BX900 The right server for virtualization applications

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1 BX900 The right server for virtualization applications 2 April pages 8 Content BX900 The right server for virtualization applications 2 Requirement criteria 2 Virtualization today 2 General requirements 2 Use-specific factors 2 Virtualization requirements 3 Scaling 3 CPU performance 4 Memory 4 I/O connections 4 Embedded Hypervisor 5 Network connection 5 Management 6 ServerView OM 6 ServerView VIOM 7 ServerView Resource Coordinator 7 Glossary 8

2 White Paper Issue: April BX900 Designed for virtualization Page 2 / 8 BX900 The right server for virtualization applications Requirement criteria Currently, six selection parameters are frequently used in order to choose a suitable virtualization platform: 1.) Infrastructure requirements 2.) Performance (number of virtual machines on a system) 3.) Financial operating expenses, such as power, space, air-conditioning 4.) ROI/TCO calculation 5.) Platform features 6.) Management and operational support Virtualization today Server virtualization is indispensible today. It began in large data centers, and virtualization has now also reached smaller customers. The advantages are manifold and obvious. In addition to the pure cost reduction through hardware and infrastructure costs, the winning back of space as well as the reduction in administrative expenses, the advantages of the speedy provision of services and flexibility in the handling of resources become apparent nowadays. Add to this the low costs for migration or porting to new hardware. Virtualization runs on an ever increasing number of server systems. The share of workloads which run as virtual machines is now on its way to topping the 50 % mark. This influences the development of the server systems. It is natural to meet the requirements of virtual host systems as much as possible and to provide optimal hardware as a basis. Fujitsu Technology Solutions has recognized this development and has specifically aligned its new BX900 blade system to the requirements of virtual host systems in the data center environment. General requirements General requirements of IT in data centers: Space requirements Power consumption Heat development cooling requirements Procurement costs Installation and cabling outlay Maintenance outlay maintenance costs The above mentioned points force the operators of data centers to take the next step in their development and increasingly use blade systems. Today, blade systems have the lowest space requirements and are the most effective with regard to energy consumption. Use-specific factors Further factors are to be weighted after use (virtualization) and are: Redundancy Interaction with other components / systems (networks + storage) Availability o Initial operation provision o Ongoing availability Administration outlay Flexibility Agility

3 White Paper Issue: April BX900 Designed for virtualization Page 3 / 8 Virtualization requirements Since the market launch of further providers virtualization is no longer one manufacturer or one product. The best known providers of Hypervisor are VMware, Citrix and Microsoft. Among other things this has become possible because more and more virtualization processes have been implemented in hardware, especially in the CPUs. A reciprocal effect here is that Hypervisors increasingly access hardware functions or assume their existence. Some Hypervisor (versions) or some of their features are therefore only possible as of a certain CPU family or hardware. This means closer coordination between Hypervisor manufacturers and processor / chip manufacturers. New functions or performance improvements are then available as of a certain version and the appropriate new HW. The relocation of Hypervisor routines in hardware enables Hypervisor manufacturers to increase their performance parameters. This happens at CPU, chipset and I/O connection card (offload-engine) levels. This is illustrated below using VMware as an example, where increases in performance have been implemented in the CPU, memory and I/O areas. Suitable hardware is of course mandatory to be able to use these options. The full performance that the Hypervisor offers cannot be achieved without this hardware support. Appropriate implementations, which are generally known as AMD V or Intel VT and are further developed and expanded with each new generation, have been available since More features, which are accessed in the VMware vshere 4.0 version, were added with the Intel 5500 Xeon processors. The following pictures show for example how VMware accesses these interfaces and has implemented the performance developments in the vsphere 4.0 version and which new features are available. Source: VMware This is why the new BX900 was developed on the basis of the latest Intel XEON 5500 processors (project name "Nehalem"), and is available with the appearance of this processor technology. The latest functions of the processor and Hypervisor manufacturers have already been implemented here or those to be included in the roadmap have been taken into consideration and accordingly designed. The BX900 is to thus start at the same time as the virtualization innovations from VMWare vsphere 4.0 and is a basis that is also already prepared for future developments. Scaling For virtualization it is important to be able to operate as many guest systems as possible on a server, i.e. a server must scale well. This requirement best meets the data center requirements of space, power consumption and heat development. The existing license models of the Hypervisor manufacturers are also optimally used.

4 White Paper Issue: April BX900 Designed for virtualization Page 4 / 8 The scaling parameters are: Performance o CPU performance o Memory capacity o I/O capacities CPU performance A lot of CPU performance has been available since the introduction of Dualcore and Quadcore technology. Up to twenty and more guest systems can already be implemented on one physical server. Development is moving in the direction of multicore technology with even more cores. The new Intel Xeon 5500 architecture with integrated memory controller and QuickPath Interconnect technology increases the performance even further. The processor performance can no longer be fully implemented. Nevertheless, new functions of Intel-VT technology are implemented in the Intel XEON 5500 architecture, which either relieve the load on the Hypervisor or needed. The step to new hardware is simplified by the fact that the new architecture contains the Intel VT-FlexMigration function. FlexMigration allows the relocation via Vmotion of virtual machines to and from servers, which are configured with the previous Dualcore and Quadcore CPU generation. Migration during operation is thus also possible in combination with older servers. This happens on the basis of the processor ID, which is requested and administered in the Virtual Center from VMware. Memory As a result of the existing performance it is possible to put a very large number of guest systems on one server. This greatly increases the memory requirements. Low-priced memory is increasingly becoming an important criterion for virtualization. To meet this requirement the BX920 blades have DIMM slots for the memory. This enables the implementation of low-priced high memory configurations. The performance of the Intel XEON 5500 processor permits a very good CPU / memory / guest system ratio. This thus meets the development of the Hypervisor manufacturers, who in their new versions can provide more total memory or for individual guest systems. The new generation of memory modules based on DDR3 is also used for high performance in this new architecture. Hardware support - "Extended Page Technology" (in short EPT) - is also integrated in the CPU here, which together with the integrated memory controller of the CPU efficiently performs memory administration tasks on a hardware-layer basis. I/O connections The internal I/O rates are greatly increased through the QuickPath Interconnect and VT-d technology of the Intel XEON 5500 processors. Add to this the I/O support through the implementation of Intel's VT-c and VDM-q technology, which for example handles the TCP-IP protocol stack as an "offload engine" on the network interface and thus relieves the load on the CPU. These technologies help in that, for example, a maximum of 12 LAN interfaces (4x LAN onboard + 2x daughter board with 4x LAN) are available per blade and can be efficiently used for virtualization. Alternatively, up to two daughter boards can also be used with Dual Fibre Channel with 8 GBit/s. The I/O connections have already been implemented on the basis of the new PCI-Express generation 2. As regards SAN or LAN, considerably more interfaces are external than was the case up to now. This is then also no longer possible as a "Pass Thru ", but only via switches.

5 White Paper Issue: April BX900 Designed for virtualization Page 5 / 8 Embedded Hypervisor In addition to two possible 2.5-inch disks, the BX920 blade also has the option of a USB SanDISK. The Hypervisors can be held available on the solid state disk. Due to the short access times the system is available immediately after booting. This is also the best version with regard to energy consumption and lifespan. The development of the Hypervisor manufacturers is moving in the direction of this embedded Hypervisor. Network connection In addition to the SB11 switches, Brocade and Cisco are also available as standards. As well as 1GBit, 10 GBit technology is also available as an upload and the option of a pass-thru is still possible for SAN. An interswitch connection is planned to link the I/O connections of up to 4 BX900 systems with each other and thus be a holistic unit. Static I/O addresses, such as WWNs or MAC addresses, are virtualized as a result of the virtualization component ServerView VIOM, and in this way independence at network level is ensured. Therefore, changing the hardware, either by Service or by relocating the application, has no influence on the network layer. This also applies for VLANs. I/O virtualization can be ideally combined with the HA, DR, or DRS functions of the Hypervisor. Failure or load changes with the aid of HA, DRS, DRS and resource optimizations with DPM can then be implemented in a relatively trouble-free way in a network that should be viewed as holistic. Since virtualization can only really show its advantages with several servers with functions such as Vmotion, DRS, DPM and SRM, this blade architecture has its special advantages in the holistic network architecture and its homogeneous manageability. Here it is possible to process a great deal of internal network traffic, which flows between individual instances, more effectively. Consequently, the overall load placed on the company network is not so heavy.

6 White Paper Issue: April BX900 Designed for virtualization Page 6 / 8 Management The management of a virtualized dynamic environment is the most important point in the infrastructure and mainly influences the reliability, effectiveness and flexibility of services. The diagram below shows an overview of the individual steps: Dynamic Resource Manager Virtual server Pool ServerView Resource Coordinator Deployment (virtual + physical servers) Resource monitoring & management (blades & switches) High availability (spare servers) Automated recovery Server Virtualization (Hypervisor) Physical server pool ServerView Operations Manager Hardware monitoring Alarm management: Hardware inventory I/O Virtualization ServerView VIOM Virtual I/O management of WWNs and MACs ServerView OM ServerView OM (Operations Manager) is the important basic component for hardware management. In addition to the numerous and good interfaces of the individual Hypervisors, it is nevertheless necessary to acquire device-specific information about the hardware. The hardware must also be in a position to send a message to defined consoles in case of errors, or provide hardware parameters. This is why it is important to sensibly combine the different management information and functions to ensure easy of management. Good integration and coordination of the management function are essential for good administration. As there are still real servers in an IT infrastructure, the challenge is to have a management for everything. The necessary consoles and tools are integrated via plug-ins. For example, in ServerView Operation Manager, which monitors the real hardware, a function call has therefore been integrated, which selects the virtual center for the virtualization tasks. Another advantage of a good integration can also be seen here: a standardized event management system for hardware or real servers and virtual machines. All hardware components and their version levels can be accessed via an inventory at this point.

7 White Paper Issue: April BX900 Designed for virtualization Page 7 / 8 ServerView VIOM ServerView VIOM virtualizes the physical network addresses of each server blade in a way the customer defines and then maps these new virtual addresses to fixed network connections for LAN and SAN communication. In doing so, it also collects all blade-specific information (MAC addresses, WWN, IO connections, even boot parameters) in a special server profile that is basically completely hardware-independent. Each server profile is stored in a central memory and acts as pointer to a boot image. Administrators are thus able to execute an application through the simple allocation of a profile to a server blade and at the same time use the virtualized, pre-defined network addresses. Consequently, major LAN and SAN reconfigurations (or their cause) and the above mentioned interoperability problems become inapplicable at the same time. Thus, ServerView VIOM paves the way for a pooling of blade resources, as each profile (image) can be moved not only within the same enclosure, but also across hundreds of server blades residing in different enclosures, which leads to substantial scalability and flexibility improvements. Moreover, this approach enables server management or rather blade management, fully independent not only of hardware and its respective network environments, but also transparent to any upper (software) layers such as operating systems, drivers, Hypervisors / virtual machines, deployment tools, and the like. As no certification is required, ServerView VIOM can be implemented without having to look for hardware / software dependencies all the time it is therefore easy to use. Additionally, LAN and SAN administrators or server operation respectively also benefit from ServerView VIOM, because the software allows the setting-up and pre-configuring of entire LAN and SAN environments before actual server hardware installation. ServerView Resource Coordinator In a virtual IT infrastructure resources are available in the form of a pool. In day-to-day operation services are created, administered, monitored and protected against failure or overloading. The ServerView Resource Coordinator is available for use as a tool for these higher ranking tasks. The aim is to have one user interface for all operating processes. The Hypervisors are integrated in the Resource Coordinator. This permits dynamic management of all resources, both for physical and virtual servers

8 White Paper Issue: April BX900 Designed for virtualization Page 8 / 8 Glossary A new blade system, BX900, has been developed which meets the present and future requirements in data centers. It is the answer to the challenge of lower power consumption and heat dissipation, but with the best performance and economic viability. Through the implementation of state-of-the-art technology and close coordination with the Hypervisor manufacturers the BX900 provides the prerequisite that the new Hypervisor versions need to achieve their full performance and to enable extended parameters, such as memory per VM. In a nutshell the development of the BX900 has two focal points: virtualization and power consumption/heat dissipation The BX900 also has wide management support in order to support the routine processes and tasks of day-to-day data center operations. In addition to pure monitoring via ServerView Operation Manager, this also includes the virtualization of the I/O channels via ServerView VIOM in order to ensure trouble-free interaction with the other data center infrastructures, such as networks and memory. The ServerView Resource Coordinator rounds this off with its holistic management approach as an "umbrella". Delivery subject to availability, specifications subject to changes without notice, correction of errors and omissions excepted. All conditions quoted (TCs) are recommended cost prices in EURO excl. VAT (unless stated otherwise in the text). All hardware and software names used are brand names and/or trademarks of their respective holders. Copyright Fujitsu Technology Solutions GmbH 2009 Published by: Michael Weiland Telephone: Fax: michael.weiland@ts.fujitsu.com de.ts.fujitsu.com Extranet