Virtualization for Cloud Computing<br /> A<br />Seminar Report <br />Submitted to the Faculty of Computer Engineering<br />BHARATI VIDYAPEETH COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING,<br />PUNE<br />Submitted By -: <br />MARKANA MEHUL K<br />ROLL NO: 10<br />B-Tech Sem: VII Comp-I<br />Under the Guidance of -:<br />Prof. S.S.DHOTRE<br />DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER ENGINEERING<br />BHARATI VIDYAPEETH COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING,<br /> PUNE<br />BHARATI VIDYAPEETH COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING,<br />PUNE<br />BHARATI VIDYAPEETH DEEMED UNIVERSITY<br />COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING<br />PUNE<br />CERTIFICATE<br />This is to certify Mr. MARKANA MEHUL KISHORBHAI has carried out the seminar on “Virtualization for Cloud Computing” under my guidance in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of B-Tech in Computer Engineering of Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune during the academic year 2011-12. To the best of my knowledge and belief this work has not been submitted else where for the award of any other degree.<br />Prof. S.S.DHOTRE Prof. Dr. SUHAS H.PATIL <br /> (Seminar Guide) (Head of computer department)<br />Date: <br />Place: Pune<br />1 INTRODUCTION<br />1.1 Virtualization <br />Virtualization is very useful concept. It allows abstraction and isolation of lower-level functionalities and underlying hardware. This enables portability of higher-level functions and sharing and aggregation of the physical resources. The virtualization concept has been around in some form since 1960s (e.g IBM mainframe systems). Since then, the concept has matured considerably and it has been applied to all aspects of computing – memory, storage, processors, software, networks, as well as services that IT offers. It is the combination of the growing needs and the recent advances in the IT architectures and solutions that is now bringing the virtualization to the true commodity level. Virtualization, through its economy of scale, and its ability to offer very advanced and complex IT services at a reasonable cost, is poised to become, along with wireless and highly distributed and pervasive computing devices, such as sensors and personal cell-based access devices, the driving technology behind the next in IT growth .Not surprisingly there are number of virtualization products, and a number of small and large companies that make them.<br />1.2 Cloud computing  <br />Cloud computing refers to the processing and storage of data through the Internet. Computing and storage become ‘services’ rather than physical resources. Files and other of computing where IT-related capabilities are provided ‘as a service’, allowing users to access technology-enabled services from the Internet, or cloud, without knowledge of, expertise with, or control over the technology infrastructure that supports them.<br />Fig.1.1 Cloud Computing<br />1.2.1 Software as a Service - SaaS<br />Software as a Service ( SaaS) is a closely related form of computing to the cloud. As with cloud computing, SaaS customers tap into computing resources off-site that are hosted by another company. However, the difference is scale. Cloud computing platforms may combine thousands of computers and storage networks for backup, while some SaaS applications may operate via a connection between only two or three computers. This means that most SaaS solutions fall under the larger cloud computing definition. However, there are a few distinguishing features of SaaS that separate these solutions from cloud computing. SaaS is software that is owned, delivered and managed remotely by one or more providers. It also allows sharing of application processing and storage resources in a one-to-many environment on a pay-for-use basis, or as a subscription. For example, by signing up for a Gmail account through Google, you’re accessing the application via the SaaS model. Yet when a larger corporation such as a university contracts with Google to run thousands of email accounts e.g. student email accounts, the solution changes from SaaS to cloud computing. Google is then managing the infrastructure headaches of running the IT infrastructure. Services must be on a large scale to qualify as cloud computing. It is a matter of establishing how well the solution meets the needs of the user when determining whether SaaS or cloud computing is more appropriate.<br />1.2.2 Grid Computing <br />Cloud computing is often confused with grid computing, a form of distributed computing whereby a ‘super and virtual computer’ is composed of a cluster of networked, looselycoupled computers, acting in concert to perform very large tasks.<br />Grid computing has been used in environments where users make few but large allocation requests. For example, a lab may have a 1000 node cluster and users make allocations for all 1000, or 500, or 200, etc. So only a few of these allocations can be serviced at a time and others need to be scheduled for when resources are released. This results in sophisticated batch job scheduling algorithms of parallel computations.<br /> <br />1.2.3 Utility Computing<br />Many cloud computing offerings have adopted the utility computing model. Utility computing can be analogized to traditional computing such as the consummation of electricity or gas. IT computing becomes a utility, similar to power, and organizations are billed either based on usage of resources or through subscription.<br />2 History of Virtualization <br />Virtualization technology has been around for longer than most people realize. It is only now starting to be widely used because of the massive increase in hardware resources. The concept of virtualization was first devised in the 1960s. It was then implemented by IBM to help split large mainframe machines into separate ‘virtual machines’. The reason why this was done was to maximise their available mainframe computers efficiency. Before virtualization was introduced, a mainframe could only work on one process at a time, becoming a waste of resources. Virtualization was introduced to solve this problem. It worked by splitting up a mainframe machine’s hardware resources into separate entities. Due to this fact, a single physical mainframe machine could now run multiple applications and processes at the same time. As x86 became the dominant instruction set architecture in computer technology during the 1980s, and the client-server model was established to allow for distributed computing, the need for virtualization was no longer really required. This is because the client-server model allowed administrators to connect together many low cost workstations. Resources could then be distributed among these workstations using a few powerful servers. The<br />massive use of Windows and Linux based operating systems during the 1990s further solidified the x86 architecture and client-server model, as the dominant model in computer technology.<br />However, no one could have imagined the massive growth in the use of computer technology, and this created new IT infrastructure demands as well as problems. Some of these problems included<br />• Low hardware infrastructure utilization;<br />• Rising physical infrastructure costs;<br />• Rising IT management costs;<br />• Insufficient disaster protection; and<br />• High maintenance and costly end-user desktops.<br />The most viable solution to resolve the above-mentioned issues was hardware<br />virtualization and thus, in 1999, VMware introduced their first virtualization application for x86 based systems. Modern day machines can now have their powerful hardware resources split up, just like mainframe machines did during the 1960s, to allow for more efficient usage of processing power and hardware resources.