MICROSOFT PRIVATE CLOUD ON VCE VBLOCK 340: FOUNDATION

Transcription

1 MICROSOFT PRIVATE CLOUD ON VCE VBLOCK 340: FOUNDATION Microsoft Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V, VCE Vblock 340, EMC VNX Quickly provision virtual machines Extend and support hybrid-cloud environments Reduce total cost of ownership EMC Solutions Abstract This white paper details a private-cloud foundation based on Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 and Microsoft System Center 2012 R2. The foundation uses the Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisor and can host Microsoft virtualized applications running on VCE Vblock System 340 with EMC VNX. February 2016

2 Copyright Copyright 2016 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA. Published February 2016 EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice. The information in this publication is provided as is. EMC Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license. EMC 2, EMC, Avamar, EMC RecoverPoint, FAST, Isilon InsightIQ, PowerPath, Unisphere, VCE, VCE Vision, Vblock, VNX, VNX5600, VPLEX, and the EMC logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners. For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC Corporation Trademarks on EMC.com. Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation Part Number H Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

3 Contents Contents Executive summary... 4 Technology overview... 6 Solution architecture and configuration Foundation platform features Key features of a Microsoft private cloud on Vblock Conclusion References Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 3

4 Executive summary Executive summary Business case Virtualization technologies have ushered in a new era of highly efficient computing environments. The rapid adoption of virtualization within organizations has resulted in many undesirable side effects including: Virtual-machine sprawl: Hundreds or thousands of virtual machines deployed across vast server clusters makes management, visibility, and operation of the underlying infrastructure challenging. Manual provisioning: Cumbersome, manual provisioning methods often spanning functional boundaries (network, storage, and server) within an organization. The inefficiency of this model introduces delays and hinders the ability to service IT clients. Lack of standardized foundational templates and hardware architectures: Standardized templates and architectures ensure virtual-machine consistency and compliance with IT regulations and best practices. Without standardization, the lack of control can lead to performance and security issues across the organization. Today, organizations want to address these business challenges in their Microsoft virtualization environment by: Increasing efficiency and reducing costs by eliminating tactical tasks and focusing on business innovation using automation and management tools to drive business agility Maximizing the return on investment by reducing infrastructure, operating, licensing, and maintenance costs Receiving guaranteed quality of service with continuous access to the application data Solution overview The purpose of this solution is to provide a high-performance, highly scalable, and flexible computing platform that serves as the foundation for a private cloud built using EMC, VCE, and Microsoft technologies. EMC solutions for Microsoft virtualization technologies on VCE Vblock systems increase performance, capacity, and availability for infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) environments. They also greatly simplify the implementation of business-critical applications that are used in everyday operations. The Vblock System 300 series provides the virtualization and simplified management technology necessary to address the business challenges listed in the previous section, and enables organizations to minimize total cost of ownership (TCO). EMC solutions based on the Vblock System 340 series help organizations in the deployment of Microsoft virtualization technologies and applications by providing the following benefits: Fewer devices and simplified device management 4 Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

5 Executive summary Lower power and cooling requirements and costs Less staff required to operate systems, freeing up resources to deploy the solutions Better control of user data Confidence in a fully tested and integrated IT architecture Deeper integration and insight into environment resources Streamlined provisioning and configuration controls Extensive testing of mixed-workload use cases and environments on the Vblock System 340 yielded the best configuration for virtualized application performance. For this solution, the Vblock System 340, which includes an EMC VNX 5600 storage array, supports a scalable and cost-effective deployment using Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V for Microsoft applications. This solution is based on a VCE bare-metal deployment, which carries unique support implications. For more information, refer to VCE bare-metal support policy. Document purpose This white paper describes a solution that helps you design, build, and configure a robust virtualization platform. The platform can serve as a solid foundation for layering on additional technologies and applications while meeting stringent service level agreements (SLAs). The solution uses a proven, converged infrastructure with enhanced security, performance, and scalability. A Microsoft virtualization platform offers a highly available, resilient, and extensible architecture. As a stand-alone private cloud, it can also be configured to tie into public-cloud service providers. Both configurations offer automated IaaS for the best scalability and performance. The Vblock System 300 series with EMC VNX storage and Microsoft virtualization technologies provides organizations with efficiency, agility, and cost-effective management. Key areas this white paper describes include: Private-cloud design and configuration using Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 technologies Virtual-machine provisioning using Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 as a trigger for further automation and self-service capabilities EMC best practices for virtualized resource management on a Vblock System 340 Audience Key results This white paper is intended for technical engineering staff, managers, solutions architects, and IT and storage administrators responsible for designing, creating, and managing a Microsoft virtualization environment, including the related infrastructure and data centers. This solution shows how Vblock System 340 can provide excellent performance for a medium-sized deployment of Microsoft messaging and collaboration applications, Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 5

