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Virtualizing the Banner Infrastructure

Virtualizing the Banner Infrastructure. Morey Roof Information Services Department New Mexico Tech mroof@admin.nmt.edu. banweb7.nmt.edu. banforms7.nmt.edu. brioserve.nmt.edu. What we started with. Banner forms on a Dell PowerEdge 2650 running Windows Server 2003

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Virtualizing the Banner Infrastructure

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  1. Virtualizing the Banner Infrastructure Morey Roof Information Services Department New Mexico Tech mroof@admin.nmt.edu

  2. banweb7.nmt.edu banforms7.nmt.edu brioserve.nmt.edu What we started with • Banner forms on a Dell PowerEdge 2650 running Windows Server 2003 • Banner Student Self Service on a Dell PowerEdge 2650 running Windows Server 2003 • Brio finance report server on a Dell PowerEdge 2650 running Windows Server 2000

  3. vserve1.nmt.edu What we moved to • A single Dell PowerEdge 6850 running VMWare ESX Server. • This server also runs an additional 16 Virtual Machines in addition to the Banner middle tier system.

  4. How did we do it • The physical machines were imported into VMWare using VMWare converter

  5. What went wrong • The Windows HAL was configured for a SMP machine, which the source computers were, but the virtual machines were configured with a single virtual processor. This inconsistency created poor performance for the VMWare ESX scheduler. • Once this was corrected by changing the Windows HAL all performance problems were resolved.

  6. Did our users notice • None of users noticed that we had moved three physical machines onto a single virtual machine. • Some of the users reported that banner seemed to be a bit faster than it was before the move.

  7. What did we gain • Flexability • Simplified management • Easier disaster recovery • Better options for High Availability • Easier backups

  8. What did we lose • Currently, if we suffer a failure on vserve1 all of the banner infrastructure goes down at the same time. • To recover we have to startup the backup machines.

  9. Is that it? • No, this is only the beginning.

  10. The road ahead • Currently, what New Mexico Tech has is only the first part of our greater virtualization plan. • Two important business needs will be addressed by VMWare. These needs are business continuity and disaster recovery.

  11. Business continuity goals • Offer uninterrupted service to our users in the following conditions: • Physical server maintenance is required • Physical server failure

  12. Business continuity • VMWare has a function called vMotion. This feature allows for the migration of machines from one physical server to another while they are running.

  13. Business continuity cont… • In release of VMWare Infrastructure 3.5 a new feature called continuous data protection will be offered.

  14. Hardware requirements for business continuity • Redundant shared storage to the VMWare servers: • SAN storage that can also tolerate complete failure of an array and still provide storage services. • VMWare servers must have enough free capacity to handle the additional workload for the failed server.

  15. Disaster recovery goals • In the event of a catastrophic event that we can start to meet core New Mexico Tech business functions within about a week. • Earthquake • Flood • Fire

  16. Disaster recovery • VMWare provides the ability to allow a remote site to be setup for a much smaller cost: • One physical machine can be used • A shorter recovery time can be accomplished • Virtual Machines are easy to replicate

  17. Hardware requirements for disaster recovery • A physical machine that can handle the banner workload for core business functions • Storage that is replicated from the main storage pool that holds all of the Virtual Machines: • Nightly copies of the Virtual Machines • SAN remote replication

  18. san-node3 san-node2 san-node1 vserve1.nmt.edu vserve2.nmt.edu vserve3.nmt.edu How it all fits together Internet Network

  19. Questions?

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