<br />3 What is Virtualization? <br />One of the main cost-saving, hardware-reducing, and energy-saving techniques used by cloud providers is virtualization. Virtualization is done with software-based computers that share the underlying physical machine resources among different virtual machines (VMs). With OS virtualization each VM can use a different operating system (OS), and each OS is isolated from the others. Many companies use VMs to consolidate servers, enabling different services to run in separate VMs on the same physical machine. VMs allow time-sharing of a<br />single computer among several single-tasking operating systems. Utilizing VMs requires the guest operating systems to use memory virtualization to share the memory of the one physical host. Memory Virtualization removes volatile random access memory (RAM) resources from individual systems, and aggregates those resources into a virtualized memory pool available to any computer in the cluster. Memory virtualization leverages large amount of memory which improves overall performance, system utilization, and increased efficiency. Allowing applications on multiple servers to share data without replication also reduces the total amount of memory needed.<br />One of the most important ideas behind cloud computing is scalability, and the key technology that makes that possible is virtualization. Virtualization, in its broadest sense, is the emulation of one of more workstations/servers within a single physical computer. Put simply, virtualization is the emulation of hardware within a software platform. This allows a single computer to take on the role of multiple computers. This type of virtualization is often referred to as full virtualization, allowing one physical computer to share its resources across a multitude of environments. This means that a single computer can essentially take the role of multiple computers. However, virtualization is not limited to the simulation of entire machines. There are many different types of virtualization, each for varying purposes. One of these is in use by almost all modern machines today and is referred to as virtual memory. Although the physical locations of data may be scattered across a computers RAM and Hard Drive, the process of virtual memory makes it appear that the data is stored contiguously and in order.<br /> RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) is also a form of virtualization along with disk partitioning, processor virtualization and many other virtualization techniques. Virtualization allows the simulation of hardware via software. For this to occur, some type of virtualization software is required on a physical machine. The most well known virtualization software in use today is VMware. VMware will simulate the hardware resources of an x86 based computer, to create a fully functional virtual machine. An operating system and associated applications can then be installed on this virtual machine, just as would be done on a physical machine. Multiple virtual machines can be installed on a single physical machine, as separate entities. This eliminates any interference between the machines, each operating separately. Although virtualization technology has been around for many years, it is only now beginning to be fully deployed. One of the reasons for this is the increase in processing power and advances in hardware technology.<br />
• Single OS image per machine<br />• Software and hardware tightly coupled<br />• Running multiple applications on same machine<br /> often creates conflict<br />• Underutilized resources<br />• Inflexible and costly infrastructure<br />Fig. 3.1 Before Virtualization<br />3.2 After Virtualization<br />• Hardware-independence of operating system and applications<br />• Virtual machines can be provisioned to any system<br />• Can manage OS and application as a single unit by encapsulating them into virtual<br />Machines<br />Fig.3.2 After Virtualization<br />4. Objectives of Virtualization <br />There are four main objectives to virtualization, demonstrating the value offered to<br />organizations:<br />• Increased use of hardware resources<br />• Reduced management and resource costs<br />• Improved business flexibility<br />• Improved security and reduced downtime<br />4.1 Increased use of Hardware Resources<br />With improvements in technology, typical server hardware resources are not being used to their full capacity. On average, only 5-15% of hardware resources are being utilized. One of the goals of virtualization is to resolve this problem. By allowing a physical server to run virtualization software, a server’s resources are used much more efficiently. This can greatly reduce both management and operating costs. For example, if an organization used 5 different servers for 5 different services, instead of having 5 physical servers, these servers could be run on a single physical server operating as virtual servers.<br />4.2 Reduced Management and Resource Costs<br />Due to the sheer number of physical servers/workstations in use today, most organizations have to deal with issues such as space, power and cooling. Not only is this bad for the environment but, due to the increase in power demands, the construction of more buildings etc is also very costly for businesses. Using a virtualized infrastructure, businesses can save large amounts of money because they require far fewer physical machines.<br />4.3 Improved Business Flexibility<br />Whenever a business needs to expand its number of workstations or servers, it is often a lengthy and costly process. An organisation first has to make room for the physical location of the machines. The new machines then have to be ordered in, setup, etc. This is a time consuming process and wastes a business’s resources both directly and indirectly. Virtual machines can be easily setup. There are no additional hardware costs, no need for extra physical space and no need to wait around. Virtual machine management software also makes it easier for administrators to setup virtual machines and control access to particular resources, etc.<br />4.4 Improved Security and Reduced Downtime<br />When a physical machine fails, usually all of its software content becomes in accessible. All the content of that machine becomes unavailable and there is often some downtime to go along with this, until the problem is fixed. Virtual machines are separate entities from one another. Therefore if one of them fails or has a virus, they are completely isolated from all the other software on that physical machine, including other virtual machines. This greatly increases security, because problems can be contained. Another great advantage of virtual machines is that they are not hardware dependent. What this means is that if a server fails due to a hardware fault, the virtual machines stored on that particular server can be migrated to another server. Functionality can then resume as though nothing has happened, even though the original server may no longer be working.<br />5 Virtualization Approaches  <br />While virtualization has been a part of the IT landscape for decades, it is only recently (in 1998) that VMware delivered the benefits of virtualization to industry-standard x86-based platforms, which now form the majority of desktop, laptop and server shipments. A key benefit of virtualization is the ability to run multiple operating systems on a single physical system and share the underlying hardware resources – known as partitioning. Today, virtualization can apply to a range of system layers, including hardware-level virtualization, operating system level Virtualization, and high-level language virtual machines. Hardware-level virtualization was pioneered on IBM mainframes in the 1970s, and then more recently Unix/RISC system vendors began with hardware-based partitioning capabilities before moving on to software-based partitioning. For Unix/RISC and industry-standard x86 systems, the two approaches typically used with software-based partitioning are hosted and hypervisor architectures. A hosted approach provides partitioning services on top of a standard operating system and supports the broadest range of hardware configurations. In contrast, hypervisor architecture is the first layer of software installed on a clean x86-based system (hence it is often referred to as a “bare metal” approach). Since it has direct access to the hardware resources, a hypervisor is more efficient than hosted architectures, enabling greater scalability, robustness and performance.<br />5.1 Hosted Architecture <br />• Installs and runs as an application<br />• Relies on host OS for device support and physical resource management<br />Fig. 5.1 Virtualization Architectures<br /> 5.2 Bare-Metal (Hypervisor) Architecture <br />• Lean virtualization-centric kernel <br />• Service Console for agents and helper Applications.