6 Technology overview including SharePoint, Lync, and Exchange. The solution provides enough bandwidth for future growth. The key findings in this solution are: Proven reference architecture: The solution showcases a proven reference architecture that supports an IaaS foundation using a Vblock System 340. Simplified deployment and configuration: The hardware architecture and configuration arrives pre-assembled and ready to configure with all key components including compute, network, storage, and management. Extensible and scalable: Features and capabilities such as automation and monitoring can easily be layered on top of the foundational architecture. The solution scales in capabilities by simply adding more physical resources. A large-scale replacement and migration is not required. Seamless integration: Management and environment insight are integrated into the key management components, which simplifies typical tasks such as virtual-machine provisioning, resource configuration, and allocation. We value your feedback! EMC and the authors of this document welcome your feedback on the solution and the solution documentation. Contact EMC.Solution.Feedback@emc.com with your comments. Authors: David Hartman, Colleen Jones Technology overview Overview Vblock systems provide a complete integrated solution for virtualization, storage, computing, and networking. Vblock is an engineered, manufactured, managed, and supported converged infrastructure that is ready to be deployed in your data center. Vblock enterprise-class capabilities include management, performance, security, multitenancy, high availability, and backup. Vblock can easily scale out or up to meet all your business growth needs and protect your IT investment. This solution, which is based on real-world use cases, shows an easy and efficient way to use Microsoft virtualization and management technologies that are deployed on a Vblock system. The solution eliminates lengthy infrastructure scoping, sizing, and testing, and reduces TCO. Table 1 lists the key components used in the solution. Table 1. Solution components Component category Component Converged infrastructure VCE Vblock System 340 System management Virtualization platform VCE Vision Intelligent Operations Windows Microsoft Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V 6 Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

7 Technology overview Component category Operating system (OS) of application virtual machines Virtualization management Component Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2 Cloud integration Microsoft Windows Azure Pack Update Rollup 8.1 Vblock System 340 components Figure 1 provides a high-level overview of the components in the Vblock System 340 architecture that is part of this solution. Figure 1. Vblock System 340 components Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 7

