SECURITY

DISASTER RECOVERY/COMPLIANCE

BI/APPLICATIONS

DATA CENTER MANAGEMENT

STORAGE ARCHITECTURE

NETWORKING

HEALTH IT

APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT

CLOUD

VIRTUALIZATION

Handbook

1
Getting Server
Virtualization Right
Virtualizing is a smart move, but the results will disappoint
if the task isnt done right. Factoring server management
and performance into a consolidation project can make the
difference between a success story and a wasted opportunity.

TO WORK, VIRTUALIZATION
NEEDS TO WORK RIGHT

OPTIMIZING SERVER
VIRTUALIZATION

AUTOMATION SHOULDNT
BE AN AUTOMATIC DECISION

AVOID VM PERFORMANCE
BOTTLENECKS

EDITORS NOTE

Home
To Work,
Virtualization
Needs to Work
Right
Optimizing Server
Virtualization
Automation
Shouldnt Be
an Automatic
Decision
Avoid VM
Performance
Bottlenecks

To Work, Virtualization Needs to Work Right

The advantages of virtualizing data center workloads are both numerous and proven.
Recognizing those opportunities is, in fact, the
easiest part of a virtualization effort. Whats
difficult is properly designing that initiative
and then effectively managing it once its in
place.
Getting those tasks right is the topic we take
up in this handbook.
To begin, TechTargets Stephen Bigelow
walks us through the basics of virtualization
strategy. He itemizes the many benefits of
server virtualization, some of which are less
obvious than others. He also takes time to note
where a virtual environment can pose a risk to
an organization, such as when hardware fails
and all of the virtual machines on that hardware are lost. The article shows just where an
organization stands to gain from virtualization

2 G E T T I N G S E RV E R V I RT UA L I Z AT I O N R I G H T

while pointing out missteps that can lead to

sprawl and inefficiency.
Automation, of course, is inherent in virtualization, but it cant be something that happens entirely by itself. For guidance on what to
automate and what to handle manually, we turn
to virtualization trainer Alastair Cooke. He offers clear advice on balancing the automation
scales to be sure your organization doesnt end
up with too much of a good thing.
Finally, IT expert Brien Posey looks at several
of the most common bottlenecks in virtualization. Disk I/O complications and resource contention, he notes, are among the most common
ailments that, when allowed to persist, limit
the effectiveness of a virtualization effort. n
Phil Sweeney, managing editor
TechTarget, Data Center & Virtualization Group

OPTIMIZATION

Home
To Work,
Virtualization
Needs to Work
Right
Optimizing Server
Virtualization
Automation
Shouldnt Be
an Automatic
Decision
Avoid VM
Performance
Bottlenecks

Optimizing Server Virtualization

Consolidation is easy. Making it work
correctly can be a challenge.
Optimizing virtual server consolidation
should start with a careful look at virtualizations benefits as well as its tradeoffs. One immediate benefit is the use of fewer physical
servers, which reduces capital hardware costs
and space requirements in the data center. It
can also lower collateral energy costs for power
and cooling.
Often, a compelling return-on-investment
argument exists with these factors alone, but
other elements come into play. Maintenance
costs, for instance, will be lower simply because there are fewer hardware devices that
could fail. Fewer physical servers also mean
fewer annual service contracts to pay.
Older servers displaced in a technology refresh can be reallocated to handle other, less
critical tasks, extending the hardwares useful

3 G E T T I N G S E RV E R V I RT UA L I Z AT I O N R I G H T

life. Fewer physical servers make it easier to

standardize on management tools. These benefits, together with the tools used for virtual
machine (VM) management, can make data
centers easier to manage with fewer errors; plus
IT staff will have more time to devote to strategic projects. Consolidation can also mitigate
the need to add staff as a data center grows.
Perhaps the most overlookedand often
understatedbenefit of server virtualization
is enhanced flexibility. A VM is basically a file
that can be moved and copied between servers
and storage systems. An administrator can create and configure a new VM from a basic image in minutes. Similarly, a working VM can
be migrated to a faster, more powerful server
or copied to backup storage at a disaster recovery site without disrupting the machine or its
users.
One of the most obvious risks with server