<br />Fig. 5.2 Bare-Metal (Hypervisor) Architecture<br />Hypervisors can be designed to be tightly coupled with operating systems or can be agnostic to operating systems. The latter approach provides customers with the capability to implement an OS-neutral management paradigm, thereby providing further rationalization of the data center. Application-level partitioning is another approach, where by many applications share a single operating system, but this offers less isolation (and higher risk) than hardware or software partitioning, and limited support for legacy applications or heterogeneous environments. However, various partitioning techniques can be combined, albeit with increased complexity. Hence, virtualization is a broad IT initiative, of which partitioning is just one facet. Other benefits include the isolation of virtual machines and the hardware-independence that results from the virtualization process. Virtual machines are highly portable, and can be moved or copied to any industry-standard (x86- based) hardware platform, regardless of the make or model. Thus virtualization facilitates adaptive IT resource management and greater responsiveness to changing business conditions . To provide advantages beyond partitioning, several system resources must be virtualized and managed, including CPUs, main memory and I/O, in addition to having an inter-partition resource management capability. While partitioning is a useful capability for IT organizations, true virtual infrastructure delivers business value well beyond that.<br />Fig.5.3 Traditional Infrastructure<br />6 What can be Virtualized? <br />The SNIA taxonomy lists five different types of storage virtualization disk, tape (media and drive), file system, file, and block. Disk virtualization is one of the oldest forms of storage virtualization. The physical form of a magnetic disk is a compilation of cylinders, heads, and sectors. Each disk is different based on the numbers of cylinders, heads, and sectors; which changes the capacity of the disk. In order to read or write using the disk, some form of addressing is required. To complete this addressing the exact physical property of every magnetic disk would have to be known an impossibility. Virtualization is completed by the disks firmware to transform the addresses into logical blocks for use by applications and operating systems, called logical block addressing (LBA). As magnetic disks are used, some blocks may not be able to store and retrieve data reliably. Disk virtualization allows the magnetic disk to appear defect-free, releasing the operating system to focus on other processes When data is read or written to physical tape media, the transmission can fluctuate due to the network or busy clients on the network. The ideal situation is to have a single stream of data. When fluctuations occur, the tape drive reverts to a start/stop mode where a small amount of data is written, the tape is stopped and rewound before another small amount of data is written. This mode increases recording time and wear on the tape media. Variances like this result in only 15-30 percent of tape media capacity to be utilized. Tape media visualization uses online disk storage as a cache to emulate reading and writing. This disk acts a buffer to eliminate the fluctuations and variances present when writing directly to the tape media. Tape media virtualization also emulates large numbers of small volumes while keeping the data on disk. The data is then writing to tape in a streaming pattern.<br />Tape drives used to be dedicated to single servers and then connected to multiple servers. Now tape drives are connected to a server and the activities involving these devices are performed across the network. Unfortunately, a potential risk is two servers writing to the same tape drive at the same time. Virtualized tape drives can make a single drive appear as several virtual drives which are assigned to individual servers as dedicated resources. When a request is made, the virtualization software (tape broker) reserves and maps a physical tape drive to the virtual drive and completes the operations. The physical drive is then placed back into the environment to be used by another virtual drive. Another virtualization form is the use of RAIL (Redundant Array of Independent Libraries). This technique allows several tape libraries to be emulated and distributed as a single virtual library for use by applications. File systems virtualization provides file systems to multiple clients regardless of the operating systems on those clients. Using a networked remote file system such as NFS or CIFS, this abstraction demons rates the most important feature of storage virtualization location transparency.<br /> Another form of file system virtualization assists in database management. Most data for databases are located on raw disk drives to maximize performance but are cumbersome to manage. Putting this data into a file system makes the data easier to manage but causes problems in performance. Database virtualization combines the best of both worlds. Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM) identifies rarely used data and migrates it to inexpensive secondary storage. From the client perspective, the file still exists and there is no need to know the physical location of the file. This is a form of file virtualization Block virtualization, or block aggregation, creates a single logical device out of several physical devices. The intent is to have applications see a new virtual disk with a lager range of block addresses; essentially tricking the application into thinking it has more memory than it truly has. The storage customer is concerned with three things: capacity, performance, and availability. When the customer demands more, functions of block virtualization can fulfill these requirements easily and cost-effectively.<br />Virtualization Processes<br />Some of the service management processes involved with Virtualization include<br />
7 Hardware/Software Separation  <br />Fig.7.1 Virtual Infrastructure<br />Infrastructure is what Connects resources to your Business. Virtual Infrastructure is a Dynamic mapping of your Resources to your business. Result: decreased costs and increased efficiencies and Responsiveness. <br />8. How Virtualization Complements New Generation Hardware <br />Extensive ‘scale-out’ and multi-tier application architectures are becoming increasingly common, and the adoption of smaller form-factor blade servers is growing dramatically. Since the transition to blade architectures is generally driven by a desire for physical consolidation of IT resources, virtualization is an ideal complement for blade servers, delivering benefits such as resource optimization, operational efficiency and rapid provisioning. The latest generation of x86-based systems feature processors with 64-bit extensions supporting very large memory capacities. This enhances their ability to host large, memory-intensive applications, as well as allowing many more virtual machines to be hosted by a physical server deployed within a virtual infrastructure. The continual decrease in memory costs will further accelerate this trend. Likewise, the forthcoming dual-core processor technology significantly benefits IT organizations by dramatically lowering the costs of increased performance. Compared to traditional single-core systems, systems utilizing dual-core processors will be less expensive, since only half the number of sockets will be required for the same number of CPUs. By significantly lowering the cost of multi-processor systems, dual-core technology will accelerate data center consolidation and virtual infrastructure projects, Beyond these enhancements, VMware is also working closely with both Intel and AMD to ensure that new processor technology features are exploited by virtual infrastructure to the fullest extent. In particular, the new virtualization hardware assist enhancements (Intel’s “VT” and AMD’s “Pacifica”) will enable robust virtualization of the CPU functionality. Such hardware virtualization support does not replace virtual infrastructure, but allows it to run more efficiently.