8 Technology overview Compute components The VCE Vblock 300 series data center platform combines x86-based servers (Cisco UCS B series) and rack servers with networking and storage access into a single system. The platform innovations include: Standards-based, unified network fabric Cisco Virtual Interface Card (VIC) Cisco UCS extended-memory technology The UCS B series, which are dual-socket blade servers, are based on the Intel Xeon processor E7 and E5 product families. The servers are designed for virtualized applications, and deliver record-setting performance for a wide range of workloads. Fabric extenders in the Cisco UCS chassis connect to fabric interconnects over a converged Ethernet. Up to eight 10-GbE ports on each UCS fabric extender connect northbound to the fabric interconnects, regardless of the number of blades in the chassis. These connections carry IP and storage traffic. Each fabric interconnect has multiple ports reserved by VCE for 10-GbE ports. VCE reserves some of these ports to connect to upstream access switches within the Vblock System. These connections are formed into a port channel to the Cisco Nexus switch and carry IP traffic destined for the external network 10-GbE links. In a unified storage configuration, this port channel can also carry network-attached storage (NAS) traffic to the X-Blades within the storage layer. Each fabric interconnect also has multiple ports reserved by VCE for Fibre Channel (FC) ports. The ports connect to the storage-area network (SAN) switches. The connections carry FC traffic between the compute layer and the storage layer. For SAN connectivity, SAN port channels carrying FC traffic are configured between the fabric interconnects and upstream Cisco MDS or Nexus switches. Network components The Nexus series switches in the network layer provide 10-GbE or 40-GbE IP connectivity between the Vblock System 340 and the external network. In the unified storage architecture, the switches also connect the fabric interconnects in the compute layer to the X-Blades in the storage layer. In the segregated architecture, the Cisco MDS 9000 Series switches in the network layer provide FC links between the fabric interconnects and the VNX storage. These FC connections provide access to block-level storage from the blades in the compute layer. In the unified network architecture, there are no MDS Series storage switches. Cisco Nexus 5548UP switches or Cisco Nexus 5596UP switches provide FC connectivity. Ports are reserved or identified for special Vblock System 340 services such as backup, replication, or aggregation uplink connectivity. The Vblock System 340 contains two Cisco Nexus 3048 switches to provide management network connectivity to the different components of the Vblock System. These connections include the VNX service processors, UCS fabric interconnects, Cisco Nexus 5500UP or Cisco Nexus 9396PX switches, and power output unit management interfaces. 8 Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

9 Technology overview Storage components The VNX series systems are fourth-generation storage platforms that offer a unique combination of flexible, scalable hardware design, and advanced software capabilities that enable them to meet the diverse needs of today's organizations. VNX series platforms support block storage and unified storage. The platforms are optimized for virtualized applications. They feature flash drives for extendable cache and high performance in the virtual storage pools. Automation features include selfoptimized storage tiering and application-centric replication. Regardless of the type of storage protocol implemented at startup (block or unified), the Vblock System 340 can include cabinet space, cabling, and power to support the hardware for block and unified storage protocols. This arrangement helps to move from block storage to unified storage (or the opposite way) with minimal hardware changes. For this solution, the Vblock System 340 includes the VNX5600 storage platform as primary storage for the Microsoft applications. EMC VNX5600 storage array VNX5600 is configured with multiple resource pools that use thin LUNs and contain both high-performance and high-capacity disks, with EMC FAST VP enabled for storage tiering. This enables you to deliver storage based on workload requirements and maximize storage efficiency. FAST VP provides a good balance between flexibility and performance. Using thin LUNs to store application data improves storage efficiency. After you add FAST VP solid-state drives (SSDs), thin LUN metadata is promoted to the extreme performance tier to boost performance. FAST VP intelligently and automatically manages data relocation at a sub-lun level, based on FAST VP relocation schedules. Virtualization components Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 is the virtualization platform that provides the foundation for management in the Vblock System 340. The core Windows components are the Hyper-V hypervisor and the System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM). The Hyper-V hypervisors are deployed in a cluster configuration and can scale up to 64 nodes per cluster. The cluster enables dynamic allocation of resources, such as CPU, memory, and storage. The cluster also provides workload mobility and flexibility with the use of Hyper-V Live Migration and Storage Migration technology. Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 transforms a computer s physical resources by virtualizing the CPU, RAM, hard disk, and network controller when the Hyper-V role is enabled. This transformation creates fully functional virtual machines that run isolated and encapsulated operating systems and applications, just like physical computers. Hyper-V eliminates performance penalties associated with virtualization overhead and serves as the best platform for hosting business-critical Microsoft applications such as Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync. Hyper-V enhanced features, such as virtual Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 9

