT will define the models which will then drive the virtualization center. This model will direct the means in which the operating system together with applications will be linked. The infrastructure diagram assumes one host and four vms, this is not the case in your design. (Citrix 2011) Instructions for configuration The firm needs to consider its technical challenges that may inhibit the installation of the new service so as to plan a more custom tailored virtualization strategy. The firm should select these implementation, planning and quick-start services after assessing its VDI requirements. This should be done after evaluating the business value as well as implementation of the appropriate solution. The best services should incorporate the desktop, network, virtualization and virtualization center of the firm’s new model. Consolidation Strategy This involves planning for the appropriate location and a reasonable number of virtualization centers after assessing the technology capacity of the firm. Service deliverables in this case will consist of evaluating the current facilities, assets, infrastructure and operations of the firm. Other deliverables are business case advancement and the step-by-step execution of the model. Comparison of relevant features Recent market predictors also corroborate this trend. The proliferation of connected electronic gadgets such as television sets, Blu-ray machines, and smartphones are expected to increase 400 percent within the next three years. The rapid growth should, however, be accompanied by the installation of effective powerful routers, centralized media servers, home gateways, wireless components such as Wi-Fi range-extenders, and power-line network adapters will soon become household items for the modern home. The future home system will have to be flexible to allow changing lifestyles, support more bandwidth to particular trends and allow compatibility of devices with relative ease. In terms of management, Microsoft will ensure that the virtualization center management and the other system suit products are under a single roof. Since it’s easier for clients to have a single set of management tools for management of both their physical and virtual environments, this will be the best model for a firm. This is particularly important since virtualization methods and management tools should be able to support a heterogeneous. By partnering with supporting Linux workloads, Hyper-V, Xean Source, management Virtual Server and ESX environments, Microsoft will ensure that a dynamic data virtualization center is achieved. Break-even analysis The even analysis of the new services can be assessed by comparing the cost of installing the services versus the value of benefits that the new service will provide. The point at which the value of the benefits and the cost of installing the service are equal will be the break-even point. This point can vary depending on where the inputs were acquired and the customs of the firm. The value of the benefits of the new service can be estimated by evaluating each of the advantages separately. This can be estimated as follows: Time savings- The new service reduces the total provisioning time from 3weeks to 3days. When the network devices changes are constant, while excluding the expenses on hardware and service coordination, it costs around $ 15,000 to install a new application. The new service will lead to a reduction of 85% in personal costs. Capital savings- since it’s usually time-consuming to manage and deploy the appropriate resources required to install new applications, IT departments normally overprovision with hardware requirements by more than 30 percent while server utilization remains at 35 percent. By virtualization and orchestration, IT departments are able to correct or avoid initial over provisioning and thus reduce server purchases by more than a third. At an average cost of around $4,000 per server being initial costs only, about 15 servers will completely offset the initial costs of operations and this would be a very high saving on capital. Other operational costs such as energy savings, reduction in maintenance costs and increased efficiency should also be considered in estimating the break-even point of the new service. Evaluation The new service will be evaluated and monitoring by considering its general effects to both the firm and the industry which include the benefits that it provides. The service should be able to realize the benefits of capital saving, time saving, energy saving and enhance the general efficiency of the firm for it to be considered a success. The transitional outcomes will also be used to weigh up the projects success or failure. Proper education of staff members on the new service will guarantee a smooth transition from the former applications to the new applications. The manner in which the staff adopts the new service can also be used to analyze the projects success or failure. Since the new service has the effect of enhancing efficiency, quality and innovation in the IT industry, the whole industry can be analyzed to determine the projects success. The service can be wholly evaluated by considering the following: The service scope and vision or objectives Business objectives as well as requirements Conceptual solution Risk analysis Deliverables Resources required to install the service initial schedule and budget estimates Analysis of the above factors is regarded as stage one of the assessment criteria. The second stage usually referred to as scoping and assessment follows the first stage. This stage involves: checking whether the service adheres to the first step Identifying the risks of the service and compare them with benefits to determine the viability of the new service. Assess the resources necessary to install the project and state whether the project is acceptable or not. Assess whether the delivery time table is outlined and acceptable. References Citrix 2011, Citrix XenServer Design: Designing XenServer Network Configurations Ec-Council 2009, Investigating Wireless Networks and Devices: Ec-council L Press. 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