<br />9 Virtualization Technologies <br />VMware and Microsoft have a strong footing in virtualized technology and are perhaps the most well known companies involved with virtualization. However, now that virtualization technology has begun to stabilize and its advantages have been proven, plenty of other companies have started emerging. Below is a comprehensive guide on some of the most popular and widely used virtualization technologies as of 2008.<br />9.1 Windows Server<br />Windows Server is Microsoft’s premier server OS. Its latest version, Windows Server 2008 is Windows first OS that is integrated with full virtualization. This feature is known as WSV (Windows Server Virtualization). Along with its previous server roles, Windows Server 2008 has a new Hyper-V role. Selecting this role allows you to create a virtualized server environment. Within this environment you can then create multiple virtual servers. Hyper-V is much more efficient than stand alone virtual server applications because it is actually integrated into the Windows Server 2008 operating system. WSV offers many of the benefits that you would expect to receive from virtualization technology, such as rapid server deployment and the ability to take snapshots for backup purposes, etc. However it also offers a few extra features. For example it can offer up to 32 GB of RAM and up to 4 processors per guest OS. It also provides support for virtual LANs and can run both 32bit and 64bit virtual machines.<br />Fig.9.1 windows server 2008<br /> WSV has plenty of resources and can be flexibly administered by IT professionals. WSVs main competitor is VMware ESX edition. They are both very strong virtualization technologies and both companies have a solid footing in the virtualization market area. WSVs main advantage is that it supports more hardware than VMware ESX currently does. As long as you can install Windows Server 2008 on a machine, you should be able to run WSV. VMware however, has a much larger feature set than WSV and it is a tried and tested virtualization solution. It will be interesting to see how things will develop between these two companies in the future and whether VMware can continue to remain the market leader in virtualization technology.<br />9.2 Software Virtualization<br />Software virtualization is the virtualization of applications or computer programs. One of the most widely used software virtualization programs is SVS (Software Virtualization Solution), developed by Altiris. The concept is similar to hardware virtualization where physical machines are simulated as virtual machines. Software virtualization involves creating a virtual layer or virtual hard drive space where applications can be installed. From this virtual space, applications can<br />then be run as though they have been installed onto host OS. Once a user has finished using an application, they can ‘switch it off’. When an application<br />is switched off, any changes that the application made to the host OS, will be completely reversed. This means that registry entries and installation directores will have no trace of the application being installed or executed at all.<br />Software virtualization offers many benefits. Some of these benefits include:<br />• The ability to run applications without making permanent registry or library changes<br />• The ability to run multiple versions of the same application<br />• The ability to install applications that would otherwise conflict with each other (by<br />using multiple virtual layers)<br />• The ability to test new applications in an isolated environment. Software virtualization provides many benefits and is easy to implement. A fantastic advantage is that you can try out software virtualization yourself by downloading<br />Altiris’s SVS application completely free. <br />9.3 VMware<br />VMware is one of the most widely known virtualization companies. Its brand is easily recognizable and they offer a number of virtualization programs. Their most popular virtualization applications are briefly detailed below.<br />Fig. 9.2 VMware VMotion<br />9.4 Linux Virtualization<br />Linux is a Unix-like operating system and is one of the most well known freely distributed open source collection of software programs. Due to its open source nature, many different types of Linux operating systems exist.<br />Some of the most well known Linux OS distributors include Debian, Red Hat and Ubuntu. Most Linux-based operating systems will either have some form of Para-virtualization or hardware assisted virtualization technologies. Linux operating systems also offer a few different virtualization type technologies, when compared to other operating systems. These virtualization technologies will briefly be described below.<br />9.5 Para-virtualization<br />The x86 processors are difficult to emulate because of the way in which they work. A host operating system’s kernel needs direct access to its hardware in order for instructions to be interpreted correctly. In a virtualized environment a guest operating system’s kernel does not have direct access to its physical processor, therefore certain instructions have to be changed or replaced, so that there is a correct ‘understanding’ between the guest OS and it’s physical processor. This modification of instructions was traditionally carried out by software. However, normal operating systems were never originally designed with virtualization in mind. Therefore they were not very efficient in a virtualized environment and produced massive overheads. This was one of the reasons why virtualization was slow and just not feasible for businesses until recently. Two solutions were introduced which made virtualization much more efficient. These solutions were hardware-assisted virtualization and Para-virtualization. Hardware-assisted virtualization, as its name suggests, used physical hardware to take away the strain of virtualization from its software and operating system. Para-virtualization on the other hand did not receive any additional hardware support. Instead it involved modifying an operating system’s kernel to make it far more efficient.<br />An operating system’s kernel would be modified so that it could run more smoothly in a virtualized environment. However, the disadvantage to this is that only certain operating systems can be used when Para-virtualization is implemented. Hardware-assisted virtualization is the way into the future as it requires no software modification whatsoever and will work with any operating system that supports x86 hardware.<br />Traditionally, x86 hardware was not able to adopt virtualization-based strategies. This is because a CPU processes instructions differently based on whether it is in privileged mode or not, and a virtualized processor can not run in privileged mode (as this could pose a security risk by giving it more priority than the physical processor). Due to the above-mentioned reasons, virtualization software has to deal with the instructions from its guest machine and then replace them with another set of instructions to ensure that they can be correctly read by their machines physical hardware. Constantly rewriting the instructions from the guest machine’s virtual processor creates a large overhead, which greatly slows things down. Para-virtualization is simply the modification of an operating system (usually at the kernel<br />level) so that it can more closely resemble its physical machines actual hardware, making it more efficient at virtualization. Although a Para-virtualization solution is quite efficient, it can only support a few operating systems, which is its main disadvantage. <br /> Although virtualization is rapidly becoming mainstream technology, the concept has attracted a huge amount of interest, and enhancements continue to be investigated. One of these is para-virtualization, whereby operating system compatibility is traded off against performance for certain CPU-bound applications running on systems without virtualization hardware assist (see Figure 7). The para-virtualized model offers potential performance benefits when a guest operating system or application is ‘aware’ that it is running within a virtualized environment, and has been modified to exploit this. One potential downside of this approach is that such modified guests cannot ever be migrated back to run on physical hardware. In addition to requiring modified guest operating systems, paravirtualization leverages a hypervisor for the underlying technology. In the case of Linux distributions, this approach requires extensive changes to an operating system kernel so that it can coexist with the hypervisor. Accordingly, mainstream Linux distributions (such as Red Hat or SUSE) cannot be run in a paravirtualized mode without some level of modification. Likewise,Microsoft has suggested that a future version of the Windows operating system will be developed that can coexist with a new hypervisor offering from Microsoft.Yet para-virtualization is not an entirely new concept. For example, VMware has employed it by making available as an option enhanced device drivers (packaged as VMware Tools) that increase the efficiency of guest operating systems.Furthermore, if and when para-virtualization optimizations are eventually built into commercial enterprise Linux distributions,VMware’s hypervisor will support those, as it does all mainstream operating systems.