10 Technology overview FC adapters, offer full fidelity FC service into the guest virtual machines, enhanced cluster scalability, and support for new technologies. Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 provides a wide range of enhanced features and capabilities. They span server virtualization, storage, software-defined networking, server management and automation, web and application platforms, access and information protection, virtual desktop infrastructure, and more. Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2 Microsoft SCVMM is an end-to-end systems management tool for virtualized environments. SCVMM gives you complete insight into your virtualization ecosystem: physical hosts, virtual machines, storage, and networks. SCVMM provides a single window from which you can run comprehensive administration tasks, which greatly simplifies management of thousands of hosts and virtual machine. Advanced features such as service-level tiering enable you to create classes of resources to ensure that virtual machines are built using the right resources. Virtual-machine templates can be created, classified, and stored for easy and repeatable virtual-machine creation. This aids governance, security, and compliance by creating virtual machines from golden images. SCVMM integrates with other Microsoft applications including System Center Operations Manager 2012 R2, System Center Orchestrator 2012 R2, and Service Management Automation. Microsoft Windows Azure Pack Microsoft Windows Azure Pack provides additional functionality to private-cloud customers. Available as a free download, it integrates with Microsoft System Center components to extend cloud functionality to include the public-cloud provider space. This enables your system to consume resources and services on the Window Azure Pack public-cloud platform. Some of the key selling features of cloud computing are the elasticity and perception of limitless resources on demand. Windows Azure Pack provides you with the ability to create new or to migrate existing workloads onto the Windows Azure Pack platform, all within a single management interface. This interface closely resembles the native Windows Azure Pack user interface (UI). You can start working immediately, without learning another toolset. Windows Azure Pack integrates with SCVMM, which enables virtual-machine management of both onsite (private) and Windows Azure Pack (public) environments. Virtual-machine workloads can be moved back and forth using the Service Management Portal shown in Figure 2, expanded dynamically as business needs mandate, and migrated to differing classes of service as needed. 10 Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

11 Technology overview Figure 2. Windows Azure Pack Service Management Portal Windows Azure Pack enables you to access advanced services such as highavailability, automated backup (snapshot) of virtual machines, and disaster-recovery configurations, all based on subscription services. The pay-as-you-grow paradigm can help lower overall IT costs while providing additional flexibility and use cases. Full self-service and multitenancy are the default offerings, enabling your organization to quickly and easily onboard internal departments or customers with full environment isolation. Built on the Service Provider Foundation (SPF) API provided with System Center 2012 R2, self-service and rapid virtual-machine provisioning by tenants are foundation features that VCE Vblock 340 Foundation plugs into when you install and configure Windows Azure Pack. Full-fidelity hybrid cloud services give you the flexibility to place workloads exactly where you want them. The requirement is a single virtual machine for basic deployment scenarios. Management components The second generation of the Advanced Management Platform (AMP-2) centralizes management of Vblock System components. AMP-2 consists of Cisco B200 M3 servers. AMP-2 provides a single management point for Vblock Systems and provides the ability to: Run the core management workload and VCE optional management workloads described in Table 2 Monitor and manage Vblock System health, performance, and capacity Provide network and fault isolation for management Eliminate resource overhead on Vblock Systems Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 11

12 Technology overview Table 2. Core management and VCE optional management workloads Workload Description Components Core management VCE optional management Minimum required set of management software to install, operate, and support a Vblock System Data protection security or storage management tools Directly supported and installed by VCE Manages components within a Vblock System All hypervisor management and element managers Virtual networking components (Nexus 1000v or Microsoft Virtual Switch) VCE Vision Intelligent Operations software These and other components: EMC Unisphere EMC RecoverPoint EMC VPLEX EMC Avamar Administrator EMC Isilon InsightIQ VCE bare-metal support policy Because many applications cannot be virtualized for technical or commercial reasons, VCE supports bare-metal deployments, such as non-virtualized operating systems and applications. However, due to the nature of bare-metal deployments, VCE is able to provide only reasonable-effort support for bare-metal systems. The systems must comply with the following requirements: VCE systems contain only VCE published, tested, and validated hardware and software components. The VCE Release Certification Matrix provides a list of the certified versions of components for VCE systems. The operating systems used on bare-metal deployments for compute and storage components must comply with the published hardware and software compatibility guides from Cisco and EMC. For bare-metal configurations that include hypervisor technologies (such as Microsoft Windows Hyper-V), those technologies are not supported by VCE. VCE support is provided only for VMware hypervisors. VCE reasonable-effort support includes VCE acceptance of customer calls, a determination of whether a VCE system is operating correctly, and assistance in problem resolution to the extent possible. VCE is unable to reproduce problems or provide support on the operating systems and applications installed on bare-metal deployments. VCE also does not provide updates to or testing of those operating systems or applications. Contact the OEM support vendor directly for issues and patches. 12 Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

