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Managing virtualized environments
 Virtualization
is powerful stuff. It can increase utilization levels, allows for easy provisioning
and dynamic resource allocation and is generally regarded as the best thing
to happen to IT in a long time. However, as with all new technologies it isn’t
immune to having its own set of drawbacks.
For one thing, you can roll out Virtual Machines (VMs) at the speed of light
and that can result in a virtual server sprawl that is almost as painful to
manage as a gaggle of physical machines.
The way out is to plan your virtualization set-up carefully starting with an
audit to figure out resource utilization and just where virtualizing resources
will have the maximum impact. Procedures and policies need to cover virtual
environments as they do physical ones. Questions of ownership, control and access
to virtual servers need to be answered.
Seemingly simple tasks such as backup can be a lot more complex in virtualized
environments where you need to backup not only the VMs but also the underlying
physical machine’s configuration including VM definitions etc.
Virtual networking hardware such as switches need to be managed just as physical
ones are. Overlooking these can result in a hole in your security. One answer
is to opt for a virtualized security gateway that secures your virtualized setup
with a virtual firewall and IPS.
An IBM report lists out the challenges of cloud computing which is based on
virtualization:
- Organizations should be prepared with strong isolation
management capabilities that separate the applications, data and infrastructure
dedicated to one tenant from the rest of the tenants, with isolation policies
that can be applied across multiple virtualization platforms.
- The integrity of the virtual environment should
be protected and managed as robustly as the physical environment. Traditional
security capabilities, such as network monitoring and intrusion detection,
should be applied to the virtual environments.
- Because virtualized resources are stored as data
images, they are subject to corruption. Organizations should establish image
management capabilities to protect and maintain the resource definitions,
including robust change and patch management procedures.
Virtualization can help simplify IT infrastructure and improve utilization but
it comes with its own set of challenges that must be addressed for a successful
deployment.
- Start Small, Think Big: From a
cost, management and cultural point of view, starting small is the right
way to go. There are two very different phases to server virtualization
deployments. The first phase focuses on server consolidation, cost savings
and increased hardware use. In the second phase the focus shifts to
delivering new services or improving the quality and speed of service.
- Require a Rapid ROI: Because the
market (and therefore pricing) is evolving rapidly, organizations need
to build a business case with a rapid return on investment. A business
case for server virtualization should show a full return on investment
within six months or less. Generally, companies deploying 50 virtual
machines or more in a year will be able to make a good business case.
- Virtualize the Right Applications:
The best applications to focus on tend to be older, smaller packaged
applications.
- Define Your Storage Strategy: Deciding
how and where to store virtual images and application data are critical
factors in determining how much agility companies get from virtualized
deployments. If the images are stored on a central storage system, then
companies have the flexibility to access virtual images from any server
connected to the storage system.
- Understand Software Issues: Software
pricing and licensing will remain problematic for the near future. Until
new pricing models are found, users should seek to understand independent
software vendor’s pricing and licensing policies in as much detail
as possible and accept that until ISV issues are resolved, smaller servers
will be the norm.
- Combine Virtual Machines Effectively:
It is much more important to come up with a flexible process for dynamically
relocating server capacity than it is to devise a perfect static consolidation
mapping. Workloads change and being able to deal with these changes
dynamically is a key goal, particularly in the early stages of virtualization.
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prashant.rao@expressindia.com
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