<br />Fig.9.3 Para-virtualization<br />9.6 Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)<br />VDI is a relatively new type of virtualization technology, however, it is based around a traditional thin client-server model. It involves storing end-user desktop environments on virtualized machines, which are stored on servers. A user can then access their desktop environment through the use of end-user PC’s or thin client machines. VDI is similar to terminal service remote desktop access technology, its only difference being that it involves a user accessing a fully virtualized end user environment. There are may benefits to using VDI. Administrators can centrally manage and control desktop environments. Security is improved because all virtual machines reside on centralized servers. <br />Fig. 9.4 Virtual Desktop Infrastructure<br />The only real disadvantage is that VDI requires powerful server hardware, due to the extra load that is placed on a server, which has to carry out both virtualization and manage incoming connections to these virtualized desktop environments. This also means that cheaper end-user desktop machines can be used because they require far less processing power. This means that a large business can actually save money in the long run by investing slightly more in server hardware but much less in enduser desktops. VDI is best used in a business environment which has contracted or offshore workers. VDI<br />offers all the benefits of traditional virtualization solutions but also offers the benefits of remote desktop access, and centralized desktop management for administrators.<br />9.7 Hardware Virtualization<br />Traditionally, full software-based virtualization was difficult to implement efficiently, due to the way x86 hardware and processors operate. It was possible, but there were massive overheads when a virtualized machine would communicate with its physical processor. Two solutions were developed to help overcome these problems and make virtualization more efficient. These two solutions were Para-virtualization and Hardware virtualization. It should be noted however, that hardware-assisted virtualization is not an entirely new technology and was used by powerful mainframe computers decades ago. As of 2005, both Intel and AMD have adopted hardware-assisted virtualization technology into their x86 processors so that are more virtualization friendly. Intel’s hardware virtualization technology is known as Intel VT, while AMD’s is known as AMD-V. These processors work by carrying out some of tasks that would normally be performed by software known as Virtual Machine Managers (VMM, also sometimes called a Hypervisor). Because a processor is directly carrying out important virtualization processes (which would otherwise be carried out by software and then be passed on to hardware), there are<br />far fewer overheads and the whole virtualization process is much more efficient. Again there are many benefits to using hardware-assisted virtualization. One of the major benefits is that the amount of hardware emulation required is greatly reduced, thus improving performance. Traditionally, x86 operating systems need to have direct access to hardware resources, so that they can run properly. In the past, software-based virtualization solutions would need to emulate hardware in its entirety, so that virtualization stability could be ensured. This wasted a lot of physical hardware resources which could be used elsewhere. Hardwareassisted<br />virtualization greatly reduces the amount of hardware emulation that is required,<br />because most of the time, the processor can interact directly with its virtualized<br />environments. Obviously this leads to much more efficient virtualization. The great thing about hardware-assisted virtualization is that it will work automatically, straight out of the box. You do not need to update your virtualization software or modify your operating system in any way. All you need to do is use a processor which supports hardware virtualization technology. This processor will then assist with virtualization automatically, as long as its virtualization technology is enabled, which is usually via a physical machine’s BIOS.<br />9.8 Resource Virtualization<br />Resource virtualization involves the virtualization of one or more IT-related system resources. It could involve the virtualization of specific system resources such as storage or network resources, or it could involve the virtualization of entire physical resources, such as servers or end-user workstations. Organizations are constantly looking for ways to reduce the costs of their IT infrastructure. Resource virtualization is one of these ways. By grouping together and sharing IT resources, a business can greatly reduce their infrastructure and hardware costs. Additional benefits are also gained through resource virtualization. For example a business’s flexibility is increased because they can now control processing power, move resources between different servers with ease and even completely power-down machines which are no longer in use. Different applications and resources that would usually conflict with each other can now also be placed onto the same physical machine. Finally, resource virtualization makes it easier for administrators to manage and control their IT resources. For example administrators could manage and monitor multiple virtual servers from a single machine or they could manage and even clone a specific virtualized storage area with ease.<br />9.9 Processor Virtualization<br />Processor virtualization simply involves the virtualization of a physical processor, so that multiple virtual machines can be run on a single physical machine.<br />Processor virtualization is not the same as multitasking or Hyper-Threading technology. Multitasking is a process in which multiple applications can be run by a single processor at the same time. This may sound like virtualization, but it is not.<br />The reason for this is because multitasking applications cannot access privileged areas of a system such as a systems input/output area. Only an operating systems kernel can access these areas of a system and in a multitasking solution, there is only a single kernel running. Virtualization involves using multiple kernels, meaning each virtual machine is completely isolated from the other, as if they are separate physical machines. Hyper-Threading is also not the same as virtualization (although it has a similar concept to virtualization). Hyper-Threading involves making a single processor appear as multiple processors. It is a bit like hard drive partitioning, where a single hard drive is made to appear as separate physical hard drives. By doing this, a processor can process multiple threads (pieces of applications code) at the same time. However, Hyper-Threading is not truly a virtualization solution, because there is still only one kernel running between a Hyper-Threading processor and its software True virtualization offers a one-to-many relationship between hardware and software. That is, many operating systems, including their kernels (which means operating systems are completely isolated from one another), can run on a single machine. These days both Intel and AMD have virtualization enhancement tools, built in to their physical processors. These tools are known as Intel VT and AMD-V, respectively. This hardware virtualization technology (available since 2005) has made virtualization more efficient than ever before. The reason for this is because using a processors virtualization tools, an operating system has far less strain on it to emulate hardware correctly and it can use its resources elsewhere, such as on a users processes. As processing power greatly improves and the cost of processors comes down each year, more and more people will eventually have machines which are capable of providing efficient virtualization solutions. This could eventually lead to a massive adoption of virtualization technology worldwide, not just by businesses but by home users as well.