Storage I/O Control (SIOC) is a new feature introduced in vSphere 4.1 to provide I/O prioritization of virtual machines running on a cluster of ESX servers that access a shared storage pool. It extends the familiar constructs of shares and limits, which have existed for CPU and memory, to address storage utilization through a dynamic allocation of I/O queue slots across a cluster of ESX servers. When a certain latency threshold is exceeded for a given block-based storage device, SIOC will balance the available queue slots across a collection of ESX servers to align the importance of certain workloads with the distribution of available throughput. It can reduce the I/O queue slots given to virtual machines that have a low number of shares in the interest of providing more I/O queue slots to a virtual machine with a higher number of shares.
SIOC provides a means of throttling back I/O activity for certain virtual machines in the interest of other virtual machines getting a more fair distribution of I/O throughput and an improved service level. In Figure 1 the two business-critical virtual machines (online store and MS Exchange) are provided more I/O slots than the less important (data mining) virtual machine.
For SIOC to engage in optimizing I/O to a given datastore there are two things that must be present.
1. The datastore must have this feature enabled. This is done by changing a property setting of that datastore.
2. There must be a sustained average latency detected across the hosts (ESX servers) that share that datastore. The default threshold is 30ms and can be modified through the advanced setting options for the datastore properties.
Once both of those conditions are met, SIOC engages in proactively managing the I/O queues across all ESX servers that share the datastore. It evaluates the percentage of I/O shares each virtual machine has relative to the total number of shares of all virtual machines accessing the datastore and will assign a relative number of I/O queue slots to ensure that high-priority virtual machines get more throughput and less latency than the lower-priority virtual machines. SIOC will throttle back the I/O slots on one ESX server in which a low-priority virtual machine might be the only workload running, to free up I/O queues on another server that might have several virtual machines running.
SIOC provides a dynamic allocation mechanism that adjusts to changing conditions of a mixed workload. It leverages the I/O shares, which are set on the Virtual Machine Properties for each virtual disk, to distribute available I/O slots to ensure a quality of service is enforced not just at the host level, but across the collection of hosts that are sharing that datastore. This feature provides a new means for the vSphere administrator to achieve higher levels of consolidation with the confidence that shared resource pools will not result in low-priority workloads limiting the performance of higher-priority workloads. SIOC also benefits your virtual environment by providing I/O distribution fairness even when all virtual machines running on a cluster of ESX servers sharing a datastore have equal or default I/O shares.
SIOC works only with block-based datastores and datastores that reside on a single extent and are managed by one vCenter management server. (vSphere 5 supports NFS now)
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
VMware vShield Zones
VMware® vShield Zones enables network compliance with security policies and industry regulations while adopting the efficiency and flexibility of cloud computing.
VMware vShield Zones creates logical zones in the virtual datacenter that span shared physical resources, with each zone representing a distinct level of trust and confidentiality.
VMware vShield Zones enables customers to:
• Bridge, firewall, or isolate virtual machine zones based on logical trust or organizational boundaries
• Create intuitive network access rules using existing VMware vCenter Server containers
• Log and report on allowed and disallowed activity by application-based protocols
• Easily convert observed network flows into precise access rules
VMware vShield Zones presents network monitoring and access management in a highly virtualization-aware and application-aware context, so that administrators can define access policies that intuitively map to logical trust or organizational zone boundaries expressed in their existing VMware vCenter Server management hierarchy and network topology.
VMware vShield Zones consists of the VMware vShield Manager, which provides centralized management of monitoring and access policies across an entire deployment, and VMware vShield Zones appliances that provide the runtime enforcement. VMware vShield Manager is deployed as a virtual appliance and integrates automatically with VMware vCenter Server to present policies and events in the context of the existing virtual machines, networks, host, and clusters.
VMware vShield Zones virtual appliances are distributed and deployed inline on the virtual switches on VMware ESX hosts to provide runtime visibility and enforcement of traffic. Network activity between zones and to the outside is logged and classified according to application network protocol, and packets are filtered inline to block any disallowed protocols or access. Events are consolidated back to the VMware vShield Manager, where activity across the entire datacenter can be logged, viewed and exported to third-party management solutions.
VMware vShield Zones creates logical zones in the virtual datacenter that span shared physical resources, with each zone representing a distinct level of trust and confidentiality.
VMware vShield Zones enables customers to:
• Bridge, firewall, or isolate virtual machine zones based on logical trust or organizational boundaries
• Create intuitive network access rules using existing VMware vCenter Server containers
• Log and report on allowed and disallowed activity by application-based protocols
• Easily convert observed network flows into precise access rules
VMware vShield Zones presents network monitoring and access management in a highly virtualization-aware and application-aware context, so that administrators can define access policies that intuitively map to logical trust or organizational zone boundaries expressed in their existing VMware vCenter Server management hierarchy and network topology.
VMware vShield Zones consists of the VMware vShield Manager, which provides centralized management of monitoring and access policies across an entire deployment, and VMware vShield Zones appliances that provide the runtime enforcement. VMware vShield Manager is deployed as a virtual appliance and integrates automatically with VMware vCenter Server to present policies and events in the context of the existing virtual machines, networks, host, and clusters.
