Blade Servers and Virtualization. Barb Goldworm Anne Skamarock. Transforming Enterprise Computing While Cutting Costs. Wiley Publishing, Inc.

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Blade Servers and Virtualization. Barb Goldworm Anne Skamarock. Transforming Enterprise Computing While Cutting Costs. Wiley Publishing, Inc."

Edgar Parks
5 years ago
Views:

1 Blade Servers and Virtualization Transforming Enterprise Computing While Cutting Costs Barb Goldworm Anne Skamarock Wiley Publishing, Inc.

3 Blade Servers and Virtualization

5 Blade Servers and Virtualization Transforming Enterprise Computing While Cutting Costs Barb Goldworm Anne Skamarock Wiley Publishing, Inc.

6 Blade Servers and Virtualization: Transforming Enterprise Computing While Cutting Costs Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc Crosspoint Boulevard Indianapolis, IN Copyright 2007 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada ISBN: Manufactured in the United States of America No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) , fax (978) Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Legal Department, Wiley Publishing, Inc., Crosspoint Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46256, (317) , fax (317) , or online at Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: The publisher and the author make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation warranties of fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales or promotional materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every situation. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. If professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for damages arising herefrom. The fact that an organization or Website is referred to in this work as a citation and/or a potential source of further information does not mean that the author or the publisher endorses the information the organization or Website may provide or recommendations it may make. Further, readers should be aware that Internet Websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. For general information on our other products and services or to obtain technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at (800) , outside the U.S. at (317) or fax (317) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Goldworm, Barb, 1958 Blade servers and virtualization : transforming enterprise computing while cutting costs / Barb Goldworm, Anne Skamarock. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN-13: (cloth) ISBN-10: (cloth) 1. Virtual computer systems. 2. Web servers. I. Skamarock, Anne. II. Title. QA76.9.V5G @@sp3 dc Trademarks: Wiley, the Wiley logo, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries, and may not be used without written permission. Google is a registered trademark of Google, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Wiley Publishing, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor men tioned in this book. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books.

7 I dedicate this book to my family, Karen and Zee, and my sister-in-law, Cindy, and her family, for their love and support and incredible patience as I disappeared for so many late nights, early mornings, and long weekends; to my father, who gave me a love of math, science, and logic; and to my mother, who gave me a love of language. Barb Goldworm I dedicate this book to my family, Bill, Evan, and Ethan, for their love, support, and patience; to my parents and brother for continuing to remind me I can do anything I put my mind to; and to my high-school English teacher, Mr. Harris, whose lessons I still hear every time I write. Anne C. Skamarock

8 About the Authors Barb Goldworm has spent 30 years in the computer industry, in various technical, marketing, sales, senior management, and industry analyst positions with IBM, Novell, StorageTek, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA), and multiple successful start-ups. She is the founder and president of Focus Consulting ( a research, analysis, and consulting firm focused on systems and storage. A frequent speaker at industry events worldwide, Barb created and chaired the Networked Storage Segment of Net- World+Interop, has been one of the top-three-ranked analyst/knowledge expert speakers at Storage Networking World, and is a regular featured speaker for webcast providers including TechTarget and Ziff-Davis. Barb has published extensively, including regular columns for NetworkWorld, Computer- World, and TechTarget, as well as numerous business and technical white papers and articles on systems, storage and storage networking, and enterprise management. Barb can be reached at bgoldworm@focusonsystems.com. Anne Skamarock has spent nearly 30 years in high-tech fields in various positions, including end user, systems administrator, scientific programmer, NFS software engineer, backup and recovery software engineer, technical sales, marketing, and product management, and industry analyst with SRI International, Sun Microsystems, Solbourne Computer, StorageTek, and Enterprise Management Associates (EMA). In addition to working with Focus Consulting, Anne is also founder and president of Skamarock Consulting, a technology, marketing, and research firm focused on systems and storage. While at EMA, she co-wrote Storage Solutions: A Buyer s Guide and wrote the weekly Storage in the Enterprise NetworkWorld online newsletter. Anne can be reached at askamarock@focusonsystems.com. vi

9 Credits Acquisitions Editor Carol Long Development Editor Kelly Dobbs Henthorne Technical Editors Craig A. Newell Schley Stauffer Andrew Kutz Production Editor Sarah Groff-Palermo Copy Editor Candace English Editorial Manager Mary Beth Wakefield Production Manager Tim Tate Vice President and Executive Group Publisher Richard Swadley Vice President and Executive Publisher Joseph B. Wikert Book Designer Maureen Forys, Happenstance Type-O-Rama Proofreader Rachel Gunn Indexer Ted Laux Anniversary Logo Design Richard Pacifico vii

11 Contents Acknowledgements xix Introduction xxi Part I Technology Evolution 1 Chapter 1 Blades and Virtualization Building Blocks for Next-Generation Data Centers 3 What Are Blades? 3 Server Blades and PC Blades 4 Storage and Network Blades 5 Why Blades? 5 What Is Virtualization? 6 Why Virtualization? 6 Why Virtualization and Blades? 6 Conclusion 7 Chapter 2 Evolution of Computing Technology Setting the Stage 9 Recurring Themes 9 Bigger, Better, Faster, Cheaper 9 Miniaturization 10 Decentralization and Recentralization 10 Eras of Evolution 11 The Mainframe Era 11 Multiprocessing 13 Mainframe Operating Systems 13 The Personal Computer and Workstation Era 14 The Client/Server Communications Era 16 Mainframe Client/Server Evolution 16 Local Area Network Client/Server Evolution 17 The Internet Era 18 The Consolidation Era 18 ix