<br />9.10 Application Virtualization<br />Simply put, application virtualization is the encapsulation of applications from the operating system that they are installed on. A lot of the times, certain applications that share the same system resources will conflict with one another. For example, certain applications may use the same drivers or edit the same registry entries. Usually when this happens, one or both of the applications will malfunction and then crash. One way for organizations to avoid the above mentioned problem, is through extensive testing. However, this is often time-consuming, can be quite expensive and also a waste of an organization’s resources. If two applications do conflict with each other, then administrators will usually have to place them on separate machines or on separate hard drive partitions. Although this will work, it is not the most practical solution. For example, a user would have to move between two different machines or log on and off between different hard drive partitions to access the separate applications. A more robust solution is using application virtualization. Application virtualization works by making separate copies of shared resources, for separate applications. For example each virtual application will have a copy of its own drivers, registry entries, DLLs and any other resources that would usually be shared with other applications. When a virtual application is run, it will call upon its own specific resources. Therefore conflicts are avoided and applications can run in complete isolation from one another, even though they are installed<br />on the same operating system. The isolated environments that these applications run in are often referred to as virtual bubbles. Application virtualization offers organizations many benefits. <br />Fig 9.5Application Virtualization<br />Some of these main benefits include<br />• The ability to run non-native operating system applications. For example, running<br />Windows applications on a Mac through virtualization or vice versa<br />• The ability to isolate malicious or damaging applications<br />• The capability to run applications which would otherwise conflict with one another<br />• The ability to quickly and easily deploy software applications onto a large number of machines<br />• The ability for administrators to centrally manage applications along with controlling user access rights and privileges to run them.<br />The only real disadvantage of application virtualization is that applications usually have to be packaged by virtualization software, so that they can be correctly executed and run in a virtualized environment. However, this is not usually a difficult process and the benefits of application virtualization far outweigh its disadvantages.<br />9.11 Storage Virtualization<br />Storage virtualization involves the virtualization of physical storage devices. It is a technique that allows many different users or applications to access storage, regardless of where that storage is located or what kind of storage device it is.<br />When storage is virtualized, it appears standardized and local to host machines, even<br />though the storage may be distributed across many different locations and many different types of hard drives. The great thing about storage virtualization is that it allows many different machines and servers to access distributed storage devices. However, a particular machine accessing a virtualized storage area will see one large storage area, as though it is a single massive hard drive, rather than a load of scattered hard drives. Other benefits offered by storage virtualization include the ability for administrators to mask particular hard drives or storage volumes from particular machines. This obviously improves security and the ability to increase a storage volumes size in real time. Again this is very useful because if a server appears to be running out of space on their virtualized storage area, an administrator can increase its size immediately with just a few clicks. One of the most widely deployed storage virtualization technologies is a SAN (Storage Area Network). Just as its name suggests, a SAN is a large network of storage devices. These storage devices which are usually held in a rack are independent of any servers or machines, and are instead directly connected to an organization’s network. Through the use of Storage Area Networks a business can improve their flexibility. Ror example, a Storage Area Network’s size can easily be increased by adding additional hard<br />drives or storage volumes. They can be used as an efficient backup solution; for example by backing up data in a remote location away from business enterprises. Lastly, Storage Area Networks can provide better storage volume utilization. This means that instead of having one hard drive per server, a server can spread their data across multiple different hard drives or storage volumes. This is a much more efficient use of hard drives, because a single hard drive is not being constantly written and rewritten to. Instead, multiple hard drives share the load, which should increase the lifespan of individual hard drives.<br /> <br />Fig. 9.6 Storage Virtualization<br />9.12 OS Virtualization<br />Although similar to full virtualization, OS-level virtualization is actually quite different. Full virtualization involves the virtualization of a machines entire hardware. Each virtual environment is then run under its own operating system and more importantly its own kernel. OS virtualization is different in that separate virtual environments with their own separate kernels are not created. Instead, OS virtualization works by running virtual environments (known as containers) under a single kernel. Each container environment within an OS virtualization solution will be isolated from other containers and will look and act like a physical server. A container environment can then run applications and accept the workload of its physical machine. The end result of OS virtualization is effectively the same as full virtualization but as you can see, the process for each solution is actually different.<br />OS virtualization has a number of practical uses. In fact, it has been used in virtual hosting environments for many years. Virtual hosting involves hosting more than one domain name on the same physical machine. By using OS virtualization, web hosts can create secure isolated environments for different domain names. This is obviously advantageous because otherwise the resources of a single machine would be wasted if it could only be used as a host for one domain name. Other benefits of using of OS virtualization include the separation of applications along with the ability to more easily manage resources. For example, using OS virtualization, you<br />could separate or group applications into different containers. Software resources would also be more manageable because administrators would be dealing with smaller ‘chunks’ of resources, rather than entire groups of resources under a single environment. OS virtualization sounds great and you may be wondering why most organizations today are using full virtualization solutions rather than OS virtualization solutions. Both solutions provide similar end results, however there are distinct differences between the two and OS virtualization does have its own set of pros and cons. The major advantage of OS virtualization over full virtualization solutions is that it is far more efficient. OS virtualization has very little overheads because it does not need to emulate hardware. Communication between hardware and software is carried out by a container’s host operating system’s kernel, so again there is very little overhead. However, OS virtualization does have its disadvantages. Firstly, OS virtualization cannot run operating systems which are different from its original host operating system. If you want to run a Linux-based environment within a Windows operating system, then OS virtualization is no good to you. Container environments also have a number of restrictions within them. For example, a container cannot modify its kernel directly, it cannot mount or dismount file systems and it cannot carry out other top level actions. A full virtualization solution on the other hand, gives a user a completely unrestricted environment on which many different operating systems can be installed. In the end it was the flexibility that full virtualization solutions offered which made them the standard solution for virtualization. Along with hardware-assisted virtualization and Paraassisted virtualization technology, full virtualization is now just as efficient as OS virtualization. However OS virtualization is a technology that is still widely used; for example in web hosting environments and it will continue to be used in the future.