13 Solution architecture and configuration Solution architecture and configuration Overview Solution architecture This section provides an overview of the Microsoft Private Cloud solution on Vblock System 340 with VNX5600. EMC has designed and proven the solution to serve as the best platform for virtualized IaaS. The platform serves as the foundation for automation (self service, provisioning, reclamation, and so on), elasticity (integration with public clouds and service provider resources), and resource management. Figure 3 shows the architecture and the key components of the solution. We built the entire infrastructure using Vblock System 340 and VNX5600. Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 is used with Hyper-V as the hypervisor on 15 blade servers and uses VNX5600 as the back-end storage. We deployed Infrastructure and resource servers within a Windows failover cluster for availability and workload management. Figure 3. Solution architecture and configuration Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 13

14 Solution architecture and configuration Hardware resources We validated this solution on a Vblock System 340 system with VNX5600. Table 3 lists the hardware resources used in this solution. Table 3. Hardware resources Equipment Configuration Description Compute Storage Network VCE Vblock System 15 blade servers with: 2 x 16 CPU cores 256 GB RAM EMC VNX x 200 GB flash disks 90 x 600 GB SAS disks 50 x 2 TB NL-SAS disks Segregated network architecture: 4 LAN switches 2 multilayer SAN fabric switches Hosts Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 and Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine 2012 R2 on blade servers to host Microsoft application virtual machines and management infrastructure Provides storage resources to hypervisor, management infrastructure, and application virtual machines LAN switching SAN switching Software resources Table 4 lists the software resources used in this solution. Table 4. Software resources Resource Version Purpose VCE software Release Certification Matrix for Vblock System Tested and certified software and firmware versions of each component in the Vblock system Microsoft software Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter or Standard Application virtualmachine OS Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2 Virtual-machine management Microsoft Windows Azure Pack Update Rollup 8.1 Cloud integration Hyper-V design Storage design In this solution, we created a Microsoft failover cluster to serve as a resource pool for virtual machines. The cluster provides high availability, virtual-machine mobility, and load balancing. The cluster is composed of five blade-server nodes, with the infrastructure components residing on the first node. We created the Vblock cluster shared volume (CSV) to host all VHDX virtual-machine disk files from a thin LUN on the VNX5600 array. We created a 6 TB CSV and made it 14 Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

15 Solution architecture and configuration available to the cluster nodes. Additional storage resources are available for future application use. We mapped each blade server to a boot LUN on the VNX5600 array, as shown in Figure 4, to provide centralized boot administration. Figure 4. Mapping a server to a boot LUN We created a CSV volume on the VNX5600 array, as shown in Figure 5, to serve as a shared-storage resource for applications. Figure 5. Creating a CSV volume Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 15

16 Solution architecture and configuration Network design We created three virtual networks to isolate network functionality. This improves security and helps ensure that bandwidth is available as needed by preventing contention. We created networks for virtual-machine management, migration, and user access. Figure 6 shows the creation of a virtual-machine management network. Figure 6. Creating a network for virtual-machine management Cluster design We used Microsoft Failover Clustering to enable high availability, workload mobility, and dynamic resource load balancing. The failover cluster consisted of five bladeserver nodes, as shown in Figure Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

17 Solution architecture and configuration Figure 7. Cluster nodes We made the 6 TB CSV available to all cluster nodes, as shown in Figure 8. Figure 8. CSV availability Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 17

