VMware and automation within Sky

1. VMware and automation within Sky Douglas Carson, March 2012

2. Agenda • About Sky • History of VMware within Sky • Overview of Sky VMware Estate • Building Blocks what are they? • C-7000 Build procedures and how this has changed with a growing estate • ESX build automation • Windows and Linux Virtual Machine Build Automation • Sky Go • The Future • Q & A

3. About Sky • Sky has over 10 million customers UK wide • 4 Million Sky HD customers • 4 million Sky Broadband customers • 3.4 million Sky Talk customers • 17000 employees ranging from broadcast services to customer management • 7 Sky call centres throughout UK and Ireland • Skys other businesses • Sky Betting and Games • The Cloud (not what you think!) • Sky Business • 365 Media Group • Amstrad

4. History of VMware within Sky • 2003 • GSX introduced to run test and development environments • 2005 • ESX 2.5 and vCenter 1.2 introduced into production due to lack of datacentre space and growing test and development environment • 2006 • ESX 2.5.3 and vCenter 1.4 upgrades • Capacity planner completed to analyse physical estate • Introduction of platespin to assist with mass P2V • 2007 • First use of VI3 and vCenter 2.5 inline with the introduction of the new Amsterdam datacentre • 2010 • vSphere 4.0 and vCenter 4.0 • 2011 • vSphere 4.1 and vCenter 4.1

5. Current VMware Estate • 700+ ESX host • 7800+ virtual machines with a mix of Windows Server, Linux, Solaris and VDI • 2 x vCenters • The break down of hosts to virtual machines can be categorised as DR, pre-provisioned shared platform environments and dedicated business unit infrastructure • VMware estate running across 4 datacentres throughout the UK and Europe • Within the last 14 months the virtualisation platform has doubled in size

6. Current VMware vCenter Specifications & Configuration • Production VMware vCenter / Update Manager • Virtual Machine • RAM – 20 GB • vCPUs – 8 • Storage - 90 GB • Development and Test VMware vCenter / Update Manager • HP BL460 G1 • RAM - 16 GB • Physical CPUs – Dual Socket Quad core • Storage – 50 GB • Infrastructure Test vCenter / Update Manager • Additional optimisations • JVM size been increased to 6GB • VPXD Logs retention and size increased • Set Task & Event retention to 180 days • ADAM instance Backups KB1029864 • Permissions export scheduled tasks • vCenter Databases • SQL 2005 MSCS • Current approx size is 56 GB per vCenter • More efficient purge scripts introduced

7. VMware ESX OS & Hardware standards • Current ESX build standard is ESX 4.1 Update 1 • Approximately 30% of estate remains on 4.0 update 1 • ESX Hardware: • HP C7000 enclosures • BL680 G5 – Previous standard used for shared Infrastructure • BL460 G6 – Exception to standard used for customer bespoke requirements • BL620 G7 - Current standard used for shared Infrastructure • HP Proliant DLs • DL380 G6 • DL380 G7 • DL580 G7 • C7000 enclosures historically hosted mixed OS types progressing to ESX only designs

8. Sky Building Blocks • Building blocks provide an agreed standard across Sky technology teams • These are split into Hardware Device and host type blocks Hardware Device building blocks define: • Server Type and model • Components installed • Approved Firmware versions • BIOS Settings • Topology and connectivity diagrams • Physical patching diagram Host Building Blocks define: • Approved Operating system versions • Standard settings and advanced settings • Monitoring Standards Building blocks enable: • Design teams to deliver standards based solutions • Cost effective purchase blocks • Datacentre engineers to follow a repeatable process for racking and cabling therefore reducing rework • Delivery teams to develop automated build processes against a reduced hardware catalogue

9. C7000 Automation within Sky • Initial builds and configuration were manual and therefore time consuming and susceptible to human error • The need for an automated repeatable process became evident with the increasing size of the estate • Early scripts were basic but evolved over time to provide an increased level of automation • Current scripts achieve around 70% automation • Future enhancements include script creation and deployment through orchestration toolset and firmware automation

10. Build Scripts for ESX • Much like C7000 initial builds ESX builds were manual • Early ESX build automation included post install scripts to configure vSwitch and uplink assignments only • Evolution of build process resulted in a basic kickstart and PXE boot solution • Current builds utilise an enhanced kickstart based on Building Block, site and quadrant • Future enhancements include script creation and deployment through orchestration toolset and firmware automation

11. Linux / Windows Virtual Machine Build Automation • Currently there is a dedicated build services team that deal with all the builds of all corporate Linux and Windows Virtual Machines • Build services use an internally developed web based tool running off of IIS and using Windows Deployment Services to build windows servers and PXELINUX for Linux servers • We have to ensure capacity and availability whilst allowing for large deployments of virtual machines

12. Windows Virtual Machine Build process

13. Linux Virtual Machine Build process

14. Sky Go Automation

15. Future • Reduce virtual machine reservations throughout estate and try to drive higher consolidation • Technologies within vSphere 5 that will assist with higher consolidation • VAAI • ATS • Full block copies – better for Storage vMotion • SIOC • Multi NIC vMotions or 10Gb links • VAAI Unmap command allow for space reclamation for thin provisioned LUNs • Host profiles • Auto Deploy

16. Q & A