OPTIMIZATION

Home
To Work,
Virtualization
Needs to Work
Right
Optimizing Server
Virtualization
Automation
Shouldnt Be
an Automatic
Decision
Avoid VM
Performance
Bottlenecks

virtualization is hardware failure. In a traditional environment, a server fault would affect

only the application and users running on that
physical server. In a virtual environment, however, a server failure can disable all VMs that
reside on itpotentially hurting the business
and users far more than a traditional server
failure.
Although techniques such as server clustering help maintain high availability (HA), the
practices are usually reserved for missioncritical VMs and often leave secondary VMs
on a single server. Consequently, administrators must track VM distribution across the
enterprise to ensure that important VMs are
running on adequate HA hardware. Its equally
important to arrange backup cycles that meet
the recovery point objective and recovery time
objective for each VM.
A proliferation of VMs also affects server
virtualization. Just as conventional data centers
faced the problem of server sprawl, the ease and
speed of creating new VMs can precipitate resource waste as administrators quickly deploy
a new virtual machine for each new application
or task. Its more important to understand why

4 G E T T I N G S E RV E R V I RT UA L I Z AT I O N R I G H T

a new VM is being deployed, how long it will

be needed, and who within the business is responsible for it.
Unplanned VM sprawl can easily lead to software licensing violations and can further complicate maintenance because there is no direct
link between an applications VM and the underlying physical server. Although this abstrac-

The ease of creating new VMs

can precipitate resource waste
as administrators quickly deploy
a new virtual machine for each
new application or task.
tion is a desirable feature of virtualization, it
can have undesirable consequences for careless
administrators.
A final issue that often goes unnoticed is
VM assignment. Although a virtual machine should function on any suitable piece
of hardware, it might not be prudent to combine certain VMsdepending on their resource demands. For example, hosting several

OPTIMIZATION

Home
To Work,
Virtualization
Needs to Work
Right
Optimizing Server
Virtualization
Automation
Shouldnt Be
an Automatic
Decision
Avoid VM
Performance
Bottlenecks

CPU-intensive workloads on the same physical

server might exhaust CPU resources while still
leaving plenty of memory or I/O bandwidth.
Instead, combine workloads with complementary resource needs. This will help achieve
the optimum consolidation on each physical
system.

ELEMENTS OF PRACTICAL
SERVER CONSOLIDATION

The basic premise of server consolidation is to

leverage unused computing power. For example,
instead of operating 10 physical servers at 5%
utilization, operate one physical server hosting
those 10 VMs at 50% utilization.
The secret to successful server consolidation
is to ensure that there are adequate resources
to support all VMs that will reside on the
server. If the same 10 physical servers are running at an average of 15% utilization, those virtualized workloads must be spread across two
or more physical servers. If theyre not, then
the performance of those VMsand the corresponding user experiencewill suffer.
Prior to consolidation, each workload must

5 G E T T I N G S E RV E R V I RT UA L I Z AT I O N R I G H T

be evaluated to ensure that it meets CPU,

memory, I/O, storage and network connectivityor bandwidthrequirements. Those
factors are then combined to yield the total approximate needs for the virtualized server.
There is no single recipe for sizing a physical
server, and there are countless possible exceptions. When calculating memory requirements,
for example, you dont need to add up all requirements for every operating system because
the virtualized server will use only one OS.
Similarly, you can usually get by with half of a
CPU for every workload.
As a rule, no more than two VMs per CPU
core should be used. A single network interface
card (NIC) port may supply enough bandwidth
for several workloads, but higher levels of
consolidation and resilient architectures may
demand additional NIC ports. Generally, it depends on the criticality of the applications you
plan to consolidate.
Server consolidation must make sense.
Theres no point in trying to over-reduce the
number of physical servers just to do it. There
is nothing wrong with virtualizing a single
application on a single server and forgoing

OPTIMIZATION

Home
To Work,
Virtualization
Needs to Work
Right
Optimizing Server
Virtualization
Automation
Shouldnt Be
an Automatic
Decision
Avoid VM
Performance
Bottlenecks

consolidation, instead focusing on migration

and other benefits that virtualization offers.
Storage is one resource area that is frequently
overlooked. Using a single huge disk drive on a
virtualized machine isnt an attractive option.
Storage I/O demands from multiple VMs can
seriously compromise performance. Instead,
use a striped RAID array or a basic storage area
network with a separate logical unit number for
each VM.