18 Foundation platform features Foundation platform features Overview Powerful IaaS platform Flexible provisioning The foundation platform needs to be highly integrated for ease of use and extensible so that features can be added as business needs grow. The Vblock 340 Converged Infrastructure Architecture (CIA) provides highperformance, compute, network, and management layers that are tightly integrated, and capable of both scale-up and scale-out expansion. Powerful compute blades can be added to the Vblock chassis to provide scale-up growth. Additional chassis modules can be added to provide scale-out growth. Integrated networking and fabric switches eliminate compatibility issues while providing high port densities. VNX storage systems are highly scalable and can be configured with performance enhancing features such as FAST, which uses extremely fast SSDs. VCE Vision Intelligent Operations provides a single hardware-management platform, which simplifies administration and configuration activities. Microsoft virtualization and management technologies and products, combined with deep integration from EMC and VCE, provide you with an interface that reduces the need for multiple system-management applications. Resources can be identified, classified, configured, and allocated from within a single application SCVMM. After resources are made available, service classes can be defined and virtualmachine templates can be created. These templates are assigned to clients who can directly request virtual machines. Clients can request any virtual-machine template to which they have access rights. Clients have access to all underlying computing resources for which they have rights, which provides speed and elasticity. Resource optimization Intelligent management Deep platform integration and insight You can optimize resources if they are visible and manageable within the virtualmachine manager. EMC and VCE have integration packs for SCVMM. The ability to configure pools of resources based on capabilities is a powerful feature. Virtual machines can then be correctly placed on resources that best meet their requirements, which can reduce costs, increase resource utilization, and ensure the best implementation. Managing a virtualized environment from a holistic perspective can be a daunting task. By deeply integrating with SCVMM, EMC and VCE provide you with the tools to manage all aspects of your virtualized ecosystem. You can manage from the virtual machine down to the underlying server, storage, and network components. This removes the need for multiple management applications that require diverse tool sets, and enables you to manage the environment efficiently. EMC Storage Integration Suite (ESI) simplifies the configuration and management of EMC storage products for Windows Server 2012 R2 environments. Of particular value for this solution is the management pack for SCVMM, which enables you to create, configure, and provision storage resources to IaaS cloud clients. You can use SCVMM to manage the storage assets you receive. 18 Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

19 Foundation platform features VCE offers similar integration packs that provide you with the data and tools you need to configure and manage the VCE Vblock 340 compute components and the network infrastructure. PowerShell cmdlets and integration with SVCMM APIs enable enhanced workflows and automation scenarios to abstract the underlying physical resources. All these features provide efficiencies by enabling tightly integrated resource visibility and control of the entire cloud platform. Maximum availability The VCE Vblock 340 Foundation components are designed and configured to provide maximum availability. For the physical, logical, and virtual configurations, each component provides a layered approach to availability. Physical resources are configured with redundant components. VNX5600 has dual controllers with dual network and fabric paths, spare disks, and power supplies. The network and fabric uses dual-converged infrastructure and FC switches. VCE uses server chassis and blades that have built-in hardware redundancy. VCE Vision provides out-of-band management and configuration, and Microsoft Failover Clustering provides clustering features at the virtual-machine level. You can layer application high-availability features on top of this to provide additional resiliency. This complex layering is abstracted from the cloud administrator. High-availability features are enabled and managed mainly through SCVMM. Optimal platform for hybrid cloud The Vblock 340 Foundation platform provides a highly flexible, extensible cloud solution. The configuration provides all the requirements necessary for private-cloud operations. These requirements include high availability and basic data protection, resource load balancing and mobility, multitenancy, and tooling for management and self service. The solution can easily be expanded to provide additional features such as: Disaster recovery and multisite clustering Enterprise-grade data protection and recovery Enhanced monitoring and remediation Security and automation Integration with public-cloud services For example, by installing and configuring the Windows Azure Pack, you can enable clients to move workloads into and out of the public cloud as needed. You can scale up or scale out foundation resources, usually with zero impact to service, which avoids downtime and costly, disruptive upgrades. Monitoring and automation You can add Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2012 R2 for end-to-end monitoring and automated event handling. EMC and VCE have management packs available to enable easy identification and configuration of physical resources so that Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 19