VMware vShield Zones virtual appliances are distributed and deployed inline on the virtual switches on VMware ESX hosts to provide runtime visibility and enforcement of traffic. Network activity between zones and to the outside is logged and classified according to application network protocol, and packets are filtered inline to block any disallowed protocols or access. Events are consolidated back to the VMware vShield Manager, where activity across the entire datacenter can be logged, viewed and exported to third-party management solutions.
VMware AppSpeed
vCenter AppSpeed will no longer be available for new license purchases
as of January 3, 2012. However it will continue to be supported through
July 3, 2013 in line with General Support Policy:
www.vmware.com/support.
Customers who are active on a Support and Subscription (SnS) plan from December 1, 2011 until the vFabric Application Performance Manager entitlement becomes available in January 2012 may exchange their related licenses of vCenter AppSpeed and upgrade to vFabric Application Performance Manager at no additional license cost. This upgrade will take place on a one-to-one basis.
VMware vCenter AppSpeed provides proactive performance management and service-level reporting for services running within virtual appliances. By analyzing the traffic that flows between end users, Web applications, and back-end servers, AppSpeed provides visibility into multitier services and enables rapid identification of performance issues originating from inadequate resource allocation and service problems.
Customers who are active on a Support and Subscription (SnS) plan from December 1, 2011 until the vFabric Application Performance Manager entitlement becomes available in January 2012 may exchange their related licenses of vCenter AppSpeed and upgrade to vFabric Application Performance Manager at no additional license cost. This upgrade will take place on a one-to-one basis.
VMware vCenter AppSpeed provides proactive performance management and service-level reporting for services running within virtual appliances. By analyzing the traffic that flows between end users, Web applications, and back-end servers, AppSpeed provides visibility into multitier services and enables rapid identification of performance issues originating from inadequate resource allocation and service problems.
VMware Data Recovery
VMware® Data Recovery creates backups of virtual machines without interrupting their use or the data and services they provide. Data Recovery manages existing backups, removing backups as they become older. It also supports deduplication to remove redundant data.
Data Recovery is built on the VMware vStorage API for Data Protection. It is integrated with VMware vCenter Server, allowing you to centralize the scheduling of backup jobs. Integration with vCenter Server also enables virtual machines to be backed up, even when they are moved using VMware VMotion™ or VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS).
Data Recovery uses a virtual machine appliance and a client plug-in to manage and restore backups. The backup appliance is provided in open virtualization format (OVF). The Data Recovery plug-in requires the VMware vSphere Client.
Backups can be stored on any virtual disk supported by VMware ESX/ESXi™. You can use storage area networks (SANs), network attached storage (NAS) devices, or Common Internet File System (CIFS) based storage such as SAMBA. All backed-up virtual machines are stored in a deduplicated store.
VMware Data Recovery supports the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), which provides the backup infrastructure for certain Windows operating systems.
Data Recovery is built on the VMware vStorage API for Data Protection. It is integrated with VMware vCenter Server, allowing you to centralize the scheduling of backup jobs. Integration with vCenter Server also enables virtual machines to be backed up, even when they are moved using VMware VMotion™ or VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS).
Data Recovery uses a virtual machine appliance and a client plug-in to manage and restore backups. The backup appliance is provided in open virtualization format (OVF). The Data Recovery plug-in requires the VMware vSphere Client.
Backups can be stored on any virtual disk supported by VMware ESX/ESXi™. You can use storage area networks (SANs), network attached storage (NAS) devices, or Common Internet File System (CIFS) based storage such as SAMBA. All backed-up virtual machines are stored in a deduplicated store.
VMware Data Recovery supports the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), which provides the backup infrastructure for certain Windows operating systems.
Network VMotion
Network VMotion is the tracking of virtual machine networking state (e.g. counters, port statistics) as the VM moves from host to host on a vNetwork Distributed Switch. This provides a consistent view of a virtual network interface regardless of the VM location or VMotion migration history.
This greatly simplifies network monitoring and troubleshooting activities where VMotion is used to migrate VMs between hosts.
This greatly simplifies network monitoring and troubleshooting activities where VMotion is used to migrate VMs between hosts.
remote office / branch office (ROBO)
ROBO is typically connected to Regional Site or Small Datacenter
VMware SRM provides Shared Recovery Site - ROBO Protection
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01773827/c01773827.pdf
VMware SRM provides Shared Recovery Site - ROBO Protection
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01773827/c01773827.pdf
Storage Replication Adapter (RSA)
A
Storage Replication Adapters (SRA) allows VMware Site Recovery Manager
(SRM) to integrate with 3rd party storage array technology.
The Storage Replication Adapters are software modules for Site
Recovery Manager that are developed and supported by storage partners
of VMware and are distributed by VMware with the permission of the
storage partners.
It can be difficult to determine which SRA is being used with a particular SRM deployment. This article provides information to help you determine, from a VMware SRM perspective, which SRA is installed.
It can be difficult to determine which SRA is being used with a particular SRM deployment. This article provides information to help you determine, from a VMware SRM perspective, which SRA is installed.
Resolution
SRA information can be determined from the SRM log files on the SRM server. The name of the log file is vmware-dr-X.log, where X is an incremental number. The log files are typically located in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager\Logs.
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1017904
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