DETERMINING AND
TRACKING YOUR VM NEEDS

The actual number of VMs that can be hosted

on a single physical server is largely subjective.
In most cases, practical resource limitations
of the physical serveravailable CPU, RAM
and other computing resourceswill halt VM
growth long before any hard limits of the virtualization platform are reached. But this is also
governed by the complexity and requirements
of the VMs.
Backup needs can greatly limit the number of
virtual machines on a single server. VMs must
still be protected, and traditional backups are

6 G E T T I N G S E RV E R V I RT UA L I Z AT I O N R I G H T

notoriously I/O-intensive. Backing up multiple VMs simultaneously can cripple a virtual

server and frequently drives other business
decisions. For example, traditional backups are
regularly phased out in favor of VM migration
tools, such as VMware Inc.s VMotion or snapshot software that can capture point-in-time
images of each virtual machine.

Storage I/O demands from

multiple VMs can seriously
compromise performance.
Instead, use a striped RAID
array or a basic storage area
network with a separate logical
unit number for each VM.
One way to determine and track resource
needs is to gather data using performance and
capacity planning tools, such as IBMs Tivoli
Monitoring Express and HPs Diagnostics Software, and virtualization tools such as VMwares
Capacity Planner. Microsofts Assessment and
Planning Toolkit can help administrators assess

OPTIMIZATION

Home
To Work,
Virtualization
Needs to Work
Right
Optimizing Server
Virtualization
Automation
Shouldnt Be
an Automatic
Decision

their infrastructures and recommend a variety

of projects. Its important to collect data over
time and during peak use periods. This can
reveal cyclical or unexpected peaks that will affect resource assignments.
Finally, address the issue of VM assignmentsputting the right VMs on the right
physical servers. Just because a server can be
virtualized doesnt mean that it should be. Applications such as databases can tax server resources and might run better if unconsolidated
and kept as the only VM on a mission-critical
server. Conversely, some applications that
would not ordinarily coexist on the same physical server, such as SharePoint and Outlook
Web Access, could easily reside on the same

Avoid VM
Performance
Bottlenecks

7 G E T T I N G S E RV E R V I RT UA L I Z AT I O N R I G H T

physical system in separate VMs.

Complementary applications that would
typically communicate with one another across
the network may actually perform better when
virtualized alongside each other on the same
server. This can eliminate the slower network
link and allow applications to communicate
and exchange data internally across the servers
backplane, boosting the performance of either
(or both) applications.
Its not enough to simply create new VMs
and combine them based solely on available
server resources. Admins must understand how
VMs interoperate and use physical resources
before allocating VMs throughout the enterprise. Stephen Bigelow

AUTOMATION

Home
To Work,
Virtualization
Needs to Work
Right
Optimizing Server
Virtualization
Automation
Shouldnt Be
an Automatic
Decision
Avoid VM
Performance
Bottlenecks

Automation Shouldnt Be an Automatic Decision

IT automation and orchestration have
been popular for a while, and the reason is
simple: Why do the same thing repeatedly
when you can have a script do it for you? But,
its important to remember that IT automation
may not be for everyone, and deciding what and
how much to automate can be difficult. The
problem is that it takes effort to automate processes, and you simply may not see the benefit
from that effort. Automation in an enterprise
environment is seldom a set-and-forget matter; automation needs maintenance.
Determining how heavily to rely on automation really depends on your scale. Automation makes more sense at a larger scale, so how
much you automate will depend on how big
your business intends to get.
If you are a small business and plan to
never have more than five virtual machines
(VMs), then there is little point to automating

8 G E T T I N G S E RV E R V I RT UA L I Z AT I O N R I G H T

anything. You wont be building enough hosts

or VMs for the effort to pay off. Make sure to
document the steps as you build the hosts and
VMs. That way, you can consistently repeat the
process with confidence.
On the other hand, even with one host and
five VMs, there are routine checks that can
be easy to forget, since you have a lot of other
things to manage. You may choose to automate
the routine checks, backups and updates so
they actually happen. Remember to check the
outputs of the scripts and update the scripts as
your environment changes. For example, free
disk space thresholds should be different when
you change to using thin provisioning of VMs
or logical unit numbers.
If your business has 50 to 100 VMs, then you
probably want to use some sort of VM build
automation, templates or automated operating
system deployment. Now, it is worth investing