20 Key features of a Microsoft private cloud on Vblock monitoring, alarming, and remediation can be performed on all components up and down the stack. Microsoft System Center Orchestrator 2012 R2 or Service Management Automation (primarily for hybrid or Windows Azure Pack deployments) enables robust automation and workflow features. The addition of either of these products further extends the scope of functionality to include provisioning and spinning up complex applications that require two-day activities, and integration with orchestration workflows. Key features of a Microsoft private cloud on Vblock Overview This section describes the core architecture of the Microsoft private cloud on VCE Vblock 340 Foundation, including the physical components, and how the logical and virtual components are placed and interact with each other and with the underlying physical components. The physical components include the compute, network, and storage resources. Logical components relate to how the physical components are configured and provide a layer of abstraction and isolation. These components include storage LUNs, network VLANS, and compute clusters. Virtual components include the hypervisor and components that function at the virtual-machine level. Foundation architecture Storage components EMC VNX5600 serves as the core storage component for the solution. Network components LAN and SAN switches provide core IP and FC connectivity, provide access to and between servers and virtual machines, and provide access to storage and external systems and users. Compute components Blade servers provide the compute resources that host the all the infrastructure and resource virtual machines. Infrastructure virtual machines Infrastructure virtual machines host the necessary components for core foundation functionality. These include virtual-machine hosting services such as Microsoft Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, NTP, and SCVMM. Logical components The physical components that comprise the solution are selected to provide additional flexibility and functionality. Storage and compute resources can be classified to differentiate levels of performance and quality of service, and then pooled and assigned to the clients that consume these resources. Compute resources are bound together into clusters that support high-availability, workload mobility, and resource load balancing. 20 Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

21 Virtual components Key features of a Microsoft private cloud on Vblock Network and fabric resources are selected to provide isolation based on traffic functions such as inter-virtual-machine management, user access, clustering, migration, and so on. Compute resources are selected and provisioned using Microsoft Windows Hyper-V. Clients can have access to their virtualized infrastructure with full workload and security isolation from other clients. Best practices Virtual-machine provisioning We followed these best practices to deploy a private cloud solution: Use tiered storage and FAST VP to increase storage performance and reduce cost. Create storage resource pools based on performance requirements and intended use. Implement multipathing (EMC PowerPath /VE in a round-robin configuration) using dual-switch fabrics. Enable Ethernet Jumbo Frames. Implement SAN start. Create the required VLANs and VSANs for traffic isolation and performance. Isolate the infrastructure cluster and resources from the application cluster and resources. Enable virtual-machine Live Migration and Storage Migration. Use EMC ESI for storage configuration and management. Create virtual-machine templates for provisioning ease and compliance. This section describes a use case where a cloud administrator must create several virtual machines to deploy different Microsoft applications. This is typical in a multitenant environment, where the IT group acts as a service provider that enables IaaS for a small tenant or departmental organization. The virtual machine must include compute, storage, and networking resources. Create a new virtual machine To create and provision a virtual machine and examine the underlying environment: Note: The solution must be correctly configured and operational before continuing. 1. Connect to SCVMM as a user with credentials to access and provision resources, as shown in Figure 9. Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 21

22 Key features of a Microsoft private cloud on Vblock Figure 9. Connecting to SCVMM 2. Highlight the relevant cluster and select Create New Virtual Machine. 3. Select Use an existing virtual machine, VM template, or virtual hard disk, and then click Next, as shown in Figure 10. Figure 10. Selecting the source for the new virtual machine 22 Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

23 Key features of a Microsoft private cloud on Vblock 4. Select an object as the provisioning source for the new virtual machine and click OK. We selected TestVM, an existing virtual machine running on node Hyper-V2, as shown in Figure 11. Figure 11. Selecting the provisioning source 5. Type a virtual-machine name and description, and then click Next, as shown in Figure 12. Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 23

24 Key features of a Microsoft private cloud on Vblock Figure 12. Naming the virtual machine 6. Make any required hardware changes, and then click Next, as shown in Figure 13. Figure 13. Making hardware changes 7. Select a cluster as the destination repository for the new virtual machine, as shown in Figure Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

25 Key features of a Microsoft private cloud on Vblock Figure 14. Selecting a cluster as the virtual-machine repository 8. Select the destination node within the cluster, as shown in Figure 15. Figure 15. Selecting a destination node Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 25