<br />9.13 Data Storage Virtualization<br />As data storage requirements for businesses have steeply risen and continue to do so, managing this data has also become increasingly difficult. For example, backing up data can be quite a tricky task to do in a large organization. Over time, a number of technologies and solutions developed to overcome these problems and finally evolved into what we now know as ‘Data Storage Virtualization’. The first step taken towards developing a data storage virtualization solution involved eliminating the distinction between local and networked resources. By doing this, networked storage resources would appear as though they resided localy on a machine. These storage resources could also be accessed normally on individual machines in the same way that local storage would be accessed, making both local and networked storage devices appear as though they were logically identical (although to begin with, some configuration was required). The advantages to this for businesses were obvious. Firstly a business’s entire data storage pool could be held in a single centralized location. This would make data management for administrators a lot easier and would also help in copying, backing up or archiving data. Secondly, massive pools of storage area networks (SANs) could be created. This would allow organizations to have massive storage solutions which would just not have been practically possible in the past. For example, a server can host a number of hard drives, however, its physical storage space along with its hardware would limit how many hard drives it could support. Storage area networks on the other hand consist of a number of racks which contain many hard drives. There is no limit to how many racks an organization can have for a single storage area network. Really, the only limiting factor for an organization is how much physical space they have or how much they are willing to spend on storage. However, although storage area networks were great for organizations overall, they did not necessarily make things easier for end-users. This is mainly because a number of different protocols (set of rules) were used and administrators would still have to, at times, keep track of the physical location of data. This is where data storage virtualization fully kicks in. Data storage virtualization solutions were introduced to standardize things, so that end-users did not have to configure anything or keep track of the physical processes of data storage. What this basically means is that a ‘layer’ was introduced between the physical and logical processes of data storage. This layer then standardized things, so that any physical storage solution could be automatically used in a logical solution, without any unnecessary configuration. Data storage virtualization offers businesses a number of advantages. Some of these main advantages are briefly detailed below.<br />Provides easier management of data storage solutions<br />These days, large data storage solutions are fairly complex. This makes it that much harder for administrators to manage an organizations data storage solution. By using Data Storage Virtualization technology, the complexities of dealing with massive data storage solutions for businesses are greatly reduced.<br />Allows storage technologies and solutions to be vendor independent<br />In the past, using SANs that used hardware from different vendors or using different storage technologies would not be very feasible or easy to implement due the different set of protocols and rules that different vendors would use. However, storage virtualization makes it very easy to use different storage technologies with one another because it standardizes everything through virtualization.<br />Has the potential to save businesses a lot of money<br />Physical storage management is still a tedious task for data centre managers. Their time and skills could be used in much more effective ways than having to do non-productive management tasks. Data storage virtualization will effectively eliminate the need for IT professionals to manually deal with and manage physical storage, because this will all be taken care of through virtualization. Another way that organizations can save money through data storage virtualization is that the hardware does not have to be vendor-specific. This means that they can save money<br />by purchasing storage technology from different vendors. New technology purchased from a different vendor than the vendor that they purchased their existing technology from can also work seamlessly and with ease. This means that businesses do not have to change their entire storage infrastructure when upgrading their hardware, which again saves them a lot of money.<br />The main companies that have adopted data storage virtualization technologies<br />The main companies involved in the development of data storage virtualization technologies include, HP, VMware, EMC and IBM. HP has been involved in the development of data storage virtualization solutions for businesses with enterprise network storage architectures. VMware (a subsidiary of EMC) has also been strongly involved with data storage virtualization technologies. A number of their virtualization software solutions, such as VMware Workstation, have incorporated data storage virtualization in one form or another. EMC are leading the way in this area of technology and their data storage virtualization solution is known as Information Lifecycle Management. EMC also have a hand in the development of data storage virtualization technologies for VMware. Finally, IBM has developed a data server virtualization solution known as Total Storage. They have also developed a stand-alone storage area network (SAN) controller, which can perform various storage area network management tasks. This greatly reduces the workload for data centre managers, allowing them to use their time and resources much more productively.<br />10 Virtualization Level <br />Virtualization levels refer to the different levels at which virtualization can be applied, when dealing with data storage virtualization solutions. These levels differ and can involve virtualization at he hard drive level all the way up to a full virtualized solution at the file system level. There are four main levels which are described below. <br />Server Level<br />This level is fairly self explanatory. It involves the management of physical hard drives, within a server’s operating system environment. For example it could involve logically partitioning a server’s hard drive.<br />Storage Device Level<br />This is virtualization at the storage volume level and can involve techniques such as data striping or data mirroring. The most well-known storage device level virtualization technology is RAID. RAID 0 uses striping, which is a technique where data is written across multiple storage devices. However an end-user can access this data although it is stored on single local storage volume. Other forms of RAID (such as RAID 1) use mirroring techniques where data is written on to two separate hard drives at the same time. Some forms of raid even use a combination of both striping and mirroring, making them an even more effective storage device level virtualization technology and backup solution.<br />File System level<br />This level provides users with the most benefits because storage is completely virtualized. Data can be shared, protected or allocated from within software at this level, rather than at the physical hard drive level, which requires much more effort and resources. By using file system level virtualization the size of virtualized data pools can be manipulated at will, while complete clusters of data can be moved from one location to another, in the form of virtual hard drives, with complete ease.<br />11 Security Monitoring and Virtualization<br />Virtualization technology has made a lot of progress since it was first used conceptually in massive mainframe computers. There are more reasons today than ever before for businesses to migrate their physical infrastructure to a virtual one and a lot of companies have already made this move. As businesses migrate from a physical to a virtualized environment, they can often forget to implement best practise security measures or feel that their old security measures are no longer needed. After all, virtualized environments do provide an extra layer of security<br />when compared to just a physical infrastructure alone. However, thinking like this is bound to leave some kind of security flaw and even the strongest systems can be brought down because of just one ‘weak link’. It is important therefore, that a business puts just as much thought and effort into their virtualization security policies, as they would for their physical infrastructure security policies. Detailed below are a few of the most common pitfalls or security issues that virtualized<br />infrastructures are often faced with.<br />12 Benefits of Virtualized Technology <br />Virtualized technology offers many benefits to organizations looking to migrate from a physical environment to a virtual setting. Some of the specific benefits to businesses are described below<br />Easier Manageability <br /> Through virtualization, administrators can monitor and manage entire groups of servers/workstations from a single physical machine.<br />Elimination of Compatibility Issues <br /> In the past, running MAC OS, Linux or Windows on the same machine created many compatibility issues. These days, using virtual machines, many different operating systems and applications can run on a single physical machine, without affecting one another.<br />Fault Isolation <br />Any kind of error within a virtual machine will not affect any other virtual<br />machine. Problems are automatically isolated, which can then be fixed or looked into by an administrator, while all other systems and services continue normal operation.single physical machine into different virtual machines. This prevents users from being able to access or view what they should not be able to. Furthermore, if a virus gets on to a physical machine, it will usually affect the entire machine. Virtual machines are separate entities, therefore any viruses or problems will be isolated within that virtual machine. The physical machine and all other virtual machines will not be affected. Virtualization also makes it easier to revert back to a previous state. For example an entire virtual machine could be backed up manually at regular intervals or using the virtual machines built in checkpoint feature, it could be reverted to a previous fully working state.<br />Efficient use of Resources <br />Many virtual machines can run on a single physical machine, utilizing that physical machine’s resources much more efficiently than if it was just running a single service or application. If a business previously used five physical servers, to provide five different services, they would now only require a single physical server. This one server would be much more efficiently used and its resources would not<br />be wasted.<br />Portability <br /> Virtual machine data is stored in files on a physical machine. This means that<br />virtual machines can be transferred effortlessly from one physical machine to another, without any changes to functionality.<br />Problem-Free Testing <br />One or more virtual machines can be set up as test machines. These can then be used to test the stability of certain applications or programs, without affecting the functionality of day to day business operations.<br />Reduced Costs <br /> <br />Costs are reduced in the form of less physical hardware, less power<br />and cooling requirements, less physical space and less staffing requirements. Once a<br />business has moved to virtualized environment, they begin to reap the many rewards that this kind of solution provides. Less physical machines, means less physical space is required, therefore a business office and building costs are greatly reduced. Both heat and power outputs are also significantly reduced and again this helps to reduce the running costs for a business. Networking costs are also reduced because fewer switches, hubs and wiring closets are required. As you can see, one of the greatest reasons why a business would want to adopt virtualization is simply because of the large amounts of money that they could saved, both in the long- and short-term.<br />The Ability to Separate Applications <br /> Services and applications that may conflict withone another can be installed and run on separate virtual machines. Because these services and applications are still running on the same physical machine, resources and processing power are not wasted.<br />Easier Manageability and Improved Uptime <br /> Virtualization makes administering and managing an IT environment much easier. Less physical machines mean that administrators have less hardware faults or issues to deal with. This means that they can use their time on much more productive and beneficial tasks. Multiple virtual machines can also be configured and monitored from a single location. Again this makes things much easier for administrators, as they do not have to go from physical machine to machine when configuring updates or making changes. Backing up and restoring a virtualized environment is also much easier than a physical one. If there are problems on one physical machine, an administrator can easily copy over entire virtual machines to another physical machine. A business can then continue operating with a minimum of downtime. Planned downtime can also be implemented with a minimum of disruption. Again, all an administrator has to do is copy over their virtual machines to another physical machine and then these virtual machines can continue operating as though nothing has happened. Maximum uptime for modern day businesses is very important, even the smallest amount of downtime can cause a business to lose profits as well as their credibility with clients. Virtualization is one of the ways that a business can ensure they will be running smoothly with an absolute minimum of downtime.<br />Conclusion<br />One of the main cost-saving, hardware-reducing, and energy-saving techniques used by cloud providers is virtualization<br />
With OS virtualization each VM can use a different operating system (OS), and each OS is isolated from the others.
Many companies use VMs to consolidate servers, enabling different services to run in separate VMs on the same physical machine.
Hosted approach provides partitioning services on top of a standard operating system and supports the broadest range of hardware configurations. In contrast.
Hypervisor architecture is the first layer of software installed on a clean x86-based system. Since it has direct access to the hardware resources, a hypervisor is more efficient than hosted architectures, enabling greater scalability, robustness and performance.
Virtualization is done with software-based computers that share the underlying physical machine resources among different virtual machines (VMs).
List of Figures<br />NOFigure NamePage No1.1 Cloud Computing23.1 Before Virtualization63.2 After Virtualization75.1 Virtualization Architectures115.2 Bare-Metal (Hypervisor) Architecture125.3 Traditional Infrastructure137.1 Virtual Infrastructure149.1 Windows server 2008199.2 VMware VMotion209.3 Para-virtualization239.4 Virtual Desktop Infrastructure249.5 Application virtualization279.6 Storage Virtualization29<br />IEEE References :-<br />
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