AUTOMATION

Home
To Work,
Virtualization
Needs to Work
Right
Optimizing Server
Virtualization
Automation
Shouldnt Be
an Automatic
Decision
Avoid VM
Performance
Bottlenecks

in guest OS build automation, and the earlier

you invest in this automation, the sooner you
get benefits. Adding automation when youre
halfway into production deployment will be
much harder than getting it in place from the
start.
The payoff is biggest if every VM is built using the same automation because that makes it
easier to automate management later. At this
scale, you probably have only a few virtualization hosts, so you can build each one manually by following a well-documented process.
Automated checks and backups really pay off
here because manual health checks on 100 VMs
would take someone all daymeaning it is
likely to be put off.
VM build automation is most effective in an
environment with hundreds of VMs. At this
scale, an organization may start using some
sort of orchestration for self-service VM creation by the business units that use VMs. The
virtualization team shouldnt have to be involved in every VM build.
In a large deployment, it makes sense to have
some build automation for your virtualization
hosts. Rebuilding and keeping dozens of hosts

9 G E T T I N G S E RV E R V I RT UA L I Z AT I O N R I G H T

up to date is a lot of work. You probably still

want a person involved in each host build
that person wont type the commands but
will make sure the host is built right. You also
probably dont need to automate the checking
of the automation, but you may augment the
health checks and backup scripts with compliance and configuration checks that run automatically and are manually reviewed.

In an environment with
hundreds of virtualization
hosts and thousands of VMs,
youd better have everything
automated or your costs will
spiral out of control.
In an environment with hundreds of virtu-
alization hosts and thousands of VMs, youd
better have everything automated or your costs
will spiral out of control. Its unwise and impractical to have staff involved in making
VMs for customers. Your organization needs
to have automation of the host-provisioning

AUTOMATION

Home
To Work,
Virtualization
Needs to Work
Right
Optimizing Server
Virtualization

process with the automated checking of the

host builds success. At this scale, even storage
provisioning needs to be automated, and all of
the automation has to have automatic checks to
verify that it worked as expected.
You may even need to automate the procurement process, making sure physical resources
are delivered in time to meet demand. This
is where simple automation isnt enough and
workflow automation is called for. You dont
really want a script to raise a purchase order
for a new storage area network or a rack full
of servers without a human checking it, but

Automation
Shouldnt Be
an Automatic
Decision
Avoid VM
Performance
Bottlenecks

1 0 G E T T I N G S E RV E R V I RT UA L I Z AT I O N R I G H T

you do want the process to start automatically if there is an impending shortage of either
resource.
Automation is different at each scale and for
each organization. The automate-everything
mantra needs to be overlaid with an understanding of the costs and benefits of automation. Wherever you have a scripted process,
make sure the team knows what script to use
for which purpose and how to update the
scripts when the environment changes. The
only thing worse than not automating is trying
to automate too much. Alastair Cooke

PERFORMANCE
IMPROVEMENT

Home
To Work,
Virtualization
Needs to Work
Right
Optimizing Server
Virtualization
Automation
Shouldnt Be
an Automatic
Decision
Avoid VM
Performance
Bottlenecks

Avoid VM Performance Bottlenecks

Virtualization administrators must
strike a delicate balance between achieving the
highest practical virtual machine density and
ensuring that each virtual machine delivers an
acceptable level of performance. This balance
is not always easy to attain, but it is easy to
determine why VM performance might be suffering. Take a look at five of the most common
causes of performance bottlenecks.
1. Hardware resource contention. You can
trace the vast majority of VM performance
problems to hardware resource contention.
The basic idea behind server virtualization
is treating the host servers physical hardware
as a pool of resources that can be shared
among multiple virtual machines. VMs compete for these resources, and performance
problems result from resources stretched too
thin.

1 1 G E T T I N G S E RV E R V I RT UA L I Z AT I O N R I G H T

2. Hardware emulation. When a VM experiences performance problems, you should first

make sure that it is not using hardware emulation. Ideally, you assign physical hardware resources to a VM; however, hypervisors such as
Microsoft Hyper-V and VMware vSphere have
emulation features that provide support for
older operating systems.
VMware and Hyper-V also offer a collection
of services that allow the hypervisor to interact with guest operating systems. In VMware,
this collection of services is known as VMware
Tools, while Microsoft calls these Hyper-V Integration Services. Though not directly related
to VM performance, results may suffer if a VM
does not have either service installed or if it
runs the wrong version.
3. Disk I/O. Resource contention-related performance problems often result from disk I/O

PERFORMANCE
IMPROVEMENT

Home
To Work,
Virtualization
Needs to Work
Right
Optimizing Server
Virtualization
Automation
Shouldnt Be
an Automatic
Decision
Avoid VM
Performance
Bottlenecks

complications. Issues can occur when numerous VMs are configured to share a common
storage array, but collectively, the virtual machines require a higher rate of disk I/O than the
storage array can deliver.
Reducing the storage I/O burden might mean
purchasing a higher-performance storage array
or limiting the number of VMs sharing the array. In some cases, this might not seem like a
tall order, but the following two aspects of virtual server storage are easy to overlook.
4. Virtual server clustering. Production VMs
are almost always part of a cluster. Both VMware and Microsoft used to require that cluster
nodes be connected to a shared storage device.
As such, you may be inclined to assume that
the clusters limitations are directly tied to the
Cluster Shared Volumes limitations. Hyper-V
clusters, however, can be attached to multiple
Cluster Shared Volumes, which means a single
storage array does not have to support the entire cluster. Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V
completely eliminates the need for a Cluster
Shared Volume, but Microsoft still recommends using one when possible.

1 2 G E T T I N G S E RV E R V I RT UA L I Z AT I O N R I G H T

The other easy-to-overlook part of virtual

server storage is that you are not limited to a
single host server cluster. VMware environments commonly have multiple clusters as a
way to isolate workloads and reduce resource
contention.

Reducing the storage I/O

burden might mean purchasing
a higher-performance storage
array or limiting the number
of VMs sharing the array.
In addition to storage I/O, memory, CPU
cores and network bandwidth can also cause
hardware resource contention. By using performance monitoring, you can determine the specific cause of the bottleneck.
5. Incorrect configurations. Issues related to
hardware emulation and resource contention
are the most common causes of virtual server
performance problems, but they have company
in that category.

PERFORMANCE
IMPROVEMENT

Home
To Work,
Virtualization
Needs to Work
Right

Simple configuration issues can also cause

major performance issues, as with a virtualized Exchange 2010 mailbox server that took
10 to 20 seconds to respond to a simple mouse
click. In that case, the VMs virtual network
adapter had accidentally been connected to
the wrong virtual switch, which connected it
to the wrong virtual network. Exchange Server

Optimizing Server
Virtualization
Automation
Shouldnt Be
an Automatic
Decision
Avoid VM
Performance
Bottlenecks

1 3 G E T T I N G S E RV E R V I RT UA L I Z AT I O N R I G H T

was then unable to contact a domain controller.

Exchange mailbox servers depend strongly on
the Active Directory, and its absence led to the
performance issues.
If you monitor configurations and watch
for hardware resource contention, you will
avoid most VM performance problems.
Brien Posey

ABOUT
THE
AUTHORS

STEPHEN BIGELOW is the senior technology writer in the

Data Center and Virtualization Group at TechTarget.

He has more than 15 years of technical writing experience
in the PC/technology industry. He holds a bachelor of
science in electrical engineering, along with numerous
technology certifications.
Home
ALASTAIR COOKE is

To Work,
Virtualization
Needs to Work
Right
Optimizing Server
Virtualization
Automation
Shouldnt Be
an Automatic
Decision

a freelance trainer, consultant and

blogger specializing in server and desktop virtualization.
Known in Australia and New Zealand for the APAC
virtualization podcast and regional community events,
Cooke was awarded VMwares vExpert status for his
2010 efforts.

Getting Server Virtualization Right is a

SearchServerVirtualization.com publication.
Margie Semilof | Editorial Director
Phil Sweeney | Managing Editor
Eugene Demaitre | Associate Managing Editor
Laura Aberle | Associate Features Editor
Linda Koury | Director of Online Design

BRIEN POSEY has

previously received Microsofts MVP

award for Exchange Server, Windows Server and Internet Information Server (IIS). He worked as CIO for a
nationwide chain of hospitals and was once responsible
for the Department of Information Management at
Fort Knox.

Avoid VM
Performance
Bottlenecks

Neva Maniscalco | Graphic Designer

Rebecca Kitchens | Publisher
rkitchens@techtarget.com
TechTarget
275 Grove Street, Newton, MA 02466
www.techtarget.com
2013 TechTarget Inc. No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission from the
publisher. TechTarget reprints are available through The YGS Group.
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1 4 G E T T I N G S E RV E R V I RT UA L I Z AT I O N R I G H T