26 Key features of a Microsoft private cloud on Vblock 9. Select the destination storage location for the new virtual machine and click OK. We chose the CSV that resides on the storage array, as shown in Figure 16. Figure 16. Selecting a storage location 10. Select the virtual switches to use for the virtual machine, as shown in Figure 17. Figure 17. Selecting virtual switches 11. Select the relevant properties for the virtual machine, as shown in Figure 18, and then click Next. 26 Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

27 Key features of a Microsoft private cloud on Vblock Figure 18. Selecting properties 12. Confirm the new virtual machine settings, as shown in Figure 19, and then click Create. Figure 19. Confirming the settings 13. After SCVMM submits a job to create the new virtual machine, review the job details. Figure 20 shows the new virtual machine (Test VM 4) is operational on the specified node. Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 27

28 Key features of a Microsoft private cloud on Vblock Figure 20. Reviewing the job details 14. Connect to the virtual machine to confirm the deployment, as shown in Figure 21. Figure 21. Connecting to the new virtual machine It took less than 3 minutes to provision the new virtual machine. 28 Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation

29 Conclusion Conclusion Summary The Microsoft Private Cloud on Vblock 340 Foundation offers a robust, highly scalable, and extensible platform for virtualized Microsoft applications. Using the native technologies built into Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 combined with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 R2, you have the features and management tools necessary to fully enable cloud computing. This solution provides high availability and sufficient performance to host multiple enterprise applications. Deep integration of EMC and VCE technologies with the Microsoft stack gives you full visibility and control of the ecosystem from a single GUI. Consumers of IaaS can request and provision resources with minimal IT involvement, using published virtual-machine templates and quality of service, and ensuring service level agreements are met. Resource identification, classification, and pooling ensure that system resources are optimally consumed and efficiently used. Additional components can be added to the solution with minimal or no disruption. Component capabilities include disaster recovery, end-to-end monitoring and remediation, and automation and orchestration of workflows. Adding Microsoft Windows Azure Pack eases the transition from private to hybrid cloud, and provides you with access to additional features, functionality, and deployment flexibility. Findings This solution shows how Vblock System 340 can serve as an excellent IaaS platform for both private- and hybrid-cloud deployments. The solution is both extensible and scalable, which provides additional bandwidth for future growth. The key findings in this solution are: Proven reference architecture: The solution showcases a proven reference architecture that supports an IaaS foundation using a Vblock System 340. Validated and highly integrated IaaS platform: The Vblock hardware architecture and configuration is certified to integrate tightly with Microsoft Windows Systems Center 2012 R2 and perform seamlessly. The VCE Release Certification Matrix provides details on supported hardware and software versions and configurations, and takes the guesswork and risk out of selfconfigured platforms. Management tools from VCE and EMC provide comprehensive end-to-end management and insight into the entire IaaS platform. Extensible and scalable: Features and capabilities such as automation and monitoring can easily be layered on top of the foundational architecture. Furthermore, the solution scales by simply adding more physical resources. A forklift replacement and migration is not required. Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation 29

30 References Seamless integration: Management and environment insight is built into the key management components, which simplifies typical tasks such as virtualmachine provisioning and resource configuration and allocation. References EMC VCE The following documentation and product pages on EMC.com provide additional and relevant information. If you do not have access to a document, contact your EMC representative. EMC VNX Series Unified Storage Systems Specification Sheet EMC Storage Integrator for Windows Suite (product page) EMC PowerPath/VE (product page) The following documentation on the VCE website provides additional and relevant information: VCE Vblock and VxBlock Systems 340 Gen 3.3 Architecture Overview VCE Release Certification Matrix Cisco Microsoft The following products pages on the Cisco website provide additional and relevant information: Cisco Fabric Extender Technology Cisco MDS 9000 Series Multilayer Switches Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches The following topics and product pages on the Microsoft TechNet Library website and Microsoft website provide additional and relevant information: What s New in Hyper-V for Windows Server 2012 R2 What's New in VMM in System Center 2012 R2 Windows Azure Pack (product page) 30 Microsoft Private Cloud on VCE Vblock 340: Foundation