12 x Contents The Evolution of Technologies 19 Storage 19 Clustering 21 Grid/Utility Computing 22 Rack Servers 23 Server Operating Systems 24 Windows 24 UNIX 25 Conclusion 25 Chapter 3 Evolution of Blade and Virtualization Technologies 27 Timelines 27 History of Blade Server Systems 29 Before They Were Called Blades (pre-1999) 29 Innovators and Early Adopters ( ) 30 Impact of the Internet Bubble ( ) 30 Niche Adopters ( ) 31 Mainstream Re-emergence ( ) 31 Origins of Virtualization 32 History of Server Virtualization 33 Market Adoption 34 Blade Server Systems 34 Virtualization 36 Blade System Usage 36 Web Services 36 HPCC and Application Servers 37 Database Servers 37 Storage 38 Usage Evolution 38 Data Center in a Box 39 Firewall/VPN Blades 39 Load-Balancing Blades 39 Ruggedized Portable Computing 39 Benefits of Blades and Virtualization 40 Space 40 Consolidation and Centralization 41 Simplification and Manageability 42 ROI and TCO 43 Reduced Infrastructure Cost 43 Time to Return 43 Reduced Operational Cost 44 Reduced Serviceability Cost 44 Conclusion 44 Part II A Closer Look 45 Chapter 4 Blade Architecture 47 Blade System Components 48 Chassis 48

13 Contents xi Server Blades 52 I/O Modules 53 Management Modules 53 Other Shared Modules 54 Conclusion 54 Chapter 5 PC Blades 57 PC Blade Architecture 57 KVM User-Port Solutions 60 Thin Client Solutions 61 Dedicated or Dynamic PC Blades? 62 Conclusion 63 Chapter 6 Networking and Related Technologies 65 Networking Concepts 66 Requirements for Networks 66 Error-Free Delivery 66 High-Speed Movement 67 Flexibility in Quality of Service 67 Flexible Media and Signals 67 Pathway Virtualization 67 High Availability 68 Types of Networks 68 System-to-System Communication Networks: LAN, MAN, WAN 68 System-to-Storage Networks: DAS, NAS, SAN 69 Interprocessor Communication Networks: BAN, PAN, CAN 70 Common Protocols 70 Ethernet 70 Ethernet in Blade Server Systems 71 Fibre Channel 72 Fibre Channel Components 74 Fibre Channel in Blade Server Systems 74 InfiniBand 75 Why a New I/O Interconnect? 75 Features and Advantages of InfiniBand 75 InfiniBand Architecture and Components 76 InfiniBand in Blade Server Systems 78 RDMA 79 Conclusion 81 Chapter 7 Blades and Storage 83 I/O Architectures and Buses 83 Blades and Storage Connections 85 Storage Options with Blade Servers 86 Onboard Storage 86

14 xii Contents External Storage 87 Network Attached Storage (NAS) 87 Storage Area Network (SAN) 87 Storage Implementation Considerations 89 Disk or No Disk 89 Cooling and Power 89 Reliability and Maintainability 89 Management and Provisioning 90 SAS or SATA 90 SAN or NAS 91 iscsi or FC SAN 91 Conclusion 92 Chapter 8 Virtualization 93 Definitions 94 Aggregation 94 Disaggregation/Server Virtualization 94 Storage Virtualization 94 Network Virtualization 95 I/O Virtualization on Blades 95 Server Virtualization Implementations 95 Emulation 96 Paravirtualization/Enlightened Operating Systems 96 Partitioning 96 OS Virtualization 97 Hosted Approach 97 Hypervisor/Bare Metal Approach 98 Virtualization Hardware-Assist 98 Managing Virtual Server Environments 100 Resource Monitoring and Management 100 Moving Running VMs 100 Migration Utilities 101 Virtual SMP 101 Virtual Clustering 101 Policy-Based Management 101 Virtual Desktops and Applications 102 Virtual Desktops 102 Application Virtualization 102 Conclusion 103 Chapter 9 Clustering and Blades 105 Short History of Clustering 106 Clustering Concepts 107 Multiple Computing Nodes 107 Interconnect/Network 108 Data and Storage Access 108 Clustering Software 108

15 Contents xiii Types of Clustering Solutions 109 High-Availability Clusters 109 Load Balancing Clusters 110 High-Performance Computing (HPC) Clusters 111 Grid Clusters 113 Other Forms of Multiprocessing with Blades 114 Conclusion 114 Chapter 10 Managing Blade Systems 115 State of Systems Management and Blades 115 Management Model 117 Fault Management 118 Configuration Management 118 Accounting Management 118 Performance Management 119 Security Management 119 CIM and Blade Server Systems 119 Physical versus Logical 120 Blades and CIM 120 Provisioning and Bare Metal 121 In-Band versus Out-of-Band Management 122 In-Band Management 122 Out-of-Band Management 122 Baseboard Management Controllers 122 Management Service Processors (Management Modules) 123 Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) 123 Shared Management Resources in Blade Systems 123 KVMs 123 KVM over IP 124 Virtual Media 124 Management Software 124 Virtual Machine Management 124 Aggregation Management 125 Blade Management Tools 125 Conclusion 127 Chapter 11 Industry Organizations and Related Standards 129 Blade-Specific Work 129 Blade Systems Alliance 130 PCI Industrial Computer Manufacturers Group 130 Blade.org 130 General Standards Organizations 131 Distributed Management Task Force 131 DMTF Standards 132 Common Information Model 132 Open Grid Forum 132 Internet Engineering Task Force 133

Barb Goldworm Anne Skamarock

Blade Servers and Virtualization Transforming Enterprise Computing While Cutting Costs Barb Goldworm Anne Skamarock < z u h U U 3ICENTENNIAL 1 8 O 7 WILEY 2 O O 7 31CENTENNIAL n n 4 n 